It’s one of the tricky contradictions of playing in the NBA. In the same league where coaches preach incessantly about the virtue and necessity of high-intensity defence, general managers pay player salaries mostly based on offence.
Which is precisely the reason why, when Khem Birch joined the Raptors in April after being bought out by the Orlando Magic, the six-foot-nine centre says he forced himself to go against his on-court nature in the quest for a payday. Offence has never been the Montrealer’s raison d’être, as evidenced by the fact he averaged 4.7 points a game in parts of four seasons in Orlando.