2025 Rookie Observation (11): Can the South Carolina inside swinger really compete with the role of the No. 5 position?

Colin Murray-Boyles

Team: University of South Carolina (NCAA)

Date of birth: July 2005

Birthplace: Columbia, South Carolina, USA

Position: Inside swingman, often play center in South Carolina

Height: 201cm

Weight: 105kg

Wandspan: 213cm?

Grade: Sophomore

Expected Market: Lotto

Template: Dream Chasing - Green (Draymond Green)

National High School Student Ranking (2023): On3 Ranking 116 (Four Stars), 247 Ranking 108 (Four Stars), ESPN Ranking 61 (Four Stars), Rivals Ranking 123 (Four Stars)

Honors: 2024 SEC League Best Rookie Team, 2025 SEC Best Team Second Team

Note 1: Brother James Murray Boyles is also 201cm tall. He once played for the NCAA Division II team at the University of North Carolina Pembroke and is a key figure in the team. After graduating from university, he has played in the Slovak League, the Austrian League, the Swedish Balkan League, the Bundesliga and the VTB League.

Note 2: The university major is Mass Media, this season's data: 32 appearances, 30.7 minutes per game, 16.8 points, 8.2 rebounds (2.2 frontcourt rebounds), 2.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks, 2.4 turnovers and 2.6 fouls, shooting percentage of 58.6% (6.2/10.6), 26.5% (0.3/1.1), and free throw percentage of 70.7% (4.2/5.9).

Advantages:

Boyles is a strong forward player with athletic ability and very comprehensive functions. Boyles is good in speed, agility and flexibility. His explosive power and bounce ability are also enough among players in the fourth or fifth position, and his strength and confrontation ability are also relatively good. Although he is not tall, he is often placed in the fifth position, and it seems that he can complete this task well.

Boyles has a pretty good finishing ability at the basket on the offensive end. He is good at using the empty cut and pick-and-roll to get opportunities. He can also use his athletic ability to score directly through dunks. In fact, Boyles also has a certain ability to hold the ball and attack. He can also use dribble breakthroughs or low-post skills to complete some points when facing the basket. Although the shooting percentage is not ideal, Boyles still hit some three-pointers. He made a total of 9 three-pointers this season. Although the output is limited, he has made some progress in this season compared to the data that he only made 2 shots last season and did not score 1 goal.

Boyles can defend players from multiple positions on the defensive end. His defensive prediction ability is excellent. He can judge the ball path in advance and complete steals. His defensive oppressiveness is also good. He can use his advantages in confrontational ability to create some interference to his opponent. Although his figure is limited, Boyles still has certain frame protection capabilities. Boyles is a player who can defend his opponents in a real sense, from the wing to the inside, and he seems to be able to deal with it. Boyles' defensive awareness is also very good. He also has good performance in defensive position selection, and he should become a reliable defender.

Boyles also has good game reading ability and overall view. He can find teammates in open positions on the court, he also has certain passing ability, and he is also a relatively outstanding player in the football maker.

Disadvantages:

Boyles' figure is very limited. His height is not particularly tall among the No. 4 players, and his athletic ability is not at the top level. It is understandable that he can play in the NCAA field, but with his talent, it is a bit worrying whether he can continue to perform like this in the NBA field.

Boyles' shooting ability is obviously not ideal. His shooting moves are a bit strange, a bit out of touch and unstandard. Even though he made several three-pointers this season, which has improved a bit from last season, in the long run, we will also feel a little pessimistic about his shooting practice. As an inside player, Boyles' turnover count is obviously higher, and his assist-return error ratio is less than 1, which is very worrying. Many of Boyles' mistakes are not because of his teammates' problems, but because of his own concentration problems. He has caused low-level mistakes due to lack of concentration.

Boyles has no problem with his ability to assist and switch defenses. He is indeed able to limit players in multiple positions, but his ability to protect the frame is somewhat doubtful. In the NCAA arena, his ability to protect the basket can only be considered unsatisfactory. If he cannot make progress in the NBA, he will encounter big trouble when encountering inside players with excellent scoring skills at a low post.

Expected market:

The current situation is that Boyles' draft market is very good, and he should be able to stabilize the position in a lottery zone. He has a chance to launch an impact on the top 10 or even the top 8 picks. Boyles' draft market is improving as the season deepens, and his performance this season seems to have won wide recognition.. Of course, the current market should have reached a relatively high position. Considering the performance of other players, it seems that Boyles wants to go further on the existing basis and launch a rush to the top 6 picks.

Personal prediction:

Personal opinion, Boyles' draft market seems to be slightly higher. Choosing Boyles is actually a very risky decision, because you may not know whether he can play the No. 5 position in the NBA arena. Under ideal circumstances, Boyles will develop in the direction of dream-Green, so it seems that there is no big problem to choose him with the No. 10 or No. 8. But the current situation is that Boyles' performance on the defensive end may not be as steady as Green, and his ability to shoot on the offensive end is even worse than Green. With Boyles' shooting ability, it is expected that he will play the No. 4 position for a long time as soon as he comes out. This may have a huge impact on the team's competitiveness, especially on the offensive space. There are inside players like Derik Queen who are more mature and statically talented as Khaman Maluach among this class. When the draft market is similar, choosing Boyles instead of Quinn or Maruac seems to be a somewhat incomprehensible decision? If you want to be stable, you want to be more stable. If you want to bet, you want to bet bigger. This should be the logic of choosing the top 10 or top 8, right?

Target teams:

San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, Oklahoma City Thunder

Boyles is subject to his figure and has a question mark in the ability to protect the frame. In this case, it is actually more suitable for him to gain a foothold in the fourth position first, and wait until he proves that he can indeed take the lead in the inside, and then see if he can be competent for the fifth position. Of course, if he can gain a foothold in the number four position, it would be a more ideal situation. Both the Bulls and the Raptors have high demand for No. 5 players, but as mentioned earlier, it is a question mark on how they will choose between Boyles, Quinn and Maruac. The Spurs, the Sixers and the Thunder all have big inside players with comprehensive skills and excellent abilities. Their versatility on both ends of the offense and defense can actually make up for Boyles' shortcomings, and Boyles' characteristics can also help Victor Wembanyama, Joel Embiid and Chet Holmgren.