Can JJ Redick help the Lakers hop on the offensive rebounding bandwagon?
The Lakers were the worst team in corralling their misses last season. JJ Redick is aiming to correct this as the rest of the NBA has rekindled their affection for the glass.
Back in 2016, Zach Lowe published an article that sought to answer the question: “Why are teams bored with boards?” As the title suggests, the sprawling piece examined the factors behind the NBA suddenly abandoning the offensive glass at historic rates.
Lowe’s findings ultimately revealed the 3-point revolution and the advent of small-ball lineups were responsible for the molecular shift in basketball’s chemistry. Between offenses shooting further out and playing faster, failed rebound chances meant death on the other end in the eyes of coaches around the league.
“We don’t care if you get an offensive rebound in your entire life,” a then mantra that Gregg Popovich and his staff had reportedly drilled into the Spurs’ perimeter players.
When ESPN released the column, on average, teams rebounded just 23.3% of their misses. That was a record low up to that point. Since then, the anomaly turned into the norm, with averages dropping as low as 22.2% in the 2020-21 campaign, according to Basketball-Reference.
But then something changed.
Even with 3-point shooting still reshaping the geometry of the sport at astronomical curves, offensive rebounding has suddenly become cool again. In 2022, the league average jumped to 24% before leaping even higher last season to 24.2%, the highest mark in a decade.
Whether due to the rise of the star big men littered around the league or basketball recalibrating itself after a literal lean period, there are various theories as to why offensive rebounding is back in style.
For new Lakers’ head coach JJ Redick, convincing his team to crash the glass is all about creating room for error, as he discussed during his introductory presser.
“I think a big thing for me is, you have to look at your roster, and then you have to figure out how you can create margins with that roster,” Redick said. “The team was 29th in offensive rebounding percentage. If you look at the trends of the NBA right now, teams that really value possessions are sending guys from the corner. They’re not worried about getting three guys back...You create a margin there. That all came from just analyzing the game over the last three years.”
Getting Los Angeles on board with the boards, however, may be easier said than done. As Redick noted, the Lakers have been among the teams that have not emphasized offensive rebounding. In fact, in multiple areas, they were likely the worst at it last season.
To put it into context, here is where the Lakers ranked last in according to the NBA’s public tracking data: offensive rebounds per game, total offensive rebounds and offensive rebound chances (1468; they were the only team who had less than 1700).
While it is unwise to point to a single factor when determining why a team is poor in a specific facet of the game, there are a few likely components that Redick may be able to correct and others he may not.
One of the most common reasons why the league initially began to steer away from the offensive glass was the conception that doing so compromised your transition defense. With teams playing at blistering paces, a misguided attempt would create an instantaneous numbers advantage on the other end for one of the most efficient forms of offense possible.
Although not the end-all-be-all for every team, the importance — and fear — of getting back has vaulted over offensive rebounding on coaches’ priority list. Here is what Darvin Ham said on the subject last season:
“Where I come from, offensive rebounding was a luxury that you allowed maybe one or two guys to enjoy. Our emphasis in previous places, previous stops I’ve been – Atlanta, Milwaukee – we always emphasized transition defense. As fast as the league is playing now, you feel kind of naked if you don’t get someone back in the paint early and someone back tracking the ball.”
Although it never transpired on the court, Ham also stated that offensive rebounding was something the team identified and even emphasized in different portions of last season as a place where they could be effective.
“But with our size, our length, our athleticism, we feel like maybe we can strike gold and do both. So we’ve identified certain guys who their job when the shot goes up is just getting back to start the process of setting up our defense and certain guys are gonna have the freedom to go crash and try to get us extra possessions, all simultaneously.”
The balance of limiting transition attempts while also still being able to create second chances is something the Lakers failed to do. Horribly.
Despite deferring their attempts on the glass, the Lakers did not reap the benefits of keeping the opposition out of early offense. They not only allowed the sixth-highest transition frequency off of live rebounds but also gave up the eighth-most transition points per 100 possessions.
It is worth pointing out that there are still dividing opinions on whether there is even a correlation between offensive rebounding and transition defense. However, wherever you stand on the topic, whatever the Lakers were doing didn’t work.
Of the bottom five teams in offREB%, only the Lakers ranked worse than average in transition frequency% allowed off misses
Redick and his staff must determine if the team’s inability to get back was a product of gameplan or effort before convincing them to chase rebounds more frequently.
If it was more the latter, then this is where a new voice in the locker room may lead to in-house improvements. The same applies to the former, where Redick may institute rebounding/regrouping policies that could get everyone on the same page.
A change in philosophy only goes so far, however, if the personnel can not execute their functions.
For a variety of reasons, the Lakers were frustratingly small last season. And after virtually no new additions to the roster in the offseason, that likely will remain the case this year Especially with the availability of their best perimeter rebounder, Jarred Vanderbilt, up in the air once again.
If the team wants to drastically improve on the boards, this is a potential problem, but it should also not be an outright excuse.
Take the Golden State Warriors. The team that is perhaps most responsible for ushering in the style of the modern era was, ironically, one of the best rebounding teams in the league last season despite being tiny. A big reason why was their guards were relentless in mucking it up in the paint.
Although it’s safe to assume that D’Angelo Russell may not hit the glass with the same verve as backcourt players Brandin Podziemski or Gary Payton II, the Warriors finishing with the fourth-highest offREB% is a case in point where individuals can impact team performance.
One player that already has been singled out by Redick to help bolster the Lakers’ offensive rebounding turnaround is Rui Hachimura.
In nearly every media appearance since becoming the new head coach, Redick has brought up Hachimura’s name when discussing the emphasis the team will put on second-chance points, specifically, where he wants Hachimura to attack the glass from.
“In terms of his role, I think that’s something that we will define with him, and we will also be open-minded to that evolving,” Redick said during his recent media day interview. “Rob (Pelinka) brought up the corner crashing because when he’s not posting up or not playing out of closeouts or not screening, Rui is an excellent shooter. We want him shooting corner 3s, so he’s already gonna be in the spot to corner crash. So we’re trying to ramp up his offensive rebounding.”
As it sounds, the concept of “corner crashing” relates to a player charging in from the corners of the floor for an offensive rebound attempt. This is what it looks like in action:
This is an important distinction for Hachimura in particular, as since joining the Lakers, he has moved further off the ball and slotted into the corners in the half court. Last season, 16% of his shots came via corner 3’s, which was not only a career-high but doubled his rate from his first year in Los Angeles.
With playing off the likes of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, this was a natural evolution of his game. However, the non-scoring aspects of Hachimura’s bag have also historically been inconsistent at best.
Despite being athletic and physical, Hachimura has yet to fully utilize his tools beyond putting the ball through the net. Because of this, he has yet to finish a full season average or better in offREB% among those in his position.
Beyond engaging him to be more proactive when not directly involved in the play, Redick can also put Hachimura and his teammates in better positions to corner-crash. While the Lakers’ shift to a 5-out alignment led to notable improvements on offense, it did hamper their ability to corral their misses.
Take this play, for example. Slotting all their players near or behind the 3-point line also removed anyone from being in the vicinity of the miss, as three Nuggets were there to secure the rebound.
This is all to say there must be careful thought and balance whenever attempting to change the way a team plays and what they value.
If the Lakers find a way to manufacture more second chances this season, it can go a long way in creating the extra margins and room for error Redick has detailed.
Whether it leads to more shot attempts — an area where the Lakers ranked 22nd last season — more possessions or the type of hustle play that ignites a run, it’s obvious they left something on the table last year that they may be wise to prevent from happening again.
It remains to be seen if the uptick in offensive rebounding around the league is here to stay or just the latest fad. But for a team like the Lakers, who need to canvas every avenue for internal improvements, zigging instead of zagging could be the right call.
All stats courtesy of Cleaning the Glass unless otherwise stated. You can follow Alex on Twitter at @AlexmRegla.