Celtics Stat of the Day, 12/13/09

Today's stat continues and broadens the rebounding theme. Who's the best rebounder among the Celtics? Who's the best OFFENSIVE rebounder among the Celtics?

Through last night's game (and based on stats provided by BasketballReference.com), I calculated the number of rebounds gathered PER MINUTE OF PLAYING TIME by five contenders for Celtics leadership:

TOTAL REBOUNDS (OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE COMBINED):

0.276 Perk
0.274 Sheldon
0.245 KG
0.188 Sheed
0.129 Paul
0.124 Rondo

It's a virtual tie between Sheldon and Perk.

DEFENSIVE REBOUNDS:

.216 Perk
.196 KG
.191 Sheldon
.148 Sheed
.116 Paul
.091 Rondo

Perk is out in front, with KG just slightly ahead of Sheldon for second place.

OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS:

0.083 Sheldon
0.060 Perk
0.049 KG
0.040 Sheed
0.033 Rondo
0.013 Paul

Sheldon by a fairly wide margin.

Obviously there are many reasons to give minutes to players, not the least of which is the chemistry of various combinations. But, to the extent that rebounding (especially at the offensive end) is an issue for this team, these figures raise some interesting questions, particularly concerning Sheldon williams.

Sam

sam,

I loved "the junkyard dog" Leon Powe and it broke my heart when Danny decided to pass on resigning him. One of the questions I've had, for a while now, is "how well can/does Shelden replace Leon". My opinion, so far, is that Leon is a much better finisher around the basket. Much craftier in the use of his body to get the ball up without getting blocked.

One of the things I loved about Leon was that he always tried to get at least a fingernail on the offensive rebound. That was a vastly undersung value of him since the other team couldn't run a fastbreak if they didn't have full control of the ball. That really helped our transition defense and our halfcourt defense was airtight. So Leon's efforts on the offensive boards helped us play to our team's strengths.

I would love to know how well Shelden matches up against Leon vis-a-vis the above stats. Leon hasn't played a minute this season, he's still rehabbing, so any stats of his would be from his Celtic days, playing mostly with the same team that Shelden is (his first season, he didn't play that many minutes, so I wouldn't think that year'd skew the #s much). I realize that any stats provided would not reveal the "fingernail efforts" of either player. That is one of the reasons for my love/hate relationship with stats.

Thanks for any efforts you put into this.

bob

Bob,

Leon had so many great instincts down low on offense. In our limited exposure to Sheldon, I think he's not as much of a "black hole" as Leon was, being more willing to pass out of tight coverage. And I believe Sheldon may be a better defensive player if not a better defensive rebounder. I'll see what I can do in the way of comparative stats.

Thanks for the response.

Sam

Sam wrote:Bob,

Leon had so many great instincts down low on offense. In our limited exposure to Sheldon, I think he's not as much of a "black hole" as Leon was, being more willing to pass out of tight coverage. And I believe Sheldon may be a better defensive player if not a better defensive rebounder. I'll see what I can do in the way of comparative stats.

Thanks for the response.

Sam

sam,

It's true, Leon made Kevin McHale look like Rick Barry when it came to passing out of a double-team. Shelden's also not as undersized at PF as Leon is.

bob

Sam wrote:Obviously there are many reasons to give minutes to players, not the least of which is the chemistry of various combinations. But, to the extent that rebounding (especially at the offensive end) is an issue for this team, these figures raise some interesting questions, particularly concerning Sheldon williams.

I'm sure many people think Sheldon Williams deserves more playing time based on his play, including but not limited to rebounding. As you've pointed out, rebounding has been something of a weakness for the Celtics so far this season, so it only seems logical to give Williams more playing time.

I think the problem is, who do you sit out? If you look at the center and power forward positions, you've got KG, Perkins, Wallace, and Scalabrine in addition to Williams. Here's the minutes per game for that group.

KG - 30.4
Perkins - 27.3
Wallace - 20.6
Williams - 13.8
Scalabine - 8.2
Total - 100.3 (total expected for C and PF is 96.0)

Short of injury, I don't see where he's going to get more playing time. The guys in front of him are already not playing a lot, relatively speaking.

The situation only gets worse when Davis comes back. I'm guessing that Scalabrine will take a bigger hit to his playing time than Williams, but Davis will need his minutes from somewhere, and he's not likely to get them at small forward.

Williams - 13.8 Min 4.6 Pts 3.8 Reb 0.7 Ast .492 FG%
Wallace - 20.6 Min 9.3 Pts 3.9 Reb 0.8 Ast .387 FG%

There's more to the game than just stats, but from what I've seen, I like Williams a lot, and I think he can help address the team's rebounding issues. It's no secret that I'm no fan of Wallace, and I personally would rather see Williams get some of his minutes, but realistically, Williams has done well to earn 14 minutes a game on this team. I wish it could work out for him to get more.

Outside

Outside,

Read tomorrow's Stat of the Day. I'll be providing a complete statistical comparison of Davis, Williams and (because Bob Heckler asked) Leon Powe. Just as a preview, Williams outrebounds Davis (although only slightly on the offensive end), "out-assists" him and outscores him (slightly) on a per-minute basis.

But one thing Davis has going for him is agility for a guy his size. With Daniels out, I'd like to see Davis given the "opportunity to fail" at the "3" as part of a trio: Davis (against burly or taller opponents), Scal (against strong perimeter shooters), Tony Allen (against shorter, more agile players). He has the mid-range jumper for it; he's much more agile on the wing than many people think; and they could use his bulk on the defensive rebounding end in particular.

Of course, you know what invariably happens. Someone returns from injury and someone else gets injured, so the returnee takes HIS place.

Sam

Sam,

Hasn't Davis primarily been a 4 prior to this season? Since he has slimmed down (and is presumably quicker), Davis may get some minutes at the 3 spot, which would be good for Williams. Having both Davis and Williams together on the subs would be interesting.

Looking forward to your Stat of the Day tomorrow.

Outside

Outside,

Yes, Davis has played both the 4 and 5, but I don't believe I've ever seen him play the 3. It's probably just a pipe dream I have. We'll see.

Sam