I've actually seen some interesting statistical analysis projects come to the conclusion that offensive rebounds are significantly more valuable than defensive rebounds, because a very large majority of defensive rebounds are simply being taken away from team members, rather than the opposition.
However, it's also true that offensive rebonds for scorers like Amare generally result in boosting their own production, so when you credit them for offensive rebonds you're almost giving them double credit (i.e. A player scores 20 points and pulls down 12 boards, but three of those boards were putbacks that directly resulted in six extra points for the player, so should the points AND the rebounds be considered in some sort of analysis of his production?)
It's kind of a murky grey area. I, personally, would argue that an elite offensive player that is an elite defensive rebounder and a terrible offensive rebounder is more valuable than an elite offensive player that is a good rebounder on both sides of the ball. Because the lack of offensive rebounds are only hurting the offense, and if he's already an elite offensive player, how much are you losing?
I dunno, it's an interesting concept and discussion.
Regardless, I just want to reiterate that I think Amare and Carmelo are great players, I just think the're a bit overrated.
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