Take a running start from about 40 feet away from something above your head. When you get close, jump up to slap it. Now, go back and try that again with an eyepatch over one eye. See how fast you are willing to go to and how accurate you are. That’s kind of what Khem Birch was trying for Monday night’s dunk contest at the McDonald’s All-American game festivities.
Khem Birch, a 6-9 F who is originally from Canada but played his HS ball in Massachusetts and is committed to play at Pittsburgh next year, took an inadvertent shot to the eye which caused some bleeding and swelling. He was scheduled to be in the dunk contest and was thought to be a late scratch but still managed to gut it out with a bandage above his left eye.
I was surprised when the announcers failed to mention his injury, but really disappointed by the number of readers on the site who decided to pass judgment on Birch based on the dunk attempts and not the slightest bit aware of what happened to him during team practices earlier that day.
Canada seems to be taking great joy in having 3 native sons (of sorts) in the McDonald’s All-American Game. Khem Birch is the newest to the game.
Birch, 18, by his own estimation is raw, having played just five years of basketball on a six-foot-nine body.
“He’s freakishly athletic,” [Canada’s men’s basketball coach Leo] Rautins explains. “He can be right there with you and next thing his elbows are above the rim. His upside is tremendous. I don’t think he has scratched the surface of his potential as yet.” Birch has a scholarship to Pittsburgh.
Birch is also the most reserved/shy player amongst the Canadians.
Birch, who is Kabongo’s polar opposite in that he’s much more quiet and reserved, said, nevertheless, he is still having fun.
“I’m getting used to it,” Birch said of dealing with the media crush.
Birch is not from Toronto — where a lot of the best Candadian players have been emerging — but he might have the highest ceiling.
“I think his game, of all of (Canada’s long list of elite prospects), he’s not even scratching the surface yet,” Rautins said.
“As he learns to put the ball on the floor, shoot the ball away from the basket, his game is just going to expand.”
Rautins believes Birch could be a deadly small forward if he rounds out the offensive aspects of his game since he is a little under-sized to play power forward at the highest level.
“I hope he has the opportunity where they work on those aspects with him (at Pitt), because he’s more of a three (small forward) size-wise, so you’d hope to see him go in that direction.”
Rautins added that it often takes a few minutes for an observer to realize just how good Birch is right now.
“Khem’s just sneaky. It’s easy to sleep on him, then all of a sudden, his head is at the rim. He’s blocking shots, dunking.
He’s deceptively quick and jumps deceptively high.”
The 18-year-old helped Canada win a bronze medal at the 2010 FIBA Americas U18 Championship last summer, finishing second in the tournament in blocks and fifth in rebounding and also led Canada to third place at the Nike Global Challenge, winning international MVP.
Birch, who describes himself as, “laid-back, chill,” comes from a basketball family — both his parents played the game — but was never pressured to hit the hardwood himself.
The McDonald’s game airs at 10pm on ESPN. Can we all agree in advance not to read too much into this?
link to rivals.yahoo.com
Jaylen Bond is going to prep school next year.
This is good news, ONLY IF YOUR NAME IS JJ Richardson. They were overloaded at the PF spot next year. Don’t blame the kid. Kind of stinks to loose talent though. Would rather have seen JJ move on to where he belongs, mid major or D2.
miserable game to even try to judge kids on, the guards play so selfish that the 5 minutes I watched were unbearable…it would be awful to be a big man in that game, especially on Austin Rivers team.
His stat line: 15 pts. 10 rebounds and 6 blocks. The two most impressive things there were that 9 of his 10 rebounds were on offense and the block total tied for 2nd all-time. He was also only one of two players with a double-double. The other was one of the co-MVPs, Gilchrist.
He has outstanding athleticism and a good motor. The kid was all over the floor and especially around the glass. Thanks Pat Skerry! I think we got us a good one in the making.
Agree on Rivers too. Looked like he was trying to live up to all the ESPN hype and ended up looking more like a ball hog who cost his team the game.
Very quick leaper
Great fleet feet
Can run up and down the court
Natural shot blocker
decent looking free throw shooter
Very long arms, bothers a lot of shots
Didn’t see much in terms of offensive ability, other than dunking. Looked like a bean pole. Not sure how he will handle some of the MEN in the big east paint.
He looks like he has the ability to play defense on the perimeter. Something that Pitt hasn’t had in a center in a long, long time. He has the mobility to play the high ball screen. He is quick enough and long enough to bother the big guys who like to step up and hit jumpers.
Dante better hit the weights and work on his game. I can see Khem giving him a real run for his money at center. Birch is twice the athlete. I hope Jamie gives him some time at forward too.
“Pittdom”