It's clear that defence has become a priority for the Toronto Raptors.
Alijah Martin was taken 39th overall by Toronto on Thursday in the second round of the NBA Draft, a day after the Raptors picked Collin Murray-Boyles at No. 9.
Both players made their names in the collegiate ranks for their defensive prowess and they will have the opportunity to join Toronto's bench led by dogged guard Jamal Shead.
"Those two guys are two-way guys, just like me. They hang their hat on the defensive end," Martin said in a video conference with reporters. "I played Collin Murray-Boyles this year. He really impressed me. It was just hard to deal with.
"We end up slipping away at the end and getting the win, but he made it very hard for us, and I'm just excited to be his teammate."
Martin is a six-foot-one guard who finished his five-year U.S. collegiate career at the University of Florida, helping the Gators win an NCAA championship. He averaged 14.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists over 38 games last season, 36 of them starts.
The first four seasons of Martin's collegiate eligibility were spent at Florida Atlantic University. He had career averages between the two schools of 12.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.
Harassing other team's ballhandlers is where Murray-Boyles and Martin excelled.
Murray-Boyles averaged a steal and a block per game in his first year at South Carolina, then 1.5 steals and 1.3 blocks per game this past season. Martin averaged 1.3 steals over his five NCAA seasons and 0.3 blocks.
“My best attribute defensively is my ability to match your body up, being able to stay mentally poised," said Murray-Boyles. "You're not going for every fake, and just laying it all on the line.
"As a defender, you've got to take that step mentally.”
After the draft was completed, Raptors assistant general manager Dan Tolzman told media that what the team liked about Martin was that he could be the ultimate role player.
"I think he’s one of these guys that he's got some positional versatility that maybe is a little bit untapped at the next level, like he can probably guard one through three," said Tolzman. "But then offensively, (he can) work on ball skills and see how much on the ball stuff he can do.
"I think as a shooter, pretty much everybody can improve when guys are focusing on basketball all the time, instead of in college, when you're kind of focusing on other stuff too, you just get way more shooting reps in."
The Raptors finished last season with a 30-52 record, seventh worst in the league. However, Toronto dropped down to the ninth overall pick in the draft lottery.
The second-round pick originally belonged to the Portland Trail Blazers and was acquired by the Raptors at last year's draft in a deal with the Sacramento Kings.
Free agency opens on Monday and Tolzman said there's a possibility Toronto could be active, even though the Raptors are almost out of salary cap space.
"I would say there's always probably a little bit more work to be done," he said. "I think that's what we'll do the next few days, is really look at it a little bit harder and see what (we can do) from a free agency standpoint.
"We don't have a ton of room to work with, but there's always a little bit of tweaking that can happen."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2025.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
