Should the Raps emphasize offensive rebounding?

[Puffer]

...1. Sending our 2-3 best defenders to the rim would hang our lesser defenders (wing guys) out to dry, which would probably result in bursts of scoring from the opposition. With nobody to protect the rim in transition we'd see a lot of early fouls on Derozan and Gay. That would be debilitating....

Teams that purposely go after OReb's also purposely send their wings and PG back on D early. Making sure they are between defenders and their own basket doesn't hurt when having Bigs crash the boards because 9/10 the Big will go up for an immediate basket and either make it or get fouled.

[Mundy]

Jonas is not exactly elite, but he's hardly been horrid. He ranked ahead of Al Horford, Chris Kaman, Marc Gasol, Kendrick Perkins, Byron Mullens, and within shouting distance of Bogut, Noah, Haywood and Mohammed. Among C's who played 1000 minutes plus, he ranked 16th in ORB% out of 24. He's been somewhat below average. Of course, with a strategy focused on offensive rebounding, you'd expect his numbers to go up.

Hansbrough is very good, Amir is good (9th and 29th league wide among 1000 minute players - Valanciunas is 46th, which is still pretty good). Fields is indeed the top wing on the Raps at 94th in the league. I see no reason why we wouldn't have the personnel for this sort of thing.

Yeah I never look up number to back up what I see, which often comes back to bite me. The stats on Jonas surprised me a bit because I never really remember seeing him grab many 0-boards besides the ol' Moses Malone-types. Two of the bigger issues I think we'd face isn't just the boards themselves -which would obviously go up with an emphasis on grabbing the misses- are:

1. Sending our 2-3 best defenders to the rim would hang our lesser defenders (wing guys) out to dry, which would probably result in bursts of scoring from the opposition. With nobody to protect the rim in transition we'd see a lot of early fouls on Derozan and Gay. That would be debilitating.

2. Honestly if we focus on getting shots closer to the rim we shouldn't have to worry so much about following up. I know that's a blanket statement, but since we shot a ridiculous amount of long 2's there won't have to be much change to the offense in order to find better looks. I think that should be way more of a focus than offensive rebounding.

I dunno. I would never say that we shouldn't, but there's so many things we need to work on, offensive rebounds seems to be somewhat of a tweak after you get all of the other systems in place. Until we nail down our offense and transition defense I think we'd be setting ourselves up for a faster-paced game, and when you don't shoot efficiently that could mean a lot of blowouts.

[Nilanka]

Out of my right rear speaker on the surround sound I just heard, "GO! GO! GO!"

You heard "GO! GO! GO!", but saw Calderon jog gingerly across half court

[mcHAPPY]

Nilanka,

As a long time Raps fan, you should know that the Raps can only focus on one thing at a time in pre-season. This is either: DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or PUSHING THE BALL WHEN THE OPPORTUNITY PRESENTS ITSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Between that one item, trying to change the culture every year and proving the naysayers wrong, the Raps are out of time for anything else.

Something for other teams to ponder, though.

Out of my right rear speaker on the surround sound I just heard, "GO! GO! GO!"

[DanH]

Yeah, it'd be nice but so far Val has been a horrid offensive rebounder for somebody his size. It's a nice thought but it'll be tough to go after it with two other players and still be back on D.
The counter to that, I guess, is that we have so much energy up front that we could still hustle back, but until we have some proven o-glass workers (outside of Amir.....and I haven't looked up the numbers but something tells me Fields might be pretty okay) I'd say we stay the course and make ALL defense the #1 priority.

.....oh, wait. I forgot about Psycho T. He's awesome. Maybe we put the pressure on their second unit, try to get some extra buckets that way. Amir and Hansborough will be tough for a lot of smaller/finesse lineups to deal with..

Jonas is not exactly elite, but he's hardly been horrid. He ranked ahead of Al Horford, Chris Kaman, Marc Gasol, Kendrick Perkins, Byron Mullens, and within shouting distance of Bogut, Noah, Haywood and Mohammed. Among C's who played 1000 minutes plus, he ranked 16th in ORB% out of 24. He's been somewhat below average. Of course, with a strategy focused on offensive rebounding, you'd expect his numbers to go up.

Hansbrough is very good, Amir is good (9th and 29th league wide among 1000 minute players - Valanciunas is 46th, which is still pretty good). Fields is indeed the top wing on the Raps at 94th in the league. I see no reason why we wouldn't have the personnel for this sort of thing.

[slaw]

Nilanka,

As a long time Raps fan, you should know that the Raps can only focus on one thing at a time in pre-season. This is either: DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! or PUSHING THE BALL WHEN THE OPPORTUNITY PRESENTS ITSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Between that one item, trying to change the culture every year and proving the naysayers wrong, the Raps are out of time for anything else.

Something for other teams to ponder, though.

[Puffer]

In the name of sportsmanship the Raptors should let the opposition have a turn with the ball after shooting. That would encourage more participation and sharing.

And then EVERYBODY could feel good about themselves.

[stretch]

In the name of sportsmanship the Raptors should let the opposition have a turn with the ball after shooting. That would encourage more participation and sharing.

[ebrian]

Just curious as to the meaning of "could net about four extra points per game". Are they talking about an increase of potentially 4 points per game scored, or are they talking about points differential? The word "net" in their claim is confusing to me. If we can go from -1.5 to +2.5, then by all means this is something we need to work on. If it just means we will score more points (while giving up more as well, since other teams may also adopt this strategy.. not to mention our porous defense), then it's kind of moot.

[Mediumcore]

Good artlicle Nilanka.

I have to agree with the people saying that we don't have the personnel for it. Not just to hit the offensive glass but the guards behind them to pick up the slack on D.

[swingman]

Offensive rebounding, specifically Leonard's, almost won the spurs the championship. Part of the reason you have to execute so well against teams like Miami and San Antonio and Indianapolis is because of how good they are on both ends on the glass.

Leonard's rebounding and Diaw's D on Lebron were my two favourite 'where the fuck did this come from?' elements in the finals

[ceez]

Offensive rebounding, specifically Leonard's, almost won the spurs the championship. Part of the reason you have to execute so well against teams like Miami and San Antonio and Indianapolis is because of how good they are on both ends on the glass.

[Puffer]

Another important point from the article:

Love this point.

"...If opponents know the Pacers are going to chase boards like maniacs, those opponents can’t start leaking out for fast breaks..."

[Nilanka]

Yup. And Miami doesn't because they need to get their D set to avoid giving up the inside space to any big opponent since they lack a big guy.

Personnel matters, and the Raps certainly have what's probably their best ever roster in that sense, with good rebounding bigs, athletic wings with good size (man I hope Fields can have an impact on O, because he's a great rebounding wing) and quick PGs who can get back. Again though, until I see some stability on D, it just seems like it's jumping the gun. Lots is on Casey's shoulders to establish a defensive philosophy that the team never gets away from.

Probably is jumping the gun a little. I guess I'm just itching to talk X's and O's instead of uniform colours and shoe collections

[p00ka]

The idea that teams can't crash glass AND defend in transition is what's been debunked. The article doesn't say you must to do both in order to contend. The purpose of this thread is simply to discuss whether the Raptors can gain a competitive advantage by tweaking their gameplan, and whether or not they have the personnel to do it.

Also, the article points out that both Boston and San Antonio potentially shy away from crashing the glass because KG and Duncan (i.e. their primary rebounders) are in the twilights of their respective careers, and thus spend less time in the paint offensively than they once did.

Yeah, I guess I sidetracked it a little. That being said, perhaps this discussion is a little premature when speaking of the Raps. As someone (White Men...?) said, the Raps need to establish their team defense before they can toy with that idea, and so much depends on personnel as well.

Interesting topic. Good find, especially considering the dearth of good topics these days.