Knightro wrote:Ducklett wrote:Can someone do a side-by-side of Birch and Bamba's stats while Vuc was gone? I would actually be curious to see who played better during Vuc's absence.
Birch
28.1 MPG, 4.8 PTS, 7.0 REB, 1.5 AST, 1.0 TOV, 0.8 STL, 1.2 BLK, 3.2 PF
48.9% FG (22-45), 0.0% 3PT (0-0), 60% FT (9-15)
ORTG 101.9, DRTG 109.5, -7.6 NET
48.9 eFG%, 51.4 TS%, 8.8 USG%
Bamba
17.9 MPG, 7.9 PTS, 6.2 REB, 0.5 AST, 1.3 TOV, 0.3 STL, 1.6 BLK, 2.0 PF
50.0% FG (34-68), 48.0% 3PT (12-25), 87.5% FT (7-8)
ORTG 106.9, DRTG 103.5, +3.3 NET
58.8 eFG%, 60.8 TS%, 18.6 USG%
The short answer? Bamba was significantly better than Birch.
The long answer is a little more nuanced. It must be noted that Bamba's role didn't really change all that much once Vucevic went down. He was the backup C playing against backups before Vucevic got hurt playing 13-14 minutes a night and he remained the backup C once Vucevic got hurt. Only real difference was a small uptick to 17-18 minutes a night.
Plus Bamba was on a small minutes restriction and being held out of back-to-backs the first month of the season which has since been lifted. So it's possible this improvement was coming with or without Vucevic going down.
Birch went from completely out of the rotation to being forced into 28 minutes a night. He tried hard, but 28 MPG is simply more than Khem's skill set is capable of handling.
You look back to last year when Birch was really effective as Vucevic's backup and he was sitting in that 14-17 MPG sweet spot every night. He never cracked 20 minutes in a single game during last year's stretch run.
Birch is a perfectly capable backup NBA center. A guy who should be playing limited minutes where his energy and hustle can really provide the biggest impact. The more he plays, the less effective he is.
The eye test also looked that way, Bamba has played better.
To give full context of comparison, it should be noted that Birch was playing vs starting unit caliber lineups. Which of course means he was facing much harder competition than Bamba. It can be argued that he was also playing alongside starters, so he was on the floor with better players...but in this case, he was replacing the most crucial starter + two other starters (Gordon and Fultz) missed games as well.
