In Jarred Vanderbilt, the Jazz have found themselves a “crazy” rebounder

While Wolves, his former team, struggle to find the right formula collectively, Jarred Vanderbilt serenely continues his journey and flourishes in Utah. Within a roster Jazz a little improbable, but which has nevertheless been working miracles since the start of the season, the strong winger has found his place in the five majors and he is having a blast.

Not caring about scoring, since Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton are there for that. Also not from playmaking, since veteran point guard Mike Conley runs the shop perfectly. No, the specialty of the former Kentucky in Salt Lake City is the rebound.

” Vando is crazy. He is everywhere. I’m so happy he’s with us, I was tired of playing against him when he was with Minnesota. Mike Conley was amused.

With 8.4 catches per game since the start of the season, the 23-year-old strong winger indeed equals his best career average, established last year with Wolves. Except that in Utah, he is freed from the presence of Karl-Anthony Towns in the paint, and his rebound activity is then more noticed.

” There is a lot of video work he summarizes. ” I look at the players’ shooting preferences, their percentages. I know the arc of their shots, if some players are short in some places. […] But overall, it’s mostly a matter of timing and instincts. Essentially, a rebound is 50/50. Me, I prefer to see it as 80/20, because everything is a question of investment, you have to want to catch this rebound. »

For his coach, his sense of rebound is simply innate. ” I wish we could learn [aux jeunes] what Jarred does. His understanding of angles, timing… Sometimes he slows down before running for the rebound, because he waits for his opponent to take his eyes off the ball. He masters all the angles, sometimes he goes through the baseline, sometimes he goes through the middle and manages » detailed Will Hardy. ” He’s a very, very special talent when it comes to rebounding. He has this gift for anticipating. »

Thanks to… John Calipari

“Freshman” in Kentucky during the 2017/18 season, before being a “one-and-one” and presenting himself in the 2018 Draft, Jarred Vanderbilt credits John Calipari, the legendary coach of the Wildcats, for having pushed him to get involved in this somewhat unrewarding part of the game.

Indeed, the native of Houston, younger, was not a rebound specialist. But, injured during the first two months of the 2017/18 season, he had to prove himself to join the rotation of “Coach Cal”, who expected him to invest in shadow tasks, including rebounding, so the season was already well under way.

” I had missed twenty matches to start the season. And I remember a discussion with Cal’ who said to me: ‘You can shine by being tough on hurt, on rebound and on defense’ he recalls.

When he returned from injury, Jarred Vanderbilt then played 14 matches, for an average of 17 minutes. Standing out above all… on the rebound, with 7.9 catches per game. The highest average of his team this season, when he had missed more than half of the matches and came off the bench.

Hyperactive, Jarred Vanderbilt still has to adjust the cursor. Because sometimes wanting to do too well, he tends to commit several largely dispensable mistakes.

Of the nine matches played by the Jazz, he was indeed hampered by faults on… six occasions: two matches with six faults, two matches with five faults and two others with four faults.

” I think it’s just about understanding, both the momentum of the match and his personal foul situation. I would never ask him to play with less energy, because that is precisely what makes him unique. But there’s a balance to be found concludes Will Hardy.