The Cavs need De’Andre Hunter to get a rebound

Hunter needs to clean the glass.

The Cleveland Cavaliers should feel fantastic going into the NBA Playoffs. They’ve accomplished almost everything you can in the regular season and did it all while improving the roster by adding De’Andre Hunter at the deadline.

Hunter averaged 14.3 points on 42.6% three-point shooting one arriving in Cleveland. His knockdown catch-and-shoot efficiency made him an instant fit on the Cavalier bench. The Cavs can rely on him to space the floor and play the backup four on a nightly basis.

Then, on defense, Hunter is the theoretical missing piece. He’s an athletic, lanky wing with the size they’ve been missing. Hunter’s physical tools make him not only a good player on the bench but someone who could start and close games in the playoffs.

That is, if Hunter is able to fix one thing.

The Cavs have a rebounding problem

See, the Cavaliers finished the season 24th in opponent offensive rebounding percentage and that actually got worse once they added Hunter. Rebounding has always been a concern for this team. The simple fact is, they need more defensive rebounding from their midseason acquisition.

The Cavs would rank ninth in rebounding percentage if you only included lineups that featured both bigs. In contrast, lineups without one of Jarrett Allen or Evan Mobley are both far below league average in rebounding.

Cleveland rebounds at their best when Max Strus is next to Allen and Mobley. Lineups featuring those three place in the 93rd percentile and would be the best rebounding team in the NBA by a wide margin. Dean Wade also fills the gap fine enough Mobley or Allen. It’s Hunter’s minutes that have hurt them

Lineups featuring Hunter at power forward are in the 8th percentile for defensive rebounding percentage. Worst of all, the Cavs plummet to the unimaginable 0th percentile when Hunter is alongside Allen and Mobley. This is a small sample size of only 127 possessions, but it’s a trend that absolutely can not stick.

Hunter is capable of doing more on the glass

The frustrating part of this is that Hunter has the skill to be an elite rebounder. He’s a big wing with long arms. There’s no reason, on paper, that he can’t rebound at a high rate. Yet still, Hunter has never had a full season where he ranked above league average in defensive rebounding percentage.

This has led to questions about Hunter’s motor and willingness to be a winning player. He was given a prime opportunity to answer those questions in Cleveland after going from a Play-In team to a bona fide title contender.

So far, the results are slightly more encouraging than our introduction would suggest.

Hunter finished the final 27 games of the season in the 65th percentile for defensive rebounding percentage (the percent of opposing missed field goals the player rebounded). This is by far a career-high and would put Hunter right on par with what the Cavaliers need from him.

He’s had solid rebounding games since joining the Cavs. Hunter grabbed 11 boards in his final game of the regular season and is averaging more rebounds in Cleveland than Atlanta despite playing fewer minutes.

Below, we see what it looks like when Hunter is active on the glass. Because he’s locked in to what’s happening on the floor, Hunter is able to wall off Pascal Siakam and secure the defensive stop.

On this next play, we see that even when Hunter isn’t fully alert, he’s still big enough to win a contested rebound. He doesn’t put a body on Stephon Castle — but Hunter is able to beat the athletic rookie to the ball either way.

Finally, here’s one more example of Hunter being engaged. He turns his head to locate Keldon Johnson while the ball is in the air, uses his size to box him out and then cleans the glass for a textbook defensive rebound.

It’s clear that Hunter can be a good rebounder when he’s alert and active in pursuing the ball. How exactly do you ensure that happens for an entire playoff series? No one knows. But if Hunter wants to be the ultimate x-factor and take Cleveland to another level, he has the tools to do it.