Raptors vs. Heat: The pre-season education of Collin Murray-Boyles begins against Miami - Toronto Star
Murray-Boyles played about 20 minutes Saturday, switching between power forward and centre.
Collin Murray-Boyles defends Miami’s Giannis Antetokounmpo during the Raptor’s’ pre-season opener in Quebec on Saturday.
QUEBEC — His first assignment was to cover Giannis Antetokounmpo, and he was asked to guard Bam Adebayo on more than a few possessions.
The Raptors’ Collin Murray-Boyles was defending power forwards and centres, in the paint and on the perimeter, as Toronto began its pre-season here Saturday night.
“He was playing some position five (as a rookie) and we’ve put a lot of time this off-season to see him play position four as well,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said of Murray-Boyles. “Unfortunately, he was injured and couldn’t play in summer league to showcase that but we have a plan for him to play offensively at positions four and five.”
The plan went into place at the Videotron Centre as the Raptors were crushed 129-105 by the Miami Heat.
Toronto needs Murray-Boyles to get more time on the court as a power forward next to Jakob Poeltl and as a centre with the likes of Kawhi Leonard or Scottie Barnes at forward, all matchups that can be worked in pressure-free exhibition games.
Murray-Boyles played about 20 minutes, the most of any of the Raptors’ frontcourt players, and finished with six points and nine rebounds, good production for the limited minutes in the first game of the season. But it was where he played on the court against real competition that counted the most.
“I wish that he played with a little bit more force,” Rajakovic said. “I’m used to see him playing more forceful, going to the rim, finishing above the rim.
“(That’s) something to begin to continue working on. I like that he got nine rebounds.”
There wasn’t much to read into a game where both teams made full use of bloated pre-season rosters. Miami rested its starting five for the entire second half and used 19 players; Toronto starters Barnes and Immanuel Quickley called it a game at the intermission and the Raptors used each of the 12 available bodies,
Antetokounmpo made his Heat debut and had nine points and seven rebounds. Tim Hardaway Jr. led Miami with 14 points, RJ Barrett had 15 for Toronto.
It’s going to be a while before anyone sees Kawhi Leonard play for the Raptors.
Sticking to a plan to bring the veteran forward on slowly, Leonard sat out Saturday’s game and is already doubtful for next weekend in Vancouver.
“We’re being super cautious just to build him up the right way,” Rajakovic said. “He’s going to have a whole week working out. Probably he’s not going to play against the Clippers (next Saturday in Vancouver) as well.
“And hopefully … we’re going to start including him in games after that.”
With that schedule, the earliest Leonard would play would be Oct. 13 in Toronto’s lone home pre-season game and there is little chance they would use him in back-to-back road games Oct. 15 on New York and Oct. 16 in Detroit.
That would leave the 35-year-old veteran with at mot two games under his belt before the Oct. 21 season opener against Chicago.
The Raptors vow to take more than the 32 three-pointers they averaged per game in the 2025-26 season. That would bring them closer to the league average of 35 per game. It’d behoove them to make some, though.
There were some three-point shooters out Saturday with Leonard, Jamison Battle and Kyle Anderson not playing, but the group that did hardly distinguished itself.
Toronto finished 12-for-41 from three as a team. The starters were 5-for-15 but the bench was a dreadful 7-for-26.
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Doug Smith is a sports reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on BlueSky: @smithraptorsbeat.bsky.social.
