"No Rebounds, No Rings"

Much was made of the topic of rebounding last year. Depending on who you listen to or believe, the Celtics either abandoned offensive rebounding and rebounding in general for strategic reasons, or because they were simply horrible at doing it. Or perhaps a little bit of both.

So for kicks and giggles, lets bring up the topic again since the fine folks at CLNS Radio addressed it in a recent article.

For the Celtics, the Issue Still Remains: No Rebounds, No Rings

Rebounding is an essential facet to the game, much like pitching in baseball. If you don’t got it – you ain’t winning. As Pat Riley once famously said, "no rebounds, no rings." Consider: When the Celtics won the championship in 2008, they were a solid rebounding team. They were 18th in offensive rebounding percentage, but a solid eighth in defensive rebounding percentage. In terms of rebounding differential that season, they were third in the league. In 2009, prior to Garnett’s injury, the Celtics were neck-and-neck contenders for the championship with Los Angeles all season. They were either 1A or 1B for the title of ‘best team in the league.’ That year, the Celtics were eighth in offensive rebounding percentage, third in defensive rebounding percentage, and second overall in rebounding differential. However, the last three years has seen a sharp and frightening decline in the Celtics team rebounding. In 2010, the Celtics were 28th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 13th in defensive rebounding percentage. In 2011 they were 30 and 9. And in 2012 they were a miserable 30 and 20. In terms of rebounding differential the last few years, the Celtics were 25th, 20th, and 28th. No rebounds, no rings.

In general, I'm in the camp that says we stunk last year at rebounding. Nobody abandons the glass on purpose. You can only strategically compensate for it for so long. We need more beasts on the glass and we need a more concerted effort from our existing players (in my most humble opinion). I think Sully will help some but based on historical data Jeff Green won't help much and Melo will find it hard to help from Maine. So we may have to buckle in for more of the same. But we'll see.