Saying that rebounding isn’t important to winning is like saying that you don’t know anything about basketball without saying you don’t know anything about basketball. It matters. It matters a lot.
Just because we are overcoming poor rebounding to an extent doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant.
There sure does seem to be a lot of panic for a team who’s the 2nd youngest in the NBA and has started the season 8-4….
I think a little bit of data and context would be helpful on this topic.
Based on the current state of the NBA, rebounding doesn’t seem to be as big a deal as it once was.
Last season, the Houston Rockets were the 2nd best rebounding team in the NBA (and had the 2nd worst record).
Utah was #5.
Charlotte was #7.
OKC was #14.
Denver was all the way down at 16.
Minnesota was at 23.
Philadelphia was at 26.
Cleveland was at 27.
Do we have a problem with rebounding? Yes. We are missing at some fundamentals.
Are we winning? Also yes.
This season?
Phoenix is 4th in rebounding and they’re not good.
Utah is 5th. Also not good.
Denver and Portland are tied at 15/16. The best team is tied in rebounding with arguably the worst team.
Can we acknowledge that maybe rebounding isn’t a core contributor to winning?
Again, I agree we need to improve…but we ARE winning…against good teams…
This is an opportunity for us to grow and develop, not the moment for some big roster change to address a panic attack in our fanbase.
According to Basketball Reference, we are currently:
Off Rtg: 115.8 (8th of 30)
Def Rtg: 109.8 (7th of 30)
Net Rtg: +6.0 (5th of 30)
All while being the second youngest team in the NBA.
Saying that rebounding isn’t important to winning is like saying that you don’t know anything about basketball without saying you don’t know anything about basketball. It matters. It matters a lot.
Just because we are overcoming poor rebounding to an extent doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant.