Raptors weathering centreless stretch has revealed new strength
My girlfriend and I used to not have a hammer in our apartment.
So, when it came time to decorate, we would use the wrench in my hand-me-down toolkit to whack nails into the walls and hang stuff up. We damaged one of our baseball bats driving base spikes into the ground during our summer softball league. Neither was ideal. But for better or worse, necessity can be the mother of invention.
When the Raptors lost their Austrian Hammer (Jakob Poeltl) and had to improvise with unorthodox tools at the centre position (Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles) they discovered that they didn’t have an awkward implement, but rather a new super tool (a nail gun? A small boulder the size of a large boulder?) that has driven nails (done big-man stuff) just as well.
The Raptors have survived without Poeltl, or any other true big, for the last month, holding their heads above water at .500. They’ve done it unconventionally, with a frontcourt made up of undersized players with unique skillsets and a minutes-winning rookie to boot. And they’ve even unearthed a previously untapped competitive advantage along the way.
Poeltl is the only real centre the Raptors have on the roster. Sandro Mamukelashvili has occupied the role of backup five for the better part of the season, but his playstyle is well outside that of a typical big man. His greatest strength is shooting or driving out of spot ups, and he is average (again, for his position) or worse at rebounding, screening, and protecting the rim. He’s more of a skilled forward in centre’s clothes. Barnes and Murray-Boyles have a far more pronounced presence in the paint on both ends.
The void left at centre forced Murray-Boyles to step in as the starting five and has necessitated him and Barnes playing alongside each other more often to provide requisite husk in the frontcourt. It isn’t groundbreaking to play a small-ball lineup with your two biggest forwards in the absence of a centre. But it’s required the Raptors to put their two best defensive players on the floor at once, uncovering the team’s best two-man lineup. In this case, necessity was the mother of invention.
In 22 games before Poeltl’s injury, the bruising duo played 150 minutes, or 6.8 minutes per game. Since they’ve played 247 minutes together over 12 games, or 17.6 minutes per game. In that span they have the best defensive rating (100.2) and second-best net rating (8.2) of any two-man lineup on the team with a decent sample (over 150 minutes). Their defensive rating is 2.8 points per possession better than the second-best two-man group, the same as the gap between the second and seventh pairings. The Raptors allow nine less points per 100 possessions with Barnes and Murray-Boyles on. The duo are big and long and strong enough to protect the rim, while also being switchable, and furthermore they can deter drives when off the ball with big stunts and recovers. Both are defensive weapons no matter where they find themselves on the court.
These numbers were even more pronounced before a couple of tough showings against the two Los Angeles teams. At that point they were 13th in defensive rating league wide, with eight of the top 13 pairings being on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Raptors will need to see even more of Murray-Boyles and Barnes together to draw final conclusions, but it’s starting to appear that much of Toronto’s future success will be tied up in them sharing the court.
They’ve succeeded by dominating physically: Big, sweeping blocks. Grappling for ground under the rim. Jumping higher and reaching farther than their taller counterparts. Hammering down dunks. They’ve lived in the land of giants and made it their home.
The Raptors’ rim deterrence skyrockets with them on the floor; opponents take and make fewer shots there. Their block rates have been massive. Toronto’s rebounding percentages have been above league average. All without a typical centre. They’ve even been passable finishing at the rim against opposing bigs (68 percent).
More, not only can they punch up at other frontcourts, but they’re also exceptionally versatile guarding across five positions. We’ve commonly seen Murray-Boyles go from guarding players like VJ Edgecombe to Joel Embiid types, Barnes to jump from James Harden to Ivica Zubac.
It’s all a big reason why they’ve gone 10-8 in the 18 games Poeltl has missed since Dec. 15. (Including the six minutes he played before exiting against the Brooklyn Nets on Dec. 21.) And some of those losses could be explained by missing other players; Toronto has survived Poeltl’s absence better than those of RJ Barrett, for example.
Even with Barnes and Murray-Boyles’ outlier physical traits, inventiveness, and propensity to crash and bash, it’s been a demanding ask. Every time one of them is pulled aside for a halftime or post-game interview on a broadcast, they’re visibly more fatigued than usual, having difficulty getting words out at times. Barnes sprawled flat on the bench after tying the Raptors’ single-game rebounding record against the Warriors. Even though they’ve excelled, outleaping and outmuscling seven-footers is a taxing way to play, and is probably unsustainable over a longer period.
Still, it was impossible to imagine the Raptors having such a stretch without Poeltl in previous seasons. The seven-footer provided so many skills that were absent on the rest of the roster that they rode the struggle bus whenever he missed time. Toronto went 12-45 when Poeltl was out between 2023-25, as its rebounding tanked and opposing paint points spiked.
The prospect of him going down for 18 games – and being hobbled outside of roughly a five-game stretch in November – would’ve seemed like a potential death knell at the outset of this season.
When Raptors faced adversity early on, struggling on the glass and defensively when Poeltl’s cranky back first reared its head, it didn’t take long for acquiring a backup centre to become a focus. There was plenty of Mo Bamba optimism to go around until it immediately came crashing down. Size is only effective if it’s functional – players aren’t good if they’re big; they’re good if they’re good.
The Raptors’ success challenges our conventional understanding of big men. While the orthodox ideal of largeness may have already shifted, what constitutes a centre hasn’t. There isn’t a single player listed as a centre at under six-foot-eight on NBA.com. It’s like an amusement park attraction and you must be this tall to ride. It’s inherent in the name. How small can a big man be?
Despite not meeting the height requirement, Murray-Boyles has passed the test. A true exception. Size helps, but it doesn’t define a player’s ability to meet the demands of a particular position or archetype.
Not all tall players are good rebounders, rim protectors, finishers. High pointing a ball that’s just caromed off the basket requires more than just height. Ground under the basket needs to be jostled for with strength and elbow grease; opponents must be boxed out with intent and focus. And if a six-foot-seven player’s positioning, timing, leap and reach combine to a higher apex than a seven-footer at the right time, then the ball is theirs.
And often, the ball has belonged to either Barnes or Murray-Boyles.
And while Barnes often opts to slip screens rather than pulverize defenders the way traditional big men like Poeltl do, Murray-Boyles has proven adept at using his burly frame to carve out space. His 32 screen assists leads the Raptors since Poeltl went down and is second among rookies.
Of course, centres don’t just play defence and set screens. Poeltl provides a ton of value as a pressure-release valve, who can catch 12-15 feet out from the basket and use his push shot or immaculate slide-step footwork to manufacture efficient buckets. Barnes and Murray-Boyles provide a facsimile here in different ways.
Barnes has options, either using his elite ability to read the floor and make plays to create advantages for teammates, going for the rim if presented with an opportunity or mismatch, or taking the open middy. He takes what the defence gives him. His passing under the rim when he’s six feet from his targets is second to none in the league. Or he can just rise up and dunk if he can get to his two-footed takeoff.
Murray-Boyles is more akin to Poeltl. He doesn’t have the size or technique, but has often been able to use a combination of strength and guile to get downhill on the short roll.
It hasn’t just been the Raptors’ twin boulders that have stepped up. Rebounding from the wings and guards has ticked up too as the entire team has fought tooth and nail to not get bullied by the big guys. Brandon Ingram’s rebounding has stood out in particular.
So they haven’t been without help, but the brunt of the work has still fallen on the backs of their two pseudo-big men. Barnes and Murray-Boyles have uniquely carried the Raptors through this challenging and offbeat span of games, largely by defying convention and stretching the expectations of what a player of their proportions can offer. And while it might not be viable for an extended stretch, it also may have unearthed a secret sauce, one that could be effective even when melded with a seven-footer to fuel more winning in the future.
With Murray-Boyles now sidelined with a thumb contusion, it will get even harder. Mamu gave a herculean effort with 12 boards against a weak Warriors frontcourt on Tuesday, but Donovan Clingan- and Chet Holmgren-shaped towers loom in the foreground. The Raptors have survived without a big, but that doesn’t mean they won’t need one. Poeltl’s return remains murky with the latest reporting being that he isn’t working out near game speed. Meanwhile, according to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange Day’Ron Sharpe and Goga Bitadze are potential trade targets for the Raptors.
My girlfriend and I have a hammer now. Going without one forever is impractical; it’s bound to be needed eventually. The Raptors sure could have used a traditional big when De’Andre Ayton feasted against them on Sunday. But they’ve gotten the job done without one, innovated along the way and learned more about their roster. Now it might be time for the Raptors to acquire a hammer of their own, while keeping the lessons learned without one.
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