This is a crazy, crazy stat.

[magnifier661]

Dammit Mags, you said we were the top rebounding team in the league based on preseason. I had my heart set on that.

And I'm sticking to it!

 

[magnifier661]

We can look at their historical averages. Aldridge has a career total rebounding percentage of 13.2 and Lopez TRB% is 12.9. I'd expect both continue at somewhat close to their historic averages which will likely make us a terrible rebounding team. For comparison last year Hickson had 20.7. Camby had between 22-24 when he was here which was exceptional. Lopez best year was in 2009-10 at 14.2 while Aldridge best year was actually last season at 14.0.

That will change this season. Although Aldridge and Lopez may have had lower rebounding %, their were positive over the players they faced. Meaning, they box out and give opportunities for their teammates to get rebounds. I still believe we will be one of the top rebounding teams in the league. Top 5 and I'm sticking to it!

 

[Strenuus]

Have you ever seen LMA crash the boards with effort? I honestly can't remember a time where he has with purpose; ya know to actually attempt to smash in there and assert himself to grab a board.

I saw it twice on Wednesday

 

[Boob-No-More]

I don't care who gets the rebounds. If Batum averages 10 rpg and Lopez, Aldridge and TRob are all in the 8 rpg range, as long as our TEAM out rebounds our opponents, that's all that matters.

So far, we have a sample size of 1. I won't be overly concerned until we start to see an actual trend. We also got out rebounded by Phoenix in the preseason, but totally dominated all our other oppnonents (Utah twice, the Clippers twice, Sacramento and Golden State). Let's give it a few more games before we go all Chicken Little.

BNM

 

[Strenuus]

I have never looked at the preseason as any merit to how the season is going to go.

But, if Batum is getting 10 and those 4 are getting 8 per, that's only 42 rebounds for the entire game. That would be only 3 rebounds more than we had on Wednesday, and 4 less rebounds than the entire PHX team.

 

[Boob-No-More]

I have never looked at the preseason as any merit to how the season is going to go.

But, if Batum is getting 10 and those 4 are getting 8 per, that's only 42 rebounds for the entire game. That would be only 3 rebounds more than we had on Wednesday, and 4 less rebounds than the entire PHX team.

I think the sample size of 7 preseason games is at least as valid as the regular season sample size of 1 game, especially the last few preseason games when our opponents were playing their starters more minutes.

So, you assume all other players get zero rebounds? Our starting guards have a combined career average of 6 rpg. That get's us up to 48. Throw in a couple for our other backup bigs, and we're over 50 rpg - which is right where we were in preseason and would put us among the top teams in the league.

Also, remember, more rebounds for us means fewer for our opponents. Phoenix outrebounded us 47-39. Bump ours up to 42 and that brings their's down to 44 and things are a lot less lopsided. But again that was a single game. I'm not worried - yet.

BNM

 

[Strenuus]

I think the sample size of 7 preseason games is at least as valid as the regular season sample size of 1 game, especially the last few preseason games when our opponents were playing their starters more minutes.

So, you assume all other players get zero rebounds? Our starting guards have a combined career average of 6 rpg. That get's us up to 48. Throw in a couple for our other backup bigs, and we're over 50 rpg - which is right where we were in preseason and would put us among the top teams in the league.

Also, remember, more rebounds for us means fewer for our opponents. Phoenix outrebounded us 47-39. Bump ours up to 42 and that brings their's down to 44 and things are a lot less lopsided. But again that was a single game. I'm not worried - yet.

BNM

Good point on the flip, for some reason I didn't register that (we get more - they get less. Was focused on pure numbers.)

Though, what's really disturbing is that after Batum's 13, the next highest was Matthews at 5. So yeah, I could see how the improvement will be high.

But our defense needs more work than our rebounding.

 

[Pinwheel1]

After only 1 or 2 games played for each team, only 6 out of 30 teams are left without a W. Yet only one team is 2-0

 

[magnifier661]

Good point on the flip, for some reason I didn't register that (we get more - they get less. Was focused on pure numbers.)

Though, what's really disturbing is that after Batum's 13, the next highest was Matthews at 5. So yeah, I could see how the improvement will be high.

But our defense needs more work than our rebounding.

I believe rebounding is part of defense. Allowing the other team fewer offensive rebounds results in less shots. Less shots results in lower opportunities to score. There is no mistake that when we are averaging 50+ a game, the opponent attempts drop drastically.

Also, what happens if you play a solid 24 seconds of defense, only to give up an offensive board? It will deflate you... Our #1 priority is to out rebound our opponent. It will help our defense and offense.

That doesn't mean one player needs to be a +10, but the entire team work together and rebound as a team!

 

[MarAzul]

Batum looks like a good rebounder because he plays with Aldridge, the wimpiest big man in NBA history.

Lopez got into foul trouble.

Robinson and Freeland each have 1 year. What is their rebound/foul ratio? They don't know how to play.

Wow!

 

[Draco]

I don't care who gets the rebounds. If Batum averages 10 rpg and Lopez, Aldridge and TRob are all in the 8 rpg range, as long as our TEAM out rebounds our opponents, that's all that matters.

So far, we have a sample size of 1. I won't be overly concerned until we start to see an actual trend. We also got out rebounded by Phoenix in the preseason, but totally dominated all our other oppnonents (Utah twice, the Clippers twice, Sacramento and Golden State). Let's give it a few more games before we go all Chicken Little.

I see many career stats that point to our big men struggling on the boards. The starting PF and C are the primary rebounders for nearly every team. Could Batum lead a team in rebounding that out rebounds opponents? Perhaps in theory, but I don't believe that is possible. Rebounding is one of the stats that is the most consistent for all players. It translates very well from college to the NBA. Players rebounding rates historically do not change a great deal from one year to the next.

Obviously we will know more as the season plays out. That will be the case at any point in time with any argument. We will always know what will happen tomorrow after tomorrow has happened. Duh! That doesn't mean we can't make an educated projection. We can use past history to make these projections. Lillard and Aldridge project to be our leading scorers this year based on their past performance. Nearly all our players project to be between competent to great 3 point shooters based off past performance. Yet we don't have any guarantees these players will shoot better than Gerald Wallace from 3.

We don't have any guarantee Aldridge and Lopez will be poor rebounders. But using their best career historical rebounding rate they project to be far below average at it. That is a major concern of mine prior to a game being played. Game 1 highlighted rebounding as a major problem. I’ll expect Aldridge and Lopez to be a poor rebounding duo until they prove otherwise.

If you want to have zero expectations good or bad for a team you’ll never be wrong. But you’ll never be right.

 

[magnifier661]

I see many career stats that point to our big men struggling on the boards. The starting PF and C are the primary rebounders for nearly every team. Could Batum lead a team in rebounding that out rebounds opponents? Perhaps in theory, but I don't believe that is possible. Rebounding is one of the stats that is the most consistent for all players. It translates very well from college to the NBA. Players rebounding rates historically do not change a great deal from one year to the next.

Obviously we will know more as the season plays out. That will be the case at any point in time with any argument. We will always know what will happen tomorrow after tomorrow has happened. Duh! That doesn't mean we can't make an educated projection. We can use past history to make these projections. Lillard and Aldridge project to be our leading scorers this year based on their past performance. Nearly all our players project to be between competent to great 3 point shooters based off past performance. Yet we don't have any guarantees these players will shoot better than Gerald Wallace from 3.

We don't have any guarantee Aldridge and Lopez will be poor rebounders. But using their best career historical rebounding rate they project to be far below average at it. That is a major concern of mine prior to a game being played. Game 1 highlighted rebounding as a major problem. I’ll expect Aldridge and Lopez to be a poor rebounding duo until they prove otherwise.

If you want to have zero expectations good or bad for a team you’ll never be wrong. But you’ll never be right.

9 rebounds are poor? I don't think so.... How many players in thee league can say they have 9 rebounds from last season?

As for using past numbers to present. Last time I checked, batum never got more rebound average than Aldridge, so we can be certain batum won't be our leading rebounder every night. Hell Lopez even averaged more rebounds than batum last season.

I'm not understanding why batum and his inability to take control of his passive scoring gets a pass and everyone hounds Aldridge on rebounding?

 

[Draco]

9 rebounds are poor? I don't think so.... How many players in thee league can say they have 9 rebounds from last season?

The problem with only looking at total rebounds per game is Aldridge plays so many damn more minutes than other PF/C. As I’ve said he isn’t a terrible rebounder, he’s just slightly below average. But if you combine him with other below average rebounders well then the team isn’t going to be a good rebounding team. Rebounding isn’t the be all end all. But if the guys paired with Aldridge aren’t good rebounders they need to be great defenders or great scorers or significantly contribute in some aspect of the game.

I'm not understanding why batum and his inability to take control of his passive scoring gets a pass and everyone hounds Aldridge on rebounding?

I don't blame Aldridge for his rebounding, thats just not a great part of his game. He is competent, but its not a strength of his. He is great in other areas; a player is not great at everything. He needs a teammate that is an above average rebounder. I think him and Thomas Robinson have the potential to be a good duo in this regard, but I'm skeptical Aldridge and Lopez can coexist effectively.

 

[magnifier661]

Don't think your talking to me, but I don't blame Aldridge for his rebounding, thats just not a great aspect of his game. He is competent, but its not a strength of his. He is great in other areas; a player is not great at everything. He needs a teammate that is an above average rebounder. I think him and Thomas Robinson have the potential to be a good duo in this regard, but I'm skeptical Aldridge and Lopez can coexist effectively.

I actually hope you are right. I think t rob has the highest upside. I think with starting minutes, he would give us a solid 10/12/2 type contribution. He's not there right now, but hopefully he will soon.

What would be cool is Leonard and Lopez become our bench, with Leonard being the Aldridge mold and Lopez being the defensive big like t rob

 

[Shooter]

Hopefully the team will rebound from that horrible performance last night.

Nicely done. Was that an intentional pun?

 

[blue9]

The problem with only looking at total rebounds per game is Aldridge plays so many damn more minutes than other PF/C.

Thank you. I don't understand why this is such a hard concept for people to understand. The longer you're on the court the more rebounds will fall into your hands, the more shots you'll take/make, and your averages will appear greater than they are.
LMA has been in the Top 4 for MPG for PFs since the 08/09 season (and Top 10 since we traded Zach), so it should come as no surprise that his PPG and RPG are also in the Top 10 (though actually, he's only been in the Top 10 for RPG since the 10/11 season). Unfortunately LMA only cracked the Top 10 for PF FG% once in all that time, never cracked the Top 30 for TRR, twice cracked the Top 40 for DRR, and once cracked the Top 30 for DRR.