It's not that there's a precise, named skill. It's an understanding of where the ball is going to carom, how to move, etc. What is the precise skill that gets you from the perimeter to the hoop? It's a partly innate, partly practiced instinct for how to move your body to get around defenders...beyond merely having the athleticism. There have been plenty of athletes who weren't great at slashing to the hoop. Similarly, I don't think it's merely desire that gets you rebounds, even if you have athletic ability. I don't think you could take an Olympian (non-basketball) and have him rebound like a demon in the NBA even if he wanted to more than anything.
I think there is a precise talent.. it's called toughness. Rebounding is not the same as shooting, dribbling or passing. It is way simpler and while there is a tiny bit of skill involved (standing in front of the opponent...) it has a lot to do with desire to rebound. I have seen players at every level either stand and look at the ball when a rebound is available, or try to just out jump a person for it. Aldridge does this. He could be a very good rebounder if he had the desire to be.
minstrel, the fact that basically at 5 in the morning everyday before school kevin would be inthe gym working on every aspect of his game...and i know he still works just as hard. maybe i should of used the words "killer instinct" something we havent seen from LA. maybe im just biased but kevin works very very hard. your not white and not extremely athleticly gifted AND win the national highschool player of the year without working extremely hard. especially in a class with derrick rose eric gordon ETC.
minstrel, the fact that basically at 5 in the morning everyday before school kevin would be inthe gym working on every aspect of his game...and i know he still works just as hard. maybe i should of used the words "killer instinct" something we havent seen from LA. maybe im just biased but kevin works very very hard. your not white and not extremely athleticly gifted AND win the national highschool player of the year without working extremely hard. especially in a class with derrick rose eric gordon ETC.
So you really don't know whether Love works harder or has more desire. You just know that he works very hard. I don't doubt that Love works really hard. Everything I've read is that Aldridge is a pretty tireless worker, too. I recognize that you like and admire Love a great deal personally, but that really says nothing about how he compares to Aldridge in terms of work ethic. As far as toughness or "killer instinct," everyone's entitled to their own opinion, of course.
He was an annoying prick who didn't know his ass from his elbow. I think someone finally ran him off with an airsoft gun or some shit.