Toronto Raptors: What does Khem Birch bring to the team?

It’s always good to have another Canadian on the Toronto Raptors’ books. Khem Birch has had a solid four years with the Orlando Magic. A mobile centre at 6’9 and 235 pounds, Birch is an important type of player to have on a winning team. An energy big who can switch on D, rebound, dunk, can carve out a long career.

If you checked Birch’s career stats as soon as the news broke the Raptors were likely signing him, the numbers are pretty underwhelming. Despite putting up the best season of his career, he’s still only at five points and five rebounds a game.

When the Raptors finally decided they were going to bring in help at the centre position, this move raised some eyebrows. Masai Ujiri’s grand plan to fix this team is…Khem Birch?

And yes, while the name Birch won’t fill seats, and the raw counting stats won’t draw eyes, there is reason to believe that this energy big will be able to have a greater impact in Toronto/Tampa than he did in Orlando.

Khem Birch will log more minutes with the Toronto Raptors

Check out the per 36 minutes numbers for Birch. It’s not surprising that he never had many opportunities on the floor. Orlando has long had a glut of rotation-level centres on the team, starting at the top with Nikola Vucevic, and working down through Mo Bamba, Bismack Biyombo, and now Wendell Carter Jr.

It was hard for Birch to sniff any real playing time behind all those guys, especially because most of them are non-shooters who can’t be on the court together. Because of this, Birch has a career average of only 16.5 minutes a game.

Give him some real time on the court and his 5 and 5 starts to look like 10 and 10. That’s a player worth having.

It’s doubtful that the Raptors will be playing Birch 36 minutes a night, but could we see that 18 become 23?  26? For sure we could.

Khem Birch will thrive playing with Toronto’s stars

Another reason for hope with the Birch signing is his style of play. As an energy big, Birch is very much a product of his point guard or primary ball handler. Birch is not a creator. He’s not someone who wants the ball. He’s there to crash the boards, screen and roll, and fight on both ends.

A player like that isn’t going to change a team’s identity. Nick Nurse is not going home tonight laughing maniacally at all the Khem Birch plays he’s going to run. Birch is a weapon, but he’s only as deadly as the player wielding him.

That’s where there are reasons for optimism with him in Toronto. The Magic have had an up and down past five years, but there have been two constants throughout; Vucevic and a conga line of poor point guards. You know you got it bad when D.J. Augustin is the best guy on that list.

Clint Capela is a decent player, but he was getting open dunks off feeds from James Harden and Trae Young. Same with DeAndre Jordan. Run a zillion screen and rolls with Chris Paul and you’re going to get to your 12 points.

Birch isn’t in the same tier of player Capela or DJ, but he could see his production spike by playing with good ball handlers.

Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet are far and away the best point guards Birch will have ever played with, so there’s reason to believe that putting him with his hometown team and allowing him to operate as a weapon for Lowry and VanVleet will lead to an upsurge in production.

Khem Birch could kick Aron Baynes out of town

With this signing, the Raptors can finally say goodbye to the dumpster fire that was this past four months of Aron Baynes.

What can Birch bring to the table that was lacking with Baynes at centre? Birch can make the occasional layup. He will catch the ball with consistency. He will attempt to play defence against moving opponents. Stuff like that.

At the end of the day, Birch is still a waver-wire pickup. He’s not going to change anything drastically, but he will help to fill the gap at centre. One thing the Raptors know they will get from him is effort, Birch will fight, and that’s more than we can say from Baynes.