So, let me see if I have this straight: Moochie Norris is a better rebounder than Mark Blount. Or, to put it more succinctly, Blount sucks at rebounding. Maybe that's why we can't trade him.As easily as rebounding comes to Howard, there are men out there -- large, athletic men -- for whom it is an unnatural act. The best-known of these may be the Knicks' Eddy Curry, who is 6'11" and 285 pounds but has never averaged more than 6.7 rebounds. Mark Blount of the Boston Celtics presents an even bigger puzzle. At 7 feet and 250 pounds, with thick shoulders, he should devour rebounds. Instead he often seems to jump in slightly the wrong direction. At week's end Blount was averaging 4.5 rebounds in 29.3 minutes. To understand how remarkable that is, consider that there were 225 players at week's end, who had a better rebounding rate per 48 minutes than Blount, including 6'1" Moochie Norris of the Houston Rockets and 6-foot Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. When Blount recently pleaded for more shots, Celtics coach Doc Rivers told the Boston Herald, "The next time someone asks for touches, tell him to go get the freaking rebound."
Maybe, however, it isn't Blount's fault. Jim O'Brien revealed in an online exchange that when he was Boston's coach from 2001 until January '04, the team conducted a study on Blount, bringing in C.M. Newton, a former Kentucky athletic director and Celtics consultant. Newton's conclusion, according to O'Brien: Blount doesn't have "the instinct" to rebound. That underscored what many believe to be true: Because timing and quick-jumping and a space-consuming rump are difficult assets to acquire, you're either a rebounder or you're not, no matter how many tricks of the trade you learn. "It's consistent," says Dallas Mavericks assistant Del Harris. "Guys will become better shooters, that's been proven. But you hardly ever take a guy who's been a nonrebounder and [make him into] a legit rebounder in the league."
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Maybe this is the problem
It's taken me a week to get around to reading the Jan. 19th issue of Sports Illustrated. There's a great article on rebounding which focuses on Dwight Howard, but has some very interesting tidbits on one Mr. Mark Blount. Unfortunately, you have to be a magazine subscriber to get to the content. But here are the nut graphs:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Well the Bulls found a taker for Eddy Curry--at $10 million+ per season! You guys just need to give Isiah a call. :)
In other news, the failure of the Peja-Artest deal is great for the Bulls, if it sticks. Now the Kings have a greater chance of losing Peja, and will be more willing to deal him for cheap.
I was going to make that exact Isiah joke yesterday, except I checked and there's nobody on the Knicks roster to trade for. Check it out.
As a consultant I am, of course, solidly in favor of people hiring consultants to tell them things they should already know.
And while I think there's something to the innate ability argument I wouldn't run with this too far. These sorts of innate abilities probably rank no higher than third on the list of things that determine how good you will be at rebounding in the NBA. First on the list is clearly how big and athletic you are. Second is effort. Mark's got the first and had the second, for a while.
When Mark Blount was in the second half of his contract year in '03-04 he had a double-double more than every other game after Dick Harter's fronting-the-post defensive scheme was abandoned. Playing basically the same minutes he does now he averaged 7.8 rebounds over the whole year. Since signing his new contract that number has dropped substantially.
Post a Comment