NBA Draft Scouting Report: South Carolina's Collin Murray-Boyles
Collin Murray-Boyles
Forward | South Carolina
Height: 6'7” | Weight: 230 lbs
2024 Draft Age: 19.04
Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
Prospect Profile
One of the younger players in the upcoming class of potential draftees, Murray-Boyles turns 19 just over two weeks before 2024 NBA Draft. He played his entire freshman season at 18 years old, which is incredibly impressive.
The rising prospect is a strong combo forward with an interesting skillset. Murray-Boyles plays with power and force, but isn’t really a vertical athlete. As such, he’s the size of an NBA wing but plays like more of an undersized big as of today. He’s incredibly effective at the rim, and that’s where he takes most of his shots.
One of the things that makes his game so special is his ability to get to the basket with his handle, cutting without the ball to set himself up under the hoop, using off-ball screens to navigate and find holes in the pressure, and finishing at the rim. Standing at around 6-foot-7, Murray-Boyles has the numbers of a physically bigger forward, a guy that uses physicality to both attack the glass as well as finish through contact while trying to score. He also possesses quick feet, translating to effective post moves when fed in the paint.
The upside is tremendous for Murray-Boyles, but his concerns are obvious, and can be essentially summed up in one sentence: he's under 6-foot-7 with no 3-point shooting upside to date. He’s also not a great free throw shooter which could be another red flag when projecting future shooting ability.
He's simply not a shooter, and might never be. But he has shown some level of touch from the midrange this season. He's an undersized power forward in general, but one that seemingly has an inordinate amount of upside due to basketball IQ, feel, and physicality mixed with athleticism.
Murray-Boyles has upside as a connective passer, with the ability to find open teammates with his solid vision for a forward. On the other end, the freshman is a very disciplined defender who stays where he should instead of helping off too early or making risky attempts at steals. Instead, he reacts quickly to the defense in general with active feet and hands. Yet despite not being a player that takes a ton of chances jumping routes and trying to make low-chance, high-upside plays, he still manages to record several stocks (steals + blocks) per game.
While Colin Murray-Boyles in any other year would probably wait and play his sophomore season, it may behoove him to go pro in this weaker class should his hot streak continue. He could take some time to find his role in the NBA and adapt to that style of play, but the tweener prospect is fascinating nonetheless.
The former four-star, top-100 recruit in his high school class has slowly risen up boards over the course of the season after having no expectations of being a potential one-and-done talent. His older brother James plays professionally overseas, so Murray-Broyles will look to become the next professional basketball player in the family, but at the NBA level.
Highlights
Draft Projection
Second-Round Pick in 2024 NBA Draft.
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