No Rebounds? No Title!

[Bankshot]

Seriously, if this team doesn't start rebounding better, there is no way they win a title.  How did this team go from one of the best rebounding teams to one of the worst this year?  We can specifically point to the absurd number of offensive rebounds they give up as a big part of the problem.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Doc said recently that he wasn't worried about the rebounding.  I wonder if he still feels that way?

[connerhenry43]

a guy like leon powe getting healthy for the stretch run would be cool right around now.

 

[Drucci]

Yeah I thought we would come out of this "rebounding slump" against a contender but oviously it didn't happen and I'm starting to worry...

[wdleehi]

They need fie guys crashing the defensive boards hard every time right now.


Clean that up first.  Worry about offensive boards later.

[Celtics17]

A healthy KG would help the rebounding numbers, not fix them mind you, but help them. The thing is, if he doesnt get healthy it wont matter how we rebound.

[Who]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Doc said recently that he wasn't worried about the rebounding.  I wonder if he still feels that way?

I thought Doc said that he was concerned and that team rebounding, boxing out, and particularly from the perimeter players is a major source of the problem. That they have to improve there.

[Who]

CelticsHub.com had an article on this recently

A couple highlights of Doc’s response

* He is concerned about the defensive rebounding.

*And it what came as somewhat of a shock to me, Doc acknowledged that the return of KG would not solve the defensive rebounding problem. He wisely pointed out to me that the C’s were having problems with the defensive rebounding even before KG went down in December.

*The problem, Doc believed stems from poor positioning by the team on the blocks down low. The guys need to do a better job of boxing out and a better job of positioning themselves to do so. He said it was a team wide problem, not a problem with the big guys.

Given this information, I inquired about the positioning and team wide problem comment. What could the guards do better to help? Does he want them to hit the glass more and help out the big guys?

* Doc emphasized that he does not need the guards on the glass more, he just needs them to do a better job of keeping their man in front of them. When the guards let their men by them, the bigs have to recover to help them and in turn can be left in poor rebounding position, due to the rotations. Doc essentially emphasized that the guards cutting down on these kinds of rotations would do wonders in helping to solve the problem.

http://celticshub.com/2010/01/27/doc-on-defensive-rebounding-problems/

[wdleehi]

So, better perimeter defense will help with the rebounding issue.



I can buy that.

[Change]

Sheed happened. And KG's injury.

[wdleehi]

Sheed happened. And KG's injury.

In the past few seasons, when the Celtics had weak rebounders playing PF, they were still good on the boards.


Examples

1) Posey playing PF

2) Scali starting as a PF

3) Davis starting as a PF in the playoffs. 



So, how do we blame all of this on the 6th man?

[Who]

I think a lack of perimeter rebounding is hurting the Celtics.

Rajon Rondo is doing less on the glass than ever (still good for a PG though). Ray Allen hardly ever rebounds. Pierce continues to decline in both in his individual rebounding and his team rebounding. Marquis is a solid rebounder but hasn't rebounded the ball well this season.

Tony Allen is really the only perimeter player who is doing well on the glass.

[Bankshot]

a guy like leon powe getting healthy for the stretch run would be cool right around now.

 

The Celtics did fine in the past without Powe, so no, I don't think not having Powe is the problem.  Besides, Powe's replacement (if you want to say Baby is his replacement) had 4 offensive rebounds.  So he wasn't the problem with rebounding.

[PLamb]

I blame the lack of rebounding on

Paul Pierce career 6.2 RPG, 2009-10 4.8 RPG, Career rebound rate 9.7% 2009-10 8.1%
Ray Allen career 4.4 RPG, 2009-10 3.3 RPG, Career rebound rate 7.0% 2009-10 5.5%
Kevin Garnett career 11.0 RPG, 2009-10 7.3 RPG, Career rebound rate 17.1%, 2009-10 14.6%
Rasheed Wallace career 6.8 RPG, 2009-10 4.5 RPG, Career rebound rate 12.1%, 2009-10 11.5%

These are 4 of your top 6 players in minutes played and minutes played per game

What do they all have in common

They are all 32 years old or older and have played between 850-1050 regular season NBA games and between 32000 and 40000 regular season NBA minutes



Maybe all the national media with their "the Celtics are old" rhetoric are right

Age will always start to show in three main areas of a players game: defense, rebounding and shooting percentage

Maybe what we are seeing is what we are supposed to be seeing given the age and amount of games these guys have played

[vinnie]

Rasheed and KG combined for 9 rebounds in 59 minutes against the Magic. That pretty much says all you need to know.

[Bankshot]

Rasheed and KG combined for 9 rebounds in 59 minutes against the Magic. That pretty much says all you need to know.

Well if this continues, like I said, no title.