NBA Rookie Watch

[henz0]

 

[dyyhard]

deandre giving biedrins a battle in rebounding.

 

[mben32]

Originally Posted by henz0

someone ps eric gordon into that picture.

 

[dyyhard]

at this rate DeAndre Jordan might have a better season overall than Greg Oden.

DeAndre 20 rbds!!

 

[youngtriz]

chalmers did good against the magic.. 20 points.. 6 assist.. 3 steals...

 

[casperjr]

@ rose not gettin the call !@+#$ gettin real old G

 

[jpzx]

Originally Posted by CasperJr

@ rose not gettin the call !@+#$ gettin real old G

Anyway, Kevin Love's statline tonight: 19 points, 15 rebounds

 

[div1lbc]

No one mentioned Eric Gordon's 41 point performance? Highest total for any rookie so far this season.

 

[superofficial]

Kevin Love is a rebounding machine... Gotta say I didn't think he'd be a 8 and 8 guys this year.

 

[casperjr]

Originally Posted by JPZx

Originally Posted by CasperJr

@ rose not gettin the call !@+#$ gettin real old G

Anyway, Kevin Love's statline tonight: 19 points, 15 rebounds

*looks @ sig and avy*

yall _ got lucky home town love going on hard over there with them refs but good game this been going on all season as far as the refs go

 

[bballah3]

Originally Posted by CasperJr

Originally Posted by JPZx

Originally Posted by CasperJr

@ rose not gettin the call !@+#$ gettin real old G

Anyway, Kevin Love's statline tonight: 19 points, 15 rebounds

*looks @ sig and avy*

yall _ got lucky home town love going on hard over there with them refs but good game this been going on all season as far as the refs go

Stop talking. Seriously.

Those refs were terrible, sure, they gave a T to Al Jefferson when Nocioni should have gotten a flagrant and Al turned around. I can complain more than you canover this game.

But no refs in the NBA ever....EVER are gonna let a game be decided on the line in the final seconds of the game due to some broken play where someone has tochuck up some garbage and hope it goes in. So what are you looking for here?

Quit crying. Thanks.

 

[jpzx]

Originally Posted by CasperJr

Originally Posted by JPZx

Originally Posted by CasperJr

@ rose not gettin the call !@+#$ gettin real old G

Anyway, Kevin Love's statline tonight: 19 points, 15 rebounds

*looks @ sig and avy*

yall _ got lucky home town love going on hard over there with them refs but good game this been going on all season as far as the refs go

I read what you said, looked at your avy, and did this

 

[casperjr]

Originally Posted by bballah3

Originally Posted by CasperJr

Originally Posted by JPZx

Originally Posted by CasperJr

@ rose not gettin the call !@+#$ gettin real old G

Anyway, Kevin Love's statline tonight: 19 points, 15 rebounds

*looks @ sig and avy*

yall _ got lucky home town love going on hard over there with them refs but good game this been going on all season as far as the refs go

Stop talking. Seriously.

Those refs were terrible, sure, they gave a T to Al Jefferson when Nocioni should have gotten a flagrant and Al turned around. I can complain more than you can over this game.

But no refs in the NBA ever....EVER are gonna let a game be decided on the line in the final seconds of the game due to some broken play where someone has to chuck up some garbage and hope it goes in. So what are you looking for here?

Quit crying. Thanks.

@ you trying to make it sound like i was saying that was afoul

noc is a hard fouler thats just him BUUUT that foul wasnt even hard son didnt even hit the deck nobody told that fool to turn around and act like he was gonedo something

and once again

@ you for thinking you know wth you talkin about, iwasnt talkin about 1 single play im talkin about the season in a whole but i guess you didnt read the ending of my 1st post

 

[jpzx]

CasperJr wrote:

---

@ rose not gettin the call !@+#$ gettin real old G

CasperJr wrote:

---

@ you trying to make it sound like i was saying that was a foul

and once again

@ you for thinking you know wth you talkin about, i wasnt talkin about 1 single play im talkin about the season in a whole but i guess you didnt read the ending of my 1st post
lmao man you're embarrasing the knowledgable Bulls fans on here...you clearly said in your first post ROSE NOT GETTIN THE CALL!, so yes youwere complaining about that foul because you also said it's "getting really old"

+ bballah3 is Kevin Love's brother so I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about since he's seen just about every game this year

CasperJr =

 

[casperjr]

Originally Posted by JPZx

CasperJr wrote:

---

@ rose not gettin the call !@+#$ gettin real old G

CasperJr wrote:

---

@ you trying to make it sound like i was saying that was a foul

and once again

@ you for thinking you know wth you talkin about, i wasnt talkin about 1 single play im talkin about the season in a whole but i guess you didnt read the ending of my 1st post
lmao man you're embarrasing the knowledgable Bulls fans on here...you clearly said in your first post ROSE NOT GETTIN THE CALL!, so yes you were complaining about that foul because you also said it's "getting really old"

+ bballah3 is Kevin Love's brother so I'm pretty sure he knows what he's talking about since he's seen just about every game this year

CasperJr =

how in this world you two are getting that i was talkin about that play is beyond me both you dudes areclowns if i was talkin about THAT PLAY i would have made it clear. i dont kno how else to say this but ill say it again im not talkin about no one play imtalkin about a season long fight about rose not gettin the call which is backed up by the ITS GETTING REAL OLD G comment...............

wat the hell does that have to do with anything were talking about

get off that _ nuts, when i want to knohow bad they look in person i now kno who to ask........

 

[seymore cake]

Pooh does have a history of not getting the calls that he deserves when he drives. You can say its because he's a rookie or because he creates contact orwhatever other excuse you want to use but it has gotten to the point where it's frustrating to watch.

 

[iceman3699]

Originally Posted by Div1LBC

No one mentioned Eric Gordon's 41 point performance? Highest total for any rookie so far this season.

dude doing wonders for my fantasy team

 

[jdb1523]

Anybody catch JJ Hickson's putback dunk against Utah the other night? This kid is going to be solid.

 

[TheGodFresco]

Morrow with 17 points and 4 assist last night. And he's the league leader in 3pt %

 

[bballah3]

double

 

[bballah3]

Originally Posted by CasperJr

@ rose not gettin the call !@+#$ gettin real old G

CasperJr wrote:
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
how in this world you two are getting that i was talkin about that play is beyond me both you dudes are clowns if i was talkin about THAT PLAY i would have made it clear. i dont kno how else to say this but ill say it again im not talkin about no one play im talkin about a season long fight about rose not gettin the call which is backed up by the ITS GETTING REAL OLD G comment...............

Then what are you crying about? You clearly state "@ Rose not gettin the call." What call? ........You ******ed?

Originally Posted by Seymore CAKE

Pooh does have a history of not getting the calls that he deserves when he drives. You can say its because he's a rookie or because he creates contact or whatever other excuse you want to use but it has gotten to the point where it's frustrating to watch.

But the two reason you point out are the two reasons he does not get the calls that you want (I say this as a fan) or feel he should get. Its how the Lworks...as a rookie you aren't handed anything, the refs will ease up and hand him fouls with time. But also, possibly the only guard in the league whoinitiates more contact is D-Wade.....and coming into this season, where was Rose? Working with out with D-Wade in Chicago. Its only time before you see Rosesitting at the line and shooting 10+ free throws a game.

 

[bballah3]

Pop Quiz: Rookies Can Rebound

January 27, 2009 12:15 PM

OK, so if you take:

• Every rookie who has ever played in the NBA since 1946 ...
• Weed out everyone who played less than twenty minutes per game ...
• And sort them by who gets the highest percentage of total rebounds while on the court ...

You'll find that two current rookies are in the top ten all time. Which is really something.

One of them is Greg Oden, who is ninth at the moment. He's ahead of people like Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson. Not bad. Not bad at all.

Another 2008-2009 rookie, however, is currently third all time. By this measure he's ahead of Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Oakley, Buck Williams, and Bill Walton (trailing only Clifford Ray and Larry Smith, who were three years older in their rookie years than the buy I'm talking about).

This rookie is also better known for doing something besides rebounding.

But TrueHoop reader Larry has pointed out, and Basketball-Reference.com confirms, this player is certainly showing that he's a special rebounder.

So ... who is he?

Answer after the jump.

Kevin Love of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Here's the evidence.

His total rebounding percentage is greater than his age, which just about never happens. He's only 20, but he grabs 21.3 percent of the rebounds while he's on the court.

He's also smaller and less athletic than a lot of the players he's competing against for those loose balls. And he's best known as a passer (and trick-shot artist).

How does he do it?

There are probably a lot of contributing factors. Maybe he reads angles better than many. Maybe he is well-schooled in the dark arts of rebound positioning. Certainly he has good hands, and can possess a high percentage of the balls he touches.

But I can tell you this: If you train with David Thorpe at the Pro Training Center at IMG, and tell him you want to grab more rebounds, the first thing he will do is try to get you to see that you have more rebounding opportunities than you think you do. This has nothing to do with your size, and everything to do with your mental approach to rebounding.

Thorpe's thought is that the best way for most players to get more balls is to get it in their heads that they can go and get balls that fall out of their area.

Think about it this way. If you're shooting alone in a gym, you can run down rebounds all over the floor. It's normal. You can cover a lot of ground!

But in games, a lot of players have a certain mental block. All those players in the way! Most only really fight for balls that come to their area. If you're on the left block, are you going to run all the way to the right elbow to grab a ball coming off the rim?

For most players, the answer is no.

But for rebound maniacs like Kevin Love, the answer is yes.

No matter where he starts out, he'll compete for just about every ball that comes off that rim. It's a mentality.

(And, incidentally, this reality is why rebounding statistics from college are often more useful than you'd think in the NBA. John Hollinger can explain this better than I can, but my understanding is that many good college rebounders, who were a bit undersized, have historically been projected to be unable to rebound well against the NBA's bigger competition. Yet several of them have proven otherwise. What do they have in common? They are players who apply their rebounding skills more times per game than other players. If you're trying to get them all the time, you'll get a lot of them.)

Love is listed at 6-10 and 260. And he has been dinged by scouts for his lack of athleticism. But his rookie season is showing that he can sure grab some rebounds!

UPDATE: A look at team's overall rebounding rates while different players are on the floor. Oden and Love still shine. Love makes the single biggest difference of any player in the league, with his team improving more than nine percent grabbing offensive rebounds while he's on the floor. (This measure weeds out players who are stealing rebounds from teammates.)

UPDATE: Great insights in an e-mail from Stop-N-Pop at Canis Hoopus:

While there is no doubt that Love has the mental makeup to go get rebounds, I actually think your quote about the "dark arts" of rebounding is closer to what is happening with his game.

If you pay attention to him on the boards, he is less concerned with jumping high as he is about preventing his man from jumping to the ball; or, at the very least, jumping to the highest point that he himself needs to get to in order to bring down the goods.

His bag of dark arts tricks is filled to the brim with the type of moves rec players see at the Y from the old guy who likes to make believe that nobody knows he played D1 ball back in the 70s. From pretending that his man has him anchored to the floor (which draws fouls) to the one arm in the air trick (in which he overplays the fact that his arm is being held down; also a foul magnet move) to the slight hip bump to always keeping his hands in the air when the ball comes off the rim, the guy is well, well versed in the dark arts of rebounding.

He also has the added benefit of playing next to a guy who consistently draws double teams while shooting close to the bucket. The Wolves are grabbing between 30-40% of their own misses in recent games. With Jefferson upping his game, Love is often presented with even less resistance on his way to the offensive glass. If you add in his clearly superior work ethic and motor, and if you factor in his double black belt in rebounding, there is actually some room to believe that he can improve on the offensive glass, as more attention is being paid to Foye and Jefferson than at any other time during the season.

(Big photo by David Sherman. Smaller one by Fernando Medina. Both from NBAE via Getty Images.)

 

[roc boy jada]

From last night:

Rose - 26 pts, 6 rebs, 4 asts
B. Lopez - 24 pts, 17 rebs, 4 blks
OJ - 21 pts, 5 reb, 3 asts
Gordon - 25 pts, 4 rebs, 4 asts
Beasley - 18 pts, 10 rebs
Chalmers - 17 pts, 4 stls

 

[youngtriz]

im so glad we got 2 good picks out of the draft.... chalmers is a beast on defense...

 

[lnmymind]

Mike's producing more than just points lately...and I'm not talking basketball.