Ideas around rebounding in the NBA have changed a lot in recent years.<\/p>\n
It used to be far more common in a star player\u2019s profile. Think former Houston Rockets star (?) Charles Barkley. His game was partly predicated on his ability to create easy opportunities in transition, which was partly predicated on his ability to grab boards.<\/p>\n
Think Andre Drummond. He was kind of not that good at a lot of basketball stuff, but he was among the best rebounders in NBA history, and that was enough for him to earn an All-NBA nod.<\/p>\n
That type of star doesn\u2019t exist anymore.<\/p>\n
Go look at the NBA\u2019s rebounds per game leaders. Perhaps Nikola Jokic fits the Barkley archetype, but if anyone wanted to call him the \u201cRound Mound of Rebound\u201d, it would be weird. The Massive King of Passing would be more appropriate.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, the list is littered with guys who you\u2019d just expect to get rebounds. Nobody really sticks out – it\u2019s just a bunch of guys grabbing 10ish rebounds per game because that\u2019s their function. It\u2019s less that they\u2019re the league\u2019s best rebounders, and more that the league\u2019s best rebounders often don\u2019t have enough ancillary skills to keep themselves on the floor.<\/p>\n
Rockets build on identity with Tshiebwe signing<\/p>\n
Rebounding from individual players has been devalued, but for a while, even team rebounding had lost some luster. Teams were largely opting to pass on even attempting to corral offensive boards in favor of defending transition.<\/p>\n
Their 38.8 Offensive Rebounding % in 2025-26 led the league by a country mile. Their overall 54.9 Rebounding % was league-best as well.<\/p>\n
So why not add the best rebounder in G-League history?<\/p>\n
Tshiebwe\u2019s robust 19.0 rebounds per game in 2024-25 were the best mark ever recorded. This man can collect a board.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s only 6\u20198\u201d, but he\u2019s 255 pounds of pure granite. His 7\u20193\u201d wingspan is also helpful. Tshiebwe is not afraid to throw his weight around, and few players can outmuscle him.<\/p>\n
So what should the Rockets expect from him?<\/p>\n
Tshiebwe can find a role with the Rockets<\/p>\n
Jokes aside: Clint Capela wasn\u2019t great last year. It was fun to see him back with the organization, and he wasn\u2019t\u2026awful\u2026but the Rockets should be in the market for a better third-string, \u201cbreak in case of Steven Adams-related emergency\u201d backup big.<\/p>\n
Tshiebwe has a chance to be that guy. At his size, his lateral quickness is subpar. He can be a defensive liability, although securing the glass is part of defense too, and Tshiebwe is one of the best in the NBA on that front.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s one thing that has always mattered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ideas around rebounding in the NBA have changed a lot in recent years. It used to be far…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,79539,79540,99],"class_list":["post-819825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-player-analysis","tag-rockets-analysis","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}