Avery Bradley is rebounding at a historic rate, but the Boston Celtics have been miserable on the glass

http://www.masslive.com/celtics/index.ssf/2016/11/avery_bradley_is_rebounding_at.html



Avery Bradley is rebounding at a historic rate, but the Boston Celtics have been miserable on the glass




Boston Celtics' Avery Bradley (0) reacts to making a three point basket against the Charlotte Hornets in the second half of an NBA basketball game in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)


Jay King | mjking@masslive.com By Jay King | mjking@masslive.com


on November 16, 2016 at 10:30 AM




BOSTON -- One unbelievable stat through ten games: Avery Bradley, a 6-foot-2 guard who has never averaged even four rebounds per game, currently leads the Boston Celtics in rebounding.

At least for the time being, Bradley has transformed from a reasonable rebounding guard into a historically prolific board snatcher. According to Basketball-Reference.com, nobody 6-foot-2 or shorter has averaged more than seven rebounds per game since Norm Van Lier during the 1970-71 season. As The Ringer's Kevin O'Connor first pointed out, Bradley is on pace to dive through that barrier with 8.3 rebounds per game so far. That total would be the most ever by a player his height or shorter.

If we look at advanced statistics instead, Bradley's rebounding start is just as rare. According to Basketball-Reference.com, no rotation regular 6-foot-2 or shorter has ever recorded a full season at Bradley's current pace; he owns a 12.4 percent rebound rate, including 19.7 percent on the defensive glass.

For the Celtics, this is both good news (Bradley is committed to easing his team's biggest weakness) and bad (they have nobody powerful or crafty enough inside to box out and then go grab the damn ball). Rebounding looked like an obvious area of concern entering the season, and has grown even more dire than anyone anticipated. The Celtics currently rank dead last in defensive rebounding rate with what would be the worst mark in that category since the 2011-12 season.




It's true that the returns of Jae Crowder (ankle) and Al Horford (concussion) will help, but Boston will remain small at most positions -- and decidedly less than physical down low. Head coach Brad Stevens' team is so helpless on the glass that even missed free throws by opponents lead to consistent adventures.

Here's one of the most Celticsian rebounding possessions to date:


via GIPHY


Thanks to a crossmatch, Kelly Olynyk needs to defend Pelicans guard Buddy Hield on the perimeter, leaving Bradley to fend for himself down low. When the shot goes up, the Celtics act like they have Bill bleeping Russell on their side waiting to clean up any miss. In reality, Bradley is surrendering seven inches to Terrence Jones underneath the basket. Note how big man Amir Johnson turns to look at the ball flying through the air, but neglects to pursue the rebound. Thanks to guarding Anthony Davis, Johnson is stationed on the perimeter at the time of the shot, but he needs to notice the situation and fly back to assist Bradley. Nobody else helps the guard, either. He scraps to box out and retrieve the miss, but Jones is just too tall.

More typically, Bradley is rushing in from the perimeter to grab rebounds. Even so, it felt important to ask Stevens if he's OK with Bradley leading the Celtics in rebounding -- and if the guard's increased focus on the glass has spread the team thin elsewhere.

"I've tried to look at everything objectively obviously, especially while we are shorthanded, and the last three games we have really defended, including last night. We've been really good on the defensive end of the floor," Stevens said. "If you took the last three games and you compared it to the NBA season, we'd be second in the league defensively. Our 3-point defense is better, our 2-point defense is better, we're turning people over again, but we're not rebounding. That's been a consistent theme throughout the 10 games and a concern of ours all the way through. We're going to have to have guys box out, perimeter guys are going to have to rebound so that doesn't bother me a perimeter guy is leading us. The overall rebounding numbers are certainly concerning."

"I think Avery is doing a great job pursuing the ball, but he'll be the first to tell you that a big reason why he's grabbing those rebounds is because bigs are blocking out," Stevens said. "There is an opening to grab the rebound. Amir, Kelly, Tyler (Zeller), Jonas (Jerebko) or Jordan (Mickey) aren't going to get credit for any of those rebounds, but they are the ones who are clearing the space so the guards can fly in and get them. That's not an easy thing to do. That's an unselfish thing to do. We've actually talked quite a bit about it on tape. We have to get better at that and we've got to get more consistent finishing each play. There are going to be times where we are all going to be flying around and aren't going to get the ball, you know? We just have to make those the rebounds we give up. Not the ones where we miss a block out or choose not to pursue for whatever reason."



bob



.

This is a bunch of B.S.

Over the years we have seen plenty of bigs for the Celtics Block out first and then go and get the rebound.

The bottom line is that none of our bigs are productive rebounders.  Horford may be the best of the bunch but even he falls short when compared to other centers in the NBA.

Our Power forwards are also weak on the glass.

When the decision was made to let Sully go a decision also needed to be made to replace his toughness on the glass.  

Avery Bradley should not be our leading rebounder.  This whole thing is horribly upside down.  We need our bigs to rebound the ball and we need our guards to already be making their was up court on offense.

Zeller, Jerbeko, KO rebounding numbers are not going to improve and Johnson and Horfords numbers are only going to decline.

With all the assets and draft picks and cap management you would think that a most basic ingredient like rebounding would have been addressed by now.

dboss

I think that it is absolutely wonderful that Bradley has more than doubled his rebounding stats from last year to this year. He is our leading rebounder because he has (at least so far) completely outworked all of our other players in regards to rebounds.

Now, for the good of our team, all the other players on the Cs need to eat the same breakfast food as Bradley is eating.

To my knowledge there is no physical reason why Bradley has improved his rebounding so much from last year. He is not even a quarter inch taller, his vertical jump looks to be what it was last season, he still plays exceptional defense on the guy he is assigned to, his minutes played is about what it was last season, etc, etc.

Soooo, the question is "why is he rebounding so much better this season?". The answer can only be that he HAS decided to pay closer attention to rebounding. As a result he is moving to the ball after checking his man much better than he did in the past.

For the life of me I do not know why every player on our team cannot have the same mental approach to rebounding. I will say if Bradley can do this so can each of our other players.

I for one am not the least bit worried about any deficiencies that this current team has - and will sit back and wait patiently until Danny has used up all of his numerous chips in his attempt to bring another championship to Boston. For me its not about the present but rather all about the future.

swish