Collin Murray-Boyles says his summer was about confidence, not his jumper, as Raptors chase 35 threes a night

TORONTO — Oct. 14, 2026 — Collin Murray-Boyles spent his summer on one thing, and it was not his jump shot mechanics. The Toronto Raptors’ second-year forward said Wednesday that his offseason was about confidence: getting shots up, reading when defenders sag off him and letting it fly when they do.

That matters more in Toronto this year than it would almost anywhere else. The Raptors want to take at least 35 three-pointers a game in 2026-27 after averaging 32.1 last season, the fifth-lowest rate in the NBA, and Murray-Boyles is the clearest test of whether a whole roster can change its shot profile in one offseason. He attempted just 0.9 threes per game as a rookie.

“Just building that confidence to shoot it more, I think that was my biggest focus. Not really like trying to fix my jumper or anything like that. Just getting confident with getting shots up. Obviously, me reading the defence is the biggest part. If they’re sagging off me, then I have to shoot it.”

He was blunt about the target, too, according to The Canadian Press, which spoke with him after practice.

“We want to shoot more threes. We want to get to that 35-ish per game number. So I’m just helping the team out with that as much as possible.”

A perfect night against the Knicks

The early returns are hard to argue with. In Tuesday’s 148-98 preseason rout of the New York Knicks at Scotiabank Arena, Murray-Boyles scored 19 points on 7-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc. Toronto went 51-of-89 from the field that night, and 44 of those attempts, nearly half, were threes.

The context is worth keeping in mind: New York sat all five of its regular starters on the second night of a back-to-back. Still, a forward who barely looked at the rim from deep last season taking and making open corner threes is exactly what the coaching staff has been asking for.

Scottie Barnes on Kawhi and the corners

All-Star forward Scottie Barnes, who added 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting against the Knicks, described the shots Toronto got as the product of running to spots rather than hunting threes for their own sake.

“We were running to the corner, sprinting to the corner, we got some corner threes and some were off the catch. I think every shot that we took was a really good look. I think when we draw the defence in and get good kickouts, that’s the best shot we can take.”

Kawhi Leonard, who scored 21 points in 17 first-half minutes in his first Raptors game since 2019, went 4-of-8 from three. He averaged 6.8 three-point attempts with the LA Clippers last season and made 38.7 percent of them, and Barnes sounded like a teammate who has already started looking for him.

“Just getting downhill, even in some of the ISO situations, just being able to get downhill, running transition, seeing him wide open, just giving him the ball. Every time he shoots the ball, it just looks like it’s going in every single time, and it feels that way. He’s going to draw so much attention.”

The flip side came from starting point guard Immanuel Quickley, a career 37.5 percent three-point shooter who missed all five of his attempts on Tuesday. G League guard Tyreke Key went 3-of-4.

Rajakovic connects the threes to the paint

Coach Darko Rajakovic framed the shooting push as a way to open the floor rather than a goal by itself.

“If you’re making those three-point shots, it just relieves a lot of pressure. It makes the defence more honest, less help, opens up the paint more. The better shooting you have, in theory, should open up more space and get more paint touches.”

What comes next

Barnes did not read much into the 50-point win. “Obviously, they didn’t really have their guys out there on the floor,” he said. “It felt solid to win the game, but we’ve got a game tomorrow. It should be better.”

The Raptors (2-1) get the Knicks again Thursday at Madison Square Garden, then close the preseason Friday in Detroit. Their regular season opens Oct. 21 at home against the Chicago Bulls, and the first real measure of the 35-a-night plan starts there.