National Post (National Edition)
Birch might be just what Raptors need
MONTREAL BIG MAN CAN HELP STABILIZE CENTRE POSITION FOR SLUMPING TORONTO
Positionally there is no spot on the floor for the Toronto Raptors that has received more attention this year, both good and bad, than centre.
When management made the decision to value cap space over certainty at the centre spot this past off-season, they put the microscope firmly on the Raptors filling the shoes previously filled by the underappreciated duo of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka.
Without either of that pair returning, the Raptors signed Chris Boucher to a two-year deal worth US$13.52 million, though only $6.5 million of that is guaranteed.
Then they jumped into a free agent market that had already been picked over and landed on Aron Baynes.
It looked at the time like the best possible fallback option, though Baynes' inability to look anywhere close to the player he had been in his previous three or four seasons has changed that narrative dramatically. That said, him blowing up unsuspecting opponents with screens remains a personal favourite in a season where little has gone right for the Aussie national.
The Raptors were expected to make official Friday the signing of another Montreal native who plays centre in Khem Birch.
Birch became available partly out of the need of his former team to see two younger emerging stars that play the same position develop with minutes, and partly because his former club respected him enough to let him go find a place where he could actually play the type of minutes he had earned.
“He's a serious-minded, committed player,” Magic head coach Steve Clifford told reporters in Orlando upon his release. “He was a good player when we (coaches) got here (in 2018), and he's much improved now. He cares about the team. He cares about his teammates. He badly wants to play well and contribute. Of all the guys we've had on our roster, he's sacrificed the most. When he got his chances to play, he's played very, very well. And I will tell you, he has the great respect of everybody: all of his teammates, all the coaches, everybody here around the organization.”
But a team like the Magic, which is building for the future, has invested draft picks and even present-day all-stars to bring in the likes of Mo Bamba and Wendell Carter Jr. and those guys are going to get the minutes at centre ahead of a guy like Birch every time.
Birch may not come with the notoriety or even flashy stats that accompanied Baynes, but he does bring a few things this team has been lacking all year: specifically defensive acumen and toughness, and a willingness to do the dirty work to ensure stops end with the Raptors in possession of the basketball.
Couple that with Boucher, who is slowly figuring out how to remain a consistent contributor on the defensive end — he's already been a revelation most of the year offensively — and the Raptors just might have figured out a way to take some of the focus off that centre position.
Depending on what the Raptors decide to do with Baynes, they could have not just an all-Canadian big man rotation at centre, but an All-Montreal rotation.
Boucher likely ends up playing minutes at both centre and power forward behind all-star Pascal Siakam, but he'll be pulling down solid minutes either way.
Birch is no stranger to the Raptors, having played for head coach Nick Nurse as a member of Canada's national team two summers ago in China at the World Basketball Championship.
Birch was one only two NBA players either able or willing to give up his summer and put his health on the line for his country. The other was Cory Joseph.
That commitment spoke volumes for Nurse and then watching Birch play the selfless, team first kind of basketball Nurse covets throughout that summer with the national team, further endeared the Montreal big man to Nurse.
That approach to the game is at the core of his basketball being.
At 28, Birch is just now entering his prime. He's not a guy who is going to step outside and space the floor like many of this generation's big men, but he is a guy who will set screens, rebound, and defend with all he has.
His skill set is exactly what the Raptors have been lacking for much of this season.
And on a team that boasts a number of late round picks or even undrafted players who have worked their way into nice fat contracts, Birch — who made his bones in Turkey and Greece before finding a foothold in the NBA — should have no trouble fitting in.
Based on need and availability of players right now on the banged-up Raptors, don't be surprised to see Birch suiting up Saturday night in Cleveland.