Blazers are 6th in offensive and 6th in off. rebounds/game. At the same time, they are 28th in defensive rebounding and 30th in def. rebounds/game those are kind of insane gaps. Why do you think that is? Is it because Portland is just totally confused on the defensive end of the floor and out of position all the time?
A big factor (not the only one) of offensive rebounding is coaching decision. The Blazers routinely send multiple players to get offensive rebounds instead of running back. You can see we are also dead last in the league in fast break points allowed: https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/opponent-fastbreak-points-per-game, and these two stats tend to be inversely related. We are bad at defensive rebounding because we have bad natural rebounders. Outside of Ayton (routinely out), Williams (Out), and Jabari, everyone else on the team is average or below average for their position. This is especially worse when your starting PF who plays 35 MPG is worse at rebounding than some point guards.
Would it have anything to do with us having a bit more traditional bigs who play in the paint more? Jabari, Ayton and Badji all play midrange or inside when on offense, leaving them in better positions to box out and/or be in a good position to rebound, but when we go to defense, our bigs are out further, covering more non traditional bigs, making it harder for us to get defensive rebounds? Just spit balling... Also, whats our FG% vs opponents FG%? Are we leaving more offensive rebounds to be had compared to the teams we play?
Agree with your post, but I do think that generally, we pick on PFs too much because of their lack of rebounding numbers. Other than centers, why do we assume forwards should have more rebounds than pgs these days when the man they are guarding is standing 24 feet from the basket? I am not making excuses for Grant (because he can do better) but when it comes to long rebounds it seems to me that the guards are better suited due to their quickness to loose balls. Sharpe btw is a pretty good rebounder for his position IMO
active physical application; Blazer offensive rebounding is up, because they regulary miss a variety of shots. Portland is tied with Memphis for worst FG% in the league. Billups runs offensive sets that squeeze 3-4 players on the baseline. During missed Blazer shot attempts, the scramble for the loose ball will occasionally favor Portland. Defensive rebounding, Blazers are dead last in the NBA. Portland plays a lot of guards (do we include Jerami Grant?), and sometimes the weakside helpers don't engage. Portland gets scored on in the paint. Opponent layups and dunks won't produce hardly any defensive rebounds. If the ball does clang off the rim, the Blazers 3 guard lineups have to scrum with bigger, taller dudes, which can lead to disadvantages in defensive rebounding.
I would say the numbers highlight a lack of finishing. Guessing the numbers are high from players getting their own rebound on an attempt that should have went in or from tip ins that have no chance of going in. With that, our shooting percentage should be slightly higher. Take the following scenario: player attempts layup that does not go in tip in by offensive team that has a very low chance of going in defensive rebound on the play, there would be two shot attempts and an offensive rebound. IMO, it should really just be one shot attempt. Of note, we are dead last in FG% on shots less than 5 ft. https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/shooting?dir=D&sort=Less Than 5 ft. FG PCT
Blazers used to have a really really good rebounder named Josh Hart. He was traded last February so the owner could save long term salary, gain a draft pick, and replace him with steal master Thybulle. We were told the transacation was a brilliant move that only the most talented General Manager in the NBA could have accomplished. Blazers are 14-42 after trading the toughest, scrappiest "leave everything on the court" player on their roster. We may be witnessing some "wish Josh Hart was here" syndrome. Fantasy statters would get mad at Josh, because he wasn't hitting 5-6 three pointers like Lillard/Grant/Simons... but basketball is a complex sport, and not everything positive shows up in the boxscore. Now other teams seem to be very interested in trading for Matisse. It would be another head scratcher if Thybulle was this year's rent-a-Blazer. Portland has enough freaking draft picks. Discarding Thybulle for more picks would adversely effect the defensive gameplans. Basically, Portland would look like poodoo even more often then we currently watch.
I'd evaluate rebounding % over sheer number per game, so it will account for things like difference in pace, difference in number of possessions that don't result in a rebounding opportunity (due to fg% or foul rate). But the Blazers are just not a good rebounding team overall, and the reason is Jerami Grant. He's the one who is clearly "under rebounding" for his position.
Some of it may be that defensive rebounds are often long rebounds from deeper jumpers that guards can snatch at the arc and run with. More 3 pt shooting.
