Follow up on Wallace's rebounding

[Erick Blasco]

 

 

Apparently, BBP readers aren’t real big fans of Tyson Chandler. The biggest source of feedback I got on today’s look at Gerald Wallace’s improved rebounding was the question of how much it had to do with the Bobcats’ personnel–and, most specifically, the trade that sent Emeka Okafor to New Orleans in exchange for Chandler. For example, this e-mail is typical:

 

I just wanted to bring up the fact that you failed to mention that Emeka Okafor’s now in New Orleans. Emeka has been the major rebounder in Charlotte the last few seasons and now that he is gone Gerald has less ‘in team’ competition on the glass and may feel the need to crash the boards more.

 

Indeed, Okafor is the better rebounder, but the difference isn’t enormous. Last year, Okafor grabbed 19.0 percent of available rebounds; Chandler is at 16.0 percent this season.

 

http://www.basketballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=385

[Poe]

I think it could also have a lot to do with the types of rebounds a player gets. There are those meaningless rebounds from just being positioned underneath the basket, where sometimes teammates will fight for the same rebound for statistical reasons, and there are those rebounds in traffic, those 50/50 balls where a rebound truly matters. I don't know if there is a definite difference in style of rebounding between Okafor and Chandler, since I don't watch the Hornets or Bobcats much, but I'm just throwing the idea out there.

[Erick Blasco]

I think it could also have a lot to do with the types of rebounds a player gets. There are those meaningless rebounds from just being positioned underneath the basket, where sometimes teammates will fight for the same rebound for statistical reasons, and there are those rebounds in traffic, those 50/50 balls where a rebound truly matters. I don't know if there is a definite difference in style of rebounding between Okafor and Chandler, since I don't watch the Hornets or Bobcats much, but I'm just throwing the idea out there.

 

I think that's a lot of what the article is trying to say. A lot of people were assuming that Wallace was just getting all the rebounds that Okafor wasn't. The article states that the Bobcats' teammates haven't dropped off their production, Wallace just exploded with his. Therefore, he's not just stealing rebounds from teammates, but is also earning a huge share of rebounds.