That is an illusion. It looks like we have 2 positions high in rebounds per minute (for most teams, that would be their C and PF). But part-timers Oden (23.1 mpg) and Przybilla (18.6 mpg) add up to 1 position, not 2, so we have only 1 full-time equivalent position high in this stat. And now for the cause of our C position doing well in this stat. We don't share the rebounds around. We aren't like most teams, with a tough rebounding PF. We have no one else on the list until #65 Aldridge (30.9 mpg), #114 Outlaw (23.7 mpg), #180 Webster, #181 Roy, and #183 Miller. So in the top 179, we have no full-time player (i.e. one getting full use out of this statistic). Summing those mpg in parentheses, we see that in the top 179, we get a total of 96.3 mpg, which squanders our lead at C and pushes our rebounds per minute as an entire team down to 9th in the league, only 1.7 per 48 minutes above average. ...I wrote that in a provocative way because I LIKE to. ....I hear footsteps. ...Sounds like Boob's footsteps.
Cherry picking is fun... Subtotaling all players in the top 185 in RP48 by team, we see that Portland has 7 entrants in this group, and only 5 other teams have more. Those 7 players account for 304 total rebounds, only behind Memphis' top 7 totaling 321. Portland's top-185ers also total to 38 RPG, surpassed only by Memphis' top 7, OKC' top 8 and ATL's top 8. However you want to spin it, Portland's a very good rebounding team.
How about we compromise and say 1 1/2. Most players on that list are playing around 30 minutes per game not 42.
As I said, we rank 9th in rebounds per game. That means if you add up all players on the per-48 list by team, you will get that we are 9th per 48 minutes. But I didn't check--maybe you should verify that. Pretty good. You think you're so smart. How many consecutive games has Portland won over teams that start with the letter M? I, uh, haven't read the rest of the board lately, and I just happen to know this one.
We are 4th in the league in rebounding rate - which means that of all the rebounds available in the game - we take the 4th best percentage. That's a very good rebounding team.
We're also 4th in our rebounds minus opponents' rebounds. But his stuff took time to do. I don't know how he added all players above #185 leaguewide, yet sorted by team, without doing it the long hard way. He may have some shortcut source I don't know of. Good stuff.
per/48 stats are useless unless your name is Wilt Chamberlain. I prefer a more realistic stat like rebounding differential, in which the Blazers are 4th overall http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/stats/b...diff&conference=NBA&year=season_2009&sort=233 much more indicitive of their success than some ramped up stats that reward decent rebounders who don't play a lot of mins.
