Nothing angers the masses more than a big man who doesn’t rebound. (Though Dwight Howard’s purported lack of post moves causes a lot of grief, too.) The tallest NBA players, we believe, should innately have the power to snatch balls out of orbit -- they are so close to the sky, after all! But rebounding is skill, is art, and some big dudes just don’t have it.
The B-List: Very tall men who do not rebound, starring Andrea Bargnani
We’ve dealt with very tall men who don’t block shots. Now, let’s talk about those who do not rebound.
Twenty-three 7-footers played at least 500 minutes in the league last season. And your worst five rebounders from that group, using percentage of available rebounds captured, are ...
1. Andrea Bargnani (7.6 percent)
2. Donatas Motiejunas (9.8 percent)
3. Dirk Nowitzki (12.2 percent)
4. Meyers Leonard (12.3 percent)
5. Ryan Hollins (12.5 percent)
What a European list! Actually, keep Hollins in mind -- I’m pretty convinced he’s from Belgium or something. (I also feel obliged to mention that the top rebounding 7-footer in the league last season, Omer Asik, is foreign-born.)
If you extend the list out to players 6’10 and above ...
1. Steve Novak (5.4 percent)
2. Andrea Bargnani (7.6 percent)
3. Matt Bonner (8.2 percent)
4. Danilo Gallinari (8.9 percent)
5. Rashard Lewis (9.4 percent)
Holy crap ... Rashard Lewis played 800 minutes last season?
Let’s look at 7-footers over the past five seasons, and make the minutes’ minimum 2,000 (of which there are 31).
1. Andrea Bargnani (9.5 percent)
2. Ryan Hollins (10.2 percent)
3. Dirk Nowitzki (12 percent)
4. Tyler Zeller (12.5 percent)
5. Nenad Krstic (12.7 percent)
Bargnani, you are so bad at rebounding! Worth noting: Bargnani is one of two big men (with Ryan Anderson) and the only 7-footer to have a game where he played 30 minutes and registered zero rebounds last season. Bargnani didn’t have a single 10-rebound game last season, and has just four over the last three seasons.
Speaking of scoring, let’s dub a Bargnani, shall we? It shall be a game in which a big man has more missed three-pointers than rebounds. Our hero had nine of those in 35 games last season. But Ryan Anderson beat him with 15 in 81 games. When you account for games played, Bargnani wins. But it’s a good challenge. (I’m not really sure Novak can be considered a “big man” as he gets slotted in at small forward a lot, but he’s tall and had 45 Bargnanis in 81 games last year.
So the Knicks replace Novak with Bargnani ... and at only three times the annual cost. Rad work, New York!
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