The thing about gang rebounding and Kevin Martin is gang rebounding can be counterproductive to up tempo. It completely makes sense for JVG's style of controlled possessions, but some coaches like to release a wing player, to make it a 3 on 3 rebounding game. If Kevin Martin releases on opponent's shots, then their SG better take off with him and not go for the offensive rebound. And if their SG is generally always a better rebounder than Martin, it's a good strategy to negate the SG's rebounding advantage by making him chase Martin, same with Budinger. btw: I looked up the numbers for opposing starting SGs. They have had 12 rebounds total in our 4 games and only 1 offensive rebound. With the amount of scoring in our games, that's not that many rebounds by starting SGs of our opponents vs Martin. Martin's rebounding is not that big of a problem, based on that sample.
Rebounding shouldn't be judged as a 1-on-1 contest. I don't think it matters what opposing guards rebound against us. Martin needs to help rebound against the other teams bigs. Battier and Brooks also. Yao, Scola, and Hill are all solid on the defensive boards for the most part. But they can't be doing it alone. Hayes used to be a much more dependable rebounder as well. He needs to step it up also, when he gets the time.
And that's a better angle to take, than claiming we've been "killed" on the boards and placing the blame on the starting lineup, especially the PG and SG. There's other players on the bench to look at as well and we're not playing those that would help in this area. If we were playing our bigs and still had problems rebounding, then i can see why it would be necessary to pressure all the small guys into trying harder, but we're not putting the size we have out there. RA already admitted he should have played hill more. I think he's going to feel the same about JJ as well. He's had a DNP in 3 of 4 games, the one game he played in he grabbed 8 boards in 15 mins. Right now it's as simple as you play less rebounders, you'll get less rebounds. I imagine once Miller's ankle heals then he'll play a lot more and that's only going to help our rebounding as well. We can't expect a 5'9 and 165 lb point to save our rebounding, especially when he's getting his average, which Lee is also getting. Martin is the only one rebounding less than usual, so he's the only one that deserves some pressure here. Against LA we were slightly better off and better def. Against NO we pretty much matched them off and def. Against GS we matched them off, but were worse def. AGainst Den We matched them def, but were worse off. Different results and yet we keep losing. Rebounding more certainly helps your chances to win, but it's not the main reason for Houston's start and it's not a clear weakness on either side. Gang rebounding can work, but sometimes you're at too big of a disadvantage for it to do so. Having a 5'9 PG and playing 6'6 PF/C more than your near 7 footers, sometimes at the same time, is too big of a disadvantage. It's not fair to expect these guys to overcome that, especially when the coach is just refusing to keep more size out there.
I agree. I'm just suggesting watching Martin, does he release or box out more. There is a strategy for releasing him. Boxing out is somewhat of a 1-on-1 contest. And if Martin is not good at it, release him and make his man leave with him. btw: our overall rebounding rate is 49.9. We are out rebounded so far by a mere .25 per game. btwbtw: When you say our def rebounding is 25th in the league, the great up tempo Kings teams had horrible def rebounding rates, too: 2002-2003 = 21st (59 wins) 2003-2004 = 23rd (55 wins) 2004-2005 = 28th (50 wins) wish I could see the 2001-2002 season when Horry and the refs stopped them from winning a title. But I can't find a league wide team ranking that far back.
And let me add that when your defense is having trouble with rotations you usually end up with one guy having to run at the shooter full speed at the end of the offensive play. That guy is completely taken out of the play every single time because his momentum takes him past the shooter, while the shooter can come straight down and is now facing the rim to go after a board, 4 on 5 rebounding at that point. This is one way how improving the D will naturally help rebounding. Another way is by improving boxing out. These guys are over helping, so you end up with two guys, at least, focusing on the shooter/scorer and they get caught jumping or looking at them when they put up the shot. That's one less guy who's boxing out, which means one opposing player is free to roam for the board.
If we keep on bashin Miller and wantin Hill to play whats the point of signing Miller to a 3 year 15 mil contract??
http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2002.html Funny enough, they were 12th that year. If Martin is the release guy, then we need more rebounding help from our other two perimeter defenders. Battier doesn't get a lot of rebounds either, nor does he run out in transition, but he tends to be more "occupied" on defense than Martin. Budinger manages to get a pretty good share of rebounds while also running well in transition.
Yeah, I agree. And thanks for that link. I live at that website some days and never clicked on the league summary pages.
you guys expect Brooks and Martin to rebound and play defense?? Why do people think these guys are going to randomly start doing things they don't normally do?
Stop with the height advantage. Yao gets 9-10 rebounds period. That's generally about 10th in the league. It doesn't matter why.
