Andrea Bargnani's Ability To Rebound Consistently In The NBA
By Andrew Dubowec A hot topic of conversation surrounding Andrea Bargnani is his ability to rebound. Some might say it’s his ‘inability’ to rebound that is the issue.
After four preseason games, Andrea is averaging a surprising 5.2 boards per game, with 5.0 of those rebounds happening on the defensive end. He’s also averaging 15.2 points per game.
Take Andrea’s rebound rate and extrapolate it over 40 minutes (likely his average playing time in the regular season) and Bargnani is rebounding at a rate of 9.5 boards per game. These numbers are very promising particularly when you factor in that Andrea pulled down only one board against Chicago.
Yesterday, Coach Sam Mitchell weighed in on the subject of Bargnani and rebounding:
"Andrea understands he has to become more consistent and I understand there are going to be times when he doesn't get to the offensive boards because of where we put him on the floor," Mitchell said. "I'll allow for that ... but defensive rebounding, because he's guarding centres around the basket, he's got to go get it."
“There is no doubt that Bargnani's rebounding, and his willingness to get near the basket and try to get the ball, is better this year than it was last and there's every reason to think it'll continue to improve.”
Chris Bosh agrees with the assessment. "I think he just has to work on his confidence on defence and rebounding," Bosh said of his frontcourt mate. "He has tendencies to stay outside a little bit and not stay in there and get physical but he has the build for it. He's 250 pounds so he can get in there and bump around."
Again to some degree, Bargnani is a victim of a team philosophy which has him playing on the perimeter more than a typical big man would. One senses from Sam’s comments that at least on the defensive side, he wants this to change and for Andrea to spend more time inside.
Against Chicago, Bargani often found himself with the defensive assignment of covering Thomas and Kryapa – who both generally remained on the perimeter. And while he pulled down only one rebound, Bargnani did a very good job of boxing out his own man and allowing the wings to have a good game on the boards.
We know Andrea can score. That’s not in doubt. The question is “can Il Mago rebound?” If Bargnani can average 9.0 rebounds per game in 2007-08, Raptors fans and Sam Mitchell will be extremely happy.
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