"He's a rebounder, screener, roller, needs to be a good defensive player in that role and protect the rim some, execute the schemes, et cetera, finish at the rim when given an opportunity," he said.
"But doing that at a high level with energy consistently night after night and in more minutes than 10 or 12 in a particular game."was the other — who played for Nurse and Canada at the 2019 World Cup in China. Birch has said he wants to play in the Olympics, and intends to play in Canada's last-chance Olympic qualifier in Victoria this summer.
Birch said he's looking forward to reuniting with a coach who"gives great confidence to his players." "He has a culture, I think, that's pass first and if you play defence and then let the offence come naturally," the centre said."There's just like a flow and that's what made me more comfortable for Team Canada. You don't really showcase one person over the other, everyone gets involved and that's what gives me great confidence."
Birch played college basketball at Pittsburgh and UNLV. After going undrafted, he played in the NBA G League, then Turkey and Greece before he signed with the Magic in 2017. He was part of the Orlando squad that lost to Toronto in five games in the first round of the playoffs in the Raptors' championship run in 2019."I just want to have a good playoff push," he said."So that’s my goal right now.