Doc really doesn't care about offensive rebounds

One of the main storylines coming out of the game yesterday was the abysmal offensive rebounding numbers. People pointed to that as evidence that they really do matter. Doc respectfully but forcefully disagrees.

Green Street " What Doc Rivers sees is a lot more than just the stat sheet

"Honestly, we shot 53%, there’s not going to be a lot of offensive boards," he said. "You know what I mean? So I’m not that concerned by it. They shot 58% and they had six. So, you’re a big believer in offensive rebounds I think; I’m not. Listen, like I said, you can pick on that all I want. That is a number I rarely look at, is offensive rebounds. Statistically it holds up. I can tell you, you don’t offensive rebound, you stop transition, you win more games than when you get offensive rebounds. I can guarantee you that on those stats. "Obviously we would like to get some offensive rebounds, and if we’re under there we’ll take them, and we didn’t get any, but that ain’t why we lost. Let me just say that. Offensive rebounds is the least of our problems."

That's all well and good, but it does help to actually, you know, get back on defense and stop the other team in transition if you are going to abandon the boards on offense. Oh, and a few more defensive rebounds would be a good idea too.

Look, Doc is obviously a lot smarter about basketball than I am. I am sure he's right. But it is still hard for me to understand why these things aren't mutually exclusive. Or at least only partially related.

I get that you don't let your guards crash the boards. By all means, have Rondo and the 2 guard sprint back on defense. Release Pierce or Green too if you want. But if you have big guys boxing out and scrapping for rebounds, they usually have their man on their back. That guy isn't going to have a big head start going down the court. You won't get every board but at least you might pick up some easy putback points.

Of course you need the right personnel to do this too. Some guys have a knack for rebounding and some just don't. Maybe Doc is just smoothing things over or making excuses for these guys that he knows can't board that well.

Or maybe, just maybe, I don't know at all what I'm talking about and I should just sit in the corner and let Doc teach me a few things about basketball. Maybe.