THE Sacramento Bee reveals that since the start of their training camp, the Kings have focused a lot on the offensive rebounding sector. After each shot, Mike Brown asks his players to work hard to get a “second chance”.
A choice dictated by the analyzes of GM Monte McNair. “I don’t care if an idea comes from someone in the video room, from the staff or from Mel, my assistant,” Brown explained. “If there's a good idea, you have to implement it, and in this case, with the offensive rebound, it was Monte who had it. »
A real paradox
A disciple of Daryl Morey at the Rockets, McNair is crazy about numbers and advanced statistics. Last season, the Kings ranked 12th in the NBA in offensive rebounds with 10.8 per game. More precisely, they were 17th before the All-Star Game was cut, then 5th after the restart. What the Sacramento GM noticed is that this increase in offensive rebounding power was accompanied, and this is paradoxical, by better defense on the counterattack. Last season, the Kings were number 1 in the NBA in points conceded on fast play: 11.7 points per game.
“Monte is a great analytics specialist,” recalls the Sacramento coach. “ He came to us at our coaches conference in Tahoe the first year, and when I'm not used to something, I'll push him back and push him hard. But if you continue to show that you believe in what you're saying, chances are I'll accept. He floated this idea and I said, “Well, it’s going to kill us in transition defense.” » And I kept trying to find ways to combat this idea. He didn't give up and told me he believed in it, so I said, 'OK, let's try.' »
Sabonis validates this choice
Ultimately, Brown waited until the third season to really believe it, and this season, he asked his players to focus on recovering their own shots. An offensive rebound can bring a tap, or an open 3-point shot. And even if the player does not take the rebound, he can hinder the counterattack by being near the circle.
“Discussing, Monte was a little more convincing,” continues Brown. “The next step was doing it in practice and training camp, seeing it on videos and realizing that when we send guys to the rebound, we're still pretty good in transition defense. It's been two years now, we're entering year three, and I'm confident that you can go offensive rebounding while being good at transition defense. It just took time. »
A prospect that delights Domantas Sabonis, the best rebounder in the NBA. “This is going to be important!” The numbers from the last two years show that offensive rebounds are worth a lot of points per possession, so coaches are really focusing on that. Last year we increased our average towards the end of the season and our transition defense was still the best, so the coaches want us to do that from the start. »
