Collin Murray-Boyles wasn’t thrilled when he found that his teammates had filled his car with popcorn. It was all in good fun, though. The Raptors clearly like having Murray-Boyles around.
A day after the popcorn incident, Immanuel Quickley praised the rookie after practice. “His basketball IQ is really high, like really elite,” Quickley said. “I tell people all the time…he acts like he’s been in the league for so long on the court as well. He’s very mature in the fact that he knows where to be on the floor. He’s always two steps ahead offensively and defensively.”
High praise like that should make up for a car filled with buttery popcorn—at least a little bit.
Darko Rajakovic may not have had anything to do with the popcorn incident, but he also showered Murray-Boyles in praise.
“Super impressive is his attention to detail and ability to retain information,” Rajakovic said. “That’s something that a lot of young players, they don’t have that quality in the sense that they need a lot of reps.”
He added, “He’s learning things on the fly, and a lot of stuff that you address one time with him and you talk about one time and two weeks down the road, he’s going to be still doing that, and that is super, super rare.”
Murray-Boyles’s rookie season has been marred by injuries
Due to a thumb injury, Murray-Boyles hasn’t played a game in March yet. The last time he played was in late February when the Raptors faced off with the Spurs. The rookie recently participated in practice again and is expected to return to play sometime during the Raptors’ upcoming road trip.
That thumb injury is not a new issue. It began in December and flared up again in January and February. All in all, Murray-Boyles has already missed 20 games this season.
He has been very solid in the 47 games he’s played, averaging 7.8 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists, and impressing with his defense and athleticism.
It’s a pity that he missed so many games. It’s difficult to come into the league as a rookie, adjust to a completely new role, system, and team, and then lose important momentum to injuries. But, hopefully, he will be back for the most important part of the season, and two things are already for certain: Murray-Boyles has a bright future in the NBA, and his teammates and coaches are impressed with him.