Dirk's offensive Rebounding

[island_dude]

Did anyone notice that out of Dirk's 11 rebounds in the Suns game, 6 were offensive? I'm not sure but I'd bet that's the first time he's had more offensive rebounds than defensive. That's one part of his game that seems to be improving. I know that Avery would like him to average at least 2 offensive rebounds a game. I've noticed he goes to the offensive glass a little more than he use to, and gets some put backs. Something that use to never happen.

[orangedays]

Dirk also had 6 offensive boards (season high) back on Dec. 14 - also against the Suns. I think his success in crashing the glass last night can be attributed largely to two things:

(1) The Suns, ranked 13th in the NBA, are a sub-par rebounding team to say the least (Nash led the team with 5 boards until the 11:14 mark in the 4th Quarter, when Diaw grabbed his sixth). In the Dec. game and last night, Dallas won the rebounding battles 54-44 (they were only that close because Marion had 19) and 50-37 respectively. This creates a situation where a player can 'effort' his way into getting a ton of rebounds. Which brings me to reason #2...

(2) Dampier was absolutely abysmal last night. He didn't get his first rebound until 10:36 in the 3rd quarter. I have been one of the more stalwart defenders of Damp on this board but last night's performance was awful. He has really disappointed me with his play lately - in April the guy is averaging 6.3 rpg (if we take it back to Mar. 28, that number drops to 5.9 rpg) and 3.7 fouls pg. For those of you who are keeping track - that ratio sucks. In 3 out of 7 games he's had more PFs than rebounds. I'm not even going to bring up his 'scoring' because it is anemic and to his 'credit', that's not what he's out there for. But the fact of the matter is, he is on the court to rebound - if he can't even do that, then what the f*ck is he good for? This wasn't supposed to be an anti-Damp post so I digress.

My point is, I wouldn't go too much off of last night's game as a measure of Dirk's 'newfound' offensive rebounding prowess. He's averaging 1.4 orpg on the season, which is right around his career average. It's true that in April he's averaging 2.4 orpg but I feel that number is inflated by the fact that we have been getting NBDL-quality play from our centers.

[island_dude]

Good point, but I've notice his effort has been better against teams other than Phoenix. I've heard people try to discredit his defensive boards, saying it's because he isn't defending anyone, so it gives him freedom to go to the defensive glass. Total B.S. in my opinion! Dirk gets plenty of rebounds in traffic, and not just by standing around getting lucky bounces.

I don't think you'd want to see him going to the offensive glass too often anyway, because that would mean he isn't shooting the ball.

[orangedays]

Well, his rebounding numbers are down overall this season. 9.0 v. 9.7 rpg (defensive boards are down from 8.5 to 7.6). The Damp/Diop combination has done a good job, in that respect, taking some of that responsibility off Dirk. But who's disregarding his defensive rebounding ability? Dirk's been one of the top defensive rebounders in the league for a long time - I wouldn't pay those people any mind because they don't know what they're talking about.

Just some interesting stats for digestion:

The Mavs are actually -2.6% in offensive rebounding when Dirk's on the floor and +2.5% in defensive rebounding (-0.1% total), which is surprising. He converts on 4.1% of his offensive rebounding changes, but 21.1% of his drc.