An area in which the Pacers not only excelled but improved
during the 2013-14 season was defensive rebounding. The Pacers finished first
in the NBA with during the 2013-14 season with
2831,
an increase of 160 defensive rebounds over the
2671
they had in 2012-13.
Yet Lance Stephenson
increased
his defensive rebounding output by 206 rebounds by snagging 463 in 2013-14
while only managing 257 the previous season. Meanwhile, three of the four
others starters had fewer rebounds in 2013-14 than they did in 2012-13. Paul
George saw the biggest decline with
37 fewer
rebounds in 2013-14, followed by Roy Hibbert with
24, and
George Hill with
seven.
David West had
four more
defensive rebounds.
As far as bench players go, Luis Scola led the bench in
defensive rebounds with
305, which
was an increase of 93 over the
212
Tyler Hansbrough had for the Pacers in 2012-13. Yet Ian Mahinmi’s
defensive
rebounding production declined from 196 in 2012-13 to 150 in 2013-14.
A factor in players’ increases and decreases in defensive
rebounding could be the time spent on the court. Stephenson’s time increased
from
29.2
mpg in 2012-13 to
35.3
mpg in 2013-14. George’s average minutes per game went from
37.6
mpg in 2012-13 to
36.2
in 2013-14. Hill saw an even larger drop in playing time. He averaged
34.5
mpg in 2012-13 but only
32.0
mpg in 2013-14. However, West had the largest drop in minutes of the Pacers
starters from
33.4
in 2012-13 to
30.9
but still managed to have a small increase in rebounds. Also, Hibbert saw an
increase in minutes from
28.7
in 2012-13 to
29.3 in
2013-14.
Playing time, however, is barely a factor in the case of
Scola’s defensive rebound total exceeding Hansbrough’s by 93. Scola averaged
17.3 mpg in
2013-14, while Hansbrough averaged
16.9
mpg during the 2012-13 season. Playing
time between Scola and Mahinmi during the 2013-14 also isn’t much of a factor
in explaining Mahinmi’s defensive rebounding decline in 2013-14. Mahinmi played
16.5
mpg in 2012-13 and
16.2 mpg
in 2012-13.
Stephenson also started the second quarter with the bench
players, so that could have given him more opportunity to get rebounds over
bench opponents from other teams. Then again, Scola was on the floor primarily
in the second and fourth quarters, so he possibly could have been the dominant
Pacers defensive rebounder in those quarters.
To see the defensive rebounding pattern of Stephenson and
Scola, I took a look at the games in which they had the highest number of
rebounds. Scola’s best rebounding game came
against
the Antonio Spurs on Dec. 7, 2013. Nine of ten of Scola’s rebounds were
defensive ones.
Scola: Pacers vs. Spurs, Dec. 7, 2013. Score: Pacers 111,
Spurs 100
None of Scola’s rebounds, offensive or defensive, came
during the first quarter, although he came into game at the 4:24 mark. Hibbert
led the way in defensive rebounds in the quarter with three, and West and
Stephenson had one apiece.
Orlando Johnson grabbed the first defensive rebound in the
second quarter, and Scola followed up with four consecutive defensive rebounds.
West, Stephenson, and Hibbert each added one defensive rebound.
In the third quarter, Hibbert, West, Stephenson, Hill, and
George snagged a defensive rebound from the beginning of the quarter to the
6:26 mark. West had two defensive rebounds, and Hill and Hibbert had one each
from 5:20 to 3:11 in the third quarter. After Scola entered the game for
Hibbert with 2:40 left in the quarter, he grabbed two defensive rebounds, and
West and George added another defensive rebound to their total for the quarter.
Scola had his final three defensive rebounds for the game in
the fourth quarter, which tied the number of team defensive rebounds during the
quarter. George, West, and Hibbert each had one.
Stephenson: Pacers vs. Lakers, Jan. 28, 2014. Pacers 104,
Lakers 92
Defensive rebounding totals: Stephenson, 14; Hibbert, 6; Hill, 6; West, 6; George, 4; Scola ,4;
Granger, 3; Mahinmi, 2; Watson, 1=46 defensive rebounds
In the first quarter of the Jan. 28 Lakers game, Stephenson
grabbed two defensive rebounds while playing with all the other Pacers
starters. Hill, West, and George also had two defensive rebounds during that
quarter, and Hibbert had one. For the bench players, Scola snagged a defensive
rebound near the end of the first quarter.
During the second quarter of the Jan. 28 Lakers game, he
yanked down six defensive rebounds while on the court with Pacers bench
players. Scola and Granger each had one defensive
rebound while they were on the court with Stephenson. Mahinmi didn’t have a
defensive rebound in the second quarter of the game. As for the other starters,
West had one defensive rebound in the second quarter.
Stephenson also had two defensive rebounds in the third
quarter of the Jan. 28 Lakers game as part of the starting pacers squad. Both
Hibbert and Hill had three defensive rebounds, and West had two. Mahinmi added
one defensive rebound near the end of the third quarter after he came into the
game to relieve Hibbert.
In the final quarter of the Lakers game, Stephenson pulled
down three defensive boards while on the court with the bench players and one
when the other starters reentered the game. However, Stephenson came into the
fourth quarter at the 9:30 mark. Prior to his entry in the fourth quarter,
Scola had two defensive rebounds, and Granger had one. After the 9:30 mark,
Granger added one more defensive rebound, and Mahinmi got his only defensive
rebound in the quarter. While Stephenson was playing with the other starters, Hibbert
had two defensive rebounds, and West and Hill had one apiece.
Stephenson: Pacers vs. Wizards, Mar. 28, 2014
Defensive rebounding totals: Stephenson, 10; George, 7; West, 6; Mahinmi, 3; Hill, 2; Scola, 2;
Turner, 2; Hibbert, 1; Butler, 1; Sloan, 1=35 defensive rebounds
In the first quarter, Stephenson equaled the defensive
rebounding of the Pacers starters by grabbing four defensive boards. West had
two, and George and Hill had one apiece, and Hibbert had none. From the bench,
Scola and Turner each contributed one. It should be noted, however, that Scola
came in for West at the 9:05 mark in the first quarter in the Mar. 28 Wizards game,
and in the Jan. 28 contest against the Lakers, he relieved West with 2:15 left
in the quarter.
In contrast to the Jan 28 Lakers game, Stephenson’s three
defensive rebounds came when there was at least two starters on the floor. His
first defensive rebound of the second quarter came at the 6:48 mark after West
and Hill returned to the floor for the Pacers. His other two defensive rebounds
came when Hill, West, and George were in the game. The only other starter to
have defensive rebounds in the second quarter was George, who had two. Prior to
Stephenson’s first defensive rebound in the second quarter, Scola, Donald
Sloan, and Mahinmi each had a defensive board for the Pacers. At the 6:35 mark,
Turner had his only defensive rebound in the quarter. Mahinmi grabbed another
defensive board at 4:54 in the second quarter.
Since the premise of this post is if there are too many Pacers involved
in defensive rebounding, there were also two defensive team rebounds in the
quarter.
Stephenson had only one defensive rebound in the third
quarter, but Turner came in to replace him at 7:07 in the third. But none of
the other Pacers had more than one rebound in the quarter. Hill, Hibbert, West,
and Mahinmi each had one in the third.
Stephenson converted his two consecutive defensive rebounds
in the fourth quarter to two assists to Hibbert and Hill. George came down with
three defensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, and West matched Stephenson’s
two, and Rasual Butler added one.
Looking at the totals and quarter breakdowns for these three
games, the final defensive rebound totals, with the exception of the Lakers
game, weren’t totally skewed towards one player. However, each of these three
games did have times where one person was dominating the defensive glass.
A month-by-month look at the defensive rebounding of the
starters and some of the bench players shows an interesting pattern, however:
Defensive Rebound
Comparison of Selected Players (from
NBA.com)
N D J F Ma A
Hibbert 5.4
4.9 4.1 4.7 2.7 2.3
Stephenson 5.1 6.0 6.4
6.6 6.1 5.2
George 5.5
5.2 6.5 5.8
6.3 7.2
West 6.1 4.8
4.6 5.2 5.4 5.6
Hill 3.1 3.3 3.1 3.2 3.3 1.5
Scola 3.9 4.4 4.6 3.9
2.6 3.4
Mahinmi 1.5
1.9 1.9 2.0 1.9 2.7
Granger 2.8 2.9 2.7
Turner
2.1 3.6
The bold numbers in large type show that George and
Stephenson took turns in leading the Pacers in defensive rebounds with the
exception of November when West led the Pacers in defensive rebounding with 6.1
rebounds per game. George was no lower than second place in defensive
rebounding during any month, and Stephenson was no lower than fourth place.
While Hibbert held down the third place spot in November and
December, West had the third, Scola had the fourth best rebounding average in
January, pushing Hibbert to fifth place. West remained the third top defensive
rebounder for the Pacers in February and March and rose to second best among
the Pacers in defensive rebounding in April.
Although Hibbert was able to get back to fourth place in
defensive rebounding for the Pacers in February, a drop to 2.7 defensive rebounds
per game in March and 2.3 defensive rebounds per game in April from the 4.7
rebounds per game he had in February put Hibbert in fifth place among Pacers in
defensive rebounding in March and seventh in April. In March, Hill had more defensive
rebounds than Hibbert with 3.3 per game. In April, bench players Scola, Turner,
and Mahinmi all had more rebounds than Hibbert. Hill’s defensive rebounding also dropped in
April from 3.3 rebounds in March to 1.5 in April.
Blogs written by
Michael
D. Sykes II on My Mind on Sports and
Scott
Rafferty on Hardwood Paroxysm suggest that Hibbert boxes out opposing players,
which allows other players to grab rebounds without them being contested, and
include video clips to illustrate that point.
Gregg
Doyel of CBSSports.com, however, contends Stephenson went out of his way to
get uncontested rebounds by positioning himself in front of teammates to get
the rebound instead. Doyel specifically mentioned that Stephenson tended to steal rebounds from Hibbert.
But Stephenson has departed to the Hornets. George’s
injury during a USA basketball scrimmage will keep him on the sidelines
during the 2014-15 NBA season. Consequently, the Pacers will have to search for rebounding
elsewhere. New Pacers
Rodney Stuckey
and
C.J. Miles
both averaged fewer than three total rebounds per game for the Pistons and
Cavaliers respectively last season.
Damjan
Rudez averaged only 1.93 total rebounds per game with CAI Zaragoza in
Croatia last year. However, the Pacers front court could get some help next
season from
Shayne
Whittington. Whittington averaged
8.87 rebounds per game with Western Michigan in 2013-14, which included 6.48
defensive rebounds.
Hibbert can make up for some of that loss if he could get
back to averaging
5.5 defensive
rebounds as he did during the 2011-12 season. Mahinmi could also offer some
assistance in the defensive rebounding department by getting back up to the
3.0 defensive
rebounding mark he had with Dallas during the 2011-12 season. Hill had
shown
steady
improvement in rebounding since the beginning of his NBA career, but his
2013-14 total rebound average of 3.7 was the same as his average in 2012-13 and
had a slight decline in his defensive average from 3.1 in 2012-13 to 3.0 in
2013-14. With Stephenson’s departure and George being sidelined for the season,
Hill has an opportunity to get his rebounding average on the rise once again.
But for whatever reason there may have been crowding around
the defensive glass during the 2013-14 season, it may have been preferable to
what the rebounding situation may be like without Stephenson and George.
