Getting Better On The Boards

Getting better on the boards
December, 4, 2013
DEC 4 2:35 PM ET
By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com



The Boston Celtics rank 25th in the league in defensive rebound percentage. And Brad Stevens couldn’t be happier.

Through the first 11 games of the season, Boston owned a league-worst defensive rebound percentage of 70.4 percent. At that point, Boston was about to embark on a road trip that featured some imposing opposing front lines (Minnesota, Houston, San Antonio), but managed to start trending in a more positive direction during that three-game stretch.

Over the past nine games, Boston’s defensive rebound rate is 75.7 percent, ranking 12th in the league during that span. That’s helped the Celtics climb from the league’s basement to 25th overall for the season with a season mark of 72.8 percent.

If Boston were to maintain that rebound rate of 75.7 percent from that nine-game stretch, it would rank them near the top 5 in the league overall this season.

“The thing I’m most pleased with, improvement-wise, has been that our defensive rebounding numbers have gotten better throughout [the season],” said Stevens. “I think we were 30th in the middle of the month. Now we’re not very high, but we’re climbing, so that’s a really positive thing.”

So what’s changed? Here’s a look at the individual changes in defensive rebound rate for every player on the roster from the first 11 games to the last nine:

A kick in the glass

A look at the change in defensive rebound percentage for Boston's roster from the first 11 games to the past nine.

Player...................DREB%(first 11).....DREB%(last 9).....Change
Vitor Faverani.........23.2....................16.3..................-6.9
Kris Humphries.........21.9....................26.8..................+4.9
Jared Sullinger.........19.5....................25.2..................+5.7
Kelly Olynyk............17.9....................16.7..................-1.2
Gerald Wallace.........15.1....................11.2..................-3.9
Brandon Bass...........14.4....................19.2..................+4.8
Jeff Green...............12.3....................12.3...................--
MarShon Brooks........12.0...................20.0..................+8.0
Courtney Lee............10.1...................9.2...................-0.9
Jordan Crawford........9.9....................10.5...................+0.6
Phil Pressey..............9.2....................6.3.....................-2.9
Avery Bradley............9.1....................11.3...................+2.2
Keith Bogans.............0.0....................4.8.....................+4.8
Data: NBA.com/Stats

Faverani’s dip is a product of his downturn in playing time. The two numbers that leap off the page are Sullinger and Bass, the team’s new starting frontcourt combination and the guys logging the most minutes up front. For Bass, whose career defensive rebound percentage is 16.3 percent, the recent leap is super encouraging. That's been the glaring weakness in his game as an undersized power forward, but he's finding a way to negate that recently to help Boston's size-deprived frontcourt.

Sprinkle in the boost Humphries is giving off the bench and you’ve got a team that’s eliminating a lot of the second-chance opportunities that plagued them earlier in the season (and helping Boston shuffle into the top 10 for defensive rating).

Now if Boston could just shore up that transition defense this team could actually slide into the top 5 in the league in defense. Not bad for a squad that was projected to have a league-worst defense entering the 2013-14 campaign.



bob
MY NOTE:  Crawford and AB's rebounding have gone up too.  Stevens has been saying that we cannot win if our guards don't rebound, and they're responding to that.


.

It's important to note that Humphries ranks #1 on the team (although only slightly higher than Sully) in defensive rebounding percentage during the last 9 games and #2 (behind Sully) in improved rebounding percentage since the earlier part of the season. Humphries can play, and it's looking as though Brad's big man rotation currently centers on Sully, Bass, Humphries and an occasional Faverani sighting—at least for the moment.

Despite all the conjecture that Humphries and his expiring contract would be a prime candidate to be traded away during this season, it's difficult to see that happening unless the C's get a rebounding center or Olynyk catches fire in the rebounding department (despite the fact that I've got Kelly slated for a possible DL stint).

Sam

Sam,

Given the right opportunity, I have no doubt that Ainge would trade Humphries and sacrifice this year's success in order to improve for the future.

It would have to be a good deal keeping in mind that Humphries expiring contract is valuable to the Celtics, too. But someone else might be desperate enough at the deadline to make that kind of offer.

Outside,

I believe such a deal would have to involve a center. Like Asik.

Sam