Best rebounder in NBA?

[Wolverine]

I was thinking about this title earlier today.  Who is the best rebounder in the NBA?  KG leads the league in rebounds per game by far, but does that automatically make him the league's best?  I think Duncan must get consideration, because he plays alongside a solid rebounder (Rasho) who steals some of his boards.  KG, on the other hand, doesn't get much help which allows him to pad his stats.  Just curious...  

Any thoughts?

[westkoast]

KG gets my vote but not soley based on stats.  To me there are different kinds of good rebounders.  Some guys are good position rebounders,  some guys are good hustle rebounders, some guys just happen to be in the right place at the right time, some guys have an eye for where the ball will go off the rim.  Garnett is all of those rebounders in one IMO.

Duncan is a close second only because he isn't quite the rubber magnet that KG is.

[jn]

I'm biased of course, but I'll go with KG.  One thing to consider is that KG's boards are almost exclusively defensive and he is at a disadvantage in the sense that he is asked to spend so much energy doing other things he can't just concentrate on boards.  Think of what he could do on the offensive glass if he spent less time at the top of the key directing the offense.

There are certainly good arguments for others though, notably TD and Ben Wa.
 

[Derek Bodner]

Ben Wallace.

Anyone who can grab 4+ offensive boards/game over a 4 year span gets more to me than a great defensive rebounder.  

[Guest_Randy]

No question -- Ben Wallace is a rebounding machine.  There IS something to be said about players who simply have a great "feel" for where the rebound is coming -- TD, Wallace and KG all get consideration here however, I will vote for Wallace.  Granted, some will say that his lack of focus offensively gets him a few extra boards but I still say he is the best rebounder in the league right now.

Dennis Rodman was the best rebounder I have seen -- although I never saw players like Wilt, Russell, etc. actually play (and watching the few clips I saw just doesn't do them justice.

[WayOutWest]

I just can't throw my support behind players like Wallace and Rodman because that's pretty much all they do.  KG and TD get my votes because they are the total package.  Barkley made a point to show what he could do if all he did was focus on boards, I think he pulled down like 24 rebounds or something in a game where he stated he would play like Rodman.

 

[Joe Vancil]

First of all, in general, I believe people who get lots of OFFENSIVE rebounds mixed in with their defensive rebounds are better rebounders than people who are on the defensive boards almost exclusively.  Why?  Because defensive rebounds are EXPECTED, whereas offensive rebounds aren't.  When offense misses a shot, defense is SUPPOSED to get the rebound.

As a result, I say a great rebounder is by definition a great OFFENSIVE rebounder as well as a great DEFENSIVE rebounder.

Secondly, shot-blocking figures into rebounding NEGATIVELY.  If you're a good shot-blocker, this will adversely affect you as a defensive rebounder;  the more blocks you get, the less defensive rebounds you'll get.  So if you're a good shot-blocker, I expect this to adversely impact your defensive rebounding, simply because of the change of focus.

Third, offensive focus adversely affects OFFENSIVE rebounding.  If you're guarded heavily, you're going to get fewer offensive rebounds.

These three things lead me to conclude that the best rebounder in the league is indeed Tim Duncan.  Only Shaquille O'Neal and Emeka Okafor get more offensive rebounds while being an offensive focus, and no one above him in defensive rebounds blocks more shots than he does.  So if the entire focus is getting a rebound all else, I'll take my chances with Tim Duncan.

Pound for pound, however, I believe the best rebounders in the league are Shawn Marion, Matt Harpring, Jason Kidd, and Steve Francis.  Just due to the physical stature, none of these guys are in Duncan's class, but as for sheer rebounding technique, I don't think anyone is close to Shawn Marion.
 

[Joe Vancil]

Oh - and for all-time best rebounder that I've seen, that's an easy one:  MOSES MALONE.  The man's technique was awesome, although I do believe his offensive rebound numbers are somewhat inflated because of how many of his own lay-ups he left short.

 

[rickorteat]

No question Malone was the best rebounder of all time.  He was relentless, and while many of them were rebounds of his own misses, this was psychologically destructive to the other team to see him owning the boards.

Chamberlain and Russel were actually the best rebounders by far.  Wilt caused them to change the rules and they way the lane was painted because of his dominance.  

If I had to choose one today, it would be Shaq.  His size and strength make him more than a match for anyone else.
 

[Guest_Randy]

First of all, in general, I believe people who get lots of OFFENSIVE rebounds mixed in with their defensive rebounds are better rebounders than people who are on the defensive boards almost exclusively.  Why?  Because defensive rebounds are EXPECTED, whereas offensive rebounds aren't.  When offense misses a shot, defense is SUPPOSED to get the rebound.

As a result, I say a great rebounder is by definition a great OFFENSIVE rebounder as well as a great DEFENSIVE rebounder.

Secondly, shot-blocking figures into rebounding NEGATIVELY.  If you're a good shot-blocker, this will adversely affect you as a defensive rebounder;  the more blocks you get, the less defensive rebounds you'll get.  So if you're a good shot-blocker, I expect this to adversely impact your defensive rebounding, simply because of the change of focus.

Third, offensive focus adversely affects OFFENSIVE rebounding.  If you're guarded heavily, you're going to get fewer offensive rebounds.

These three things lead me to conclude that the best rebounder in the league is indeed Tim Duncan.  Only Shaquille O'Neal and Emeka Okafor get more offensive rebounds while being an offensive focus, and no one above him in defensive rebounds blocks more shots than he does.  So if the entire focus is getting a rebound all else, I'll take my chances with Tim Duncan.

Pound for pound, however, I believe the best rebounders in the league are Shawn Marion, Matt Harpring, Jason Kidd, and Steve Francis.  Just due to the physical stature, none of these guys are in Duncan's class, but as for sheer rebounding technique, I don't think anyone is close to Shawn Marion.

Joe,

Ben Wallace is the #1 offensive rebounder in the league, he is #4 in BPG (you are considering KG who is #21 in BPG).  Granted he isn't an offensive focus but one of the things you DO need to look at is the players position in defense.  TD, for instance, has a VERY good defensive squad around him -- KG and Wallace both have some good defensive players but not to the degree of SA.  KG and Wallace have to play more of a roaming weakside help than TD who can focus more on interior defense rather than zone defense.

KG is obviously one of the best rebounders but Wallace (who lacks KG and TD's size) is the best in the league, IMO.  

If we are going to go pound for pound and inch for inch -- I too would agree that Marion is the best in the league although Jason Kidd is very close!

[ziggy]

Ben Wallace.

Anyone who can grab 4+ offensive boards/game over a 4 year span gets more to me than a great defensive rebounder.

BasketballReference.com has a stat called Rebound Rate.

"Rebound Rate is an excellent stat for measuring the rebounding ability of a player. It simply measures the percentage of missed shots a player rebounded while he was on the floor. Rebounds allowed by opponents was not kept as an NBA stat prior to the 1970-71 season so rebound rate is only available after that year. It was used by John Hollinger in his book Pro Basketball Prospectus and I encourage anyone interested in this statistic to check out his book."

The top 10 the last 4 years have been

2003-04
Player Team REBRATE Year
1 Danny Fortson DAL 21.8 2003-04
2 Erick Dampier GSW 20.8 2003-04
3 Kevin Garnett MIN 20.2 2003-04
4 Ben Wallace DET 19.1 2003-04
5 Tim Duncan SAS 19.1 2003-04
6 Marcus Camby DEN 19.1 2003-04
7 Tyson Chandler CHI 18.9 2003-04
8 Reggie Evans SEA 18.8 2003-04
9 Jeff Foster IND 18.4 2003-04
10 Carlos Boozer CLE 18.3 2003-04


2002-03
Player Team REBRATE Year
1 Ben Wallace DET 23.2 2002-03
2 Vladimir Stepania MIA 20.1 2002-03
3 Marcus Camby DEN 19.8 2002-03
4 Kelvin Cato HOU 19.7 2002-03
5 Jeff Foster IND 19.5 2002-03
6 Reggie Evans SEA 19.2 2002-03
7 Etan Thomas WAS 19 2002-03
8 Tim Duncan SAS 19 2002-03
9 Kevin Garnett MIN 18.8 2002-03
10 Brian Grant MIA 18.3 2002-03


2001-02
Player Team REBRATE Year
1 Danny Fortson GSW 21.8 2001-02
2 Ben Wallace DET 21.1 2001-02
3 Tyrone Hill CLE 19.8 2001-02
4 Kevin Willis HOU 19.7 2001-02
5 Jahidi White WAS 19.3 2001-02
6 Marcus Camby NYK 18.6 2001-02
7 Lorenzen Wright MEM 18.1 2001-02
8 Tim Duncan SAS 18 2001-02
9 Kevin Garnett MIN 17.9 2001-02
10 Vladimir Stepania MIA 17.8 2001-02


2000-01
  Player Team REBRATE Year
1 Dikembe Mutombo ATL 22.6 2000-01
1 Dikembe Mutombo PHI 20.8 2000-01
2 Michael Smith WAS 20.6 2000-01
3 Marcus Camby NYK 20.5 2000-01
4 Ben Wallace DET 20.4 2000-01
5 Popeye Jones WAS 20.3 2000-01
6 Nazr Mohammed ATL 19.7 2000-01
7 Jahidi White WAS 19.1 2000-01
8 Jeff Foster IND 19 2000-01
9 Jerome Williams DET 18.5 2000-01
10 Corie Blount GSW 18.3 2000-01


While Danny Fortson has been the best rebounder twice in the last 4 years, only one player has been top 4 four years in a row.  BEN WALLACE.

He did that while leading the league in total blocks in 03-04, 3rd in 02-03, first in 01-02, and 8th in 00-01.
 

[Guest_Randy]

Wow, impressive Ziggy.   :cheers:  Thanks for the verification!  lol

Take that, Joey V.  :bash:   j/k