1. Utah: +10.2 2. Houston: +6.7 3. New Orleans: +6.3 Alot of people were worried about the Rockets ability to rebound in the offseason with Battier getting minutes at the 4 (so far his PT has been split 60/40 between SF and PF, respectively). Numerous threads were made about getting a 'real PF' despite the Rockets not even glancing towards any big men free agents. And while it's still early, I can guarantee Houston will continue to outrebound most all teams because: - JVG's priority for securing defensive rebounds (less fast breaks) - 4 starters who are top 5 in rebounding rates at their positions (McGrady, Battier, Hayes, Yao) - Yao: Size factor, can't be muscled out of position, no longer has 'butterfingers' - Bonzi Wells will play for this team It's given the Rockets a huge advantage with their half-court defense/offense. Kinda the reason Houston was down by 3 at the half today, despite shooting 35%. Oh, and after today's stats are updated, Yao will have the highest PER in the league. It will be higher than Michael Jordan's PER during his statistical prime in the 80's. But that's just 7 games talking. Does anyone have rebounding stats adjusted for pace?
The stats you're looking for is rebound%. At team level, look at OREB%: http://knickerblogger.net/stats/2007/o_oe.htm Rockets were 4th in offensive rebound% and 11th in defensive rebound% before the Heat game. That's pretty good ... but sort of reversed. Usually, we're a much better defensive rebounding team. For player rebounding%, you can find them at 82games.com. Or you can look at Rebound-Rate (Reb-R), which is sort of like an estimate for player rebounding%: http://knickerblogger.net/stats/2007/Rockets.htm
That was also my instant reaction after seeing this thread title. Hayes will be solely missed during his absence/recovery. He has been our main offensive rebound guy, in addition to the a number of other things he's done extremely well, such as defending, boxing out, cutting to the basket, etc.
Main reason was Hayes. With Juwan playing the majority of minutes now, expect Rockets to give up a lot of rebounds.
Let's see...if Juwanna plays PF, he'll be floating around the freethrow line and extended, waiting for Yao to pass out so he can get a shot. Hayes would cut to the basket to either get a pass from Yao, or get into position for an offensive rebound. At the very least Hayes would try to get a hand on the ball and keep it alive. So basically, Juwanna in there instead of Hayes means zero offensive rebounds and zero 2nd chance points.
It looked like a bad sprain, I don't see him coming back next game. I'm guessing but I think it will be a few weeks. I just hope after the MRI, they don't find something that needs surgery.
Hayes being out won't affect this if Battier starts at the 4 with Bonzi in the backcourt. Battier may not be a strong rebounder but he is scrappy and keeps the ball in play, which is what you get from Hayes alot of the time. Having Juwan in for more than 5-10 mpg puts us at a big disadvantage.
