One of the most surprising elements of last season’s overachievement by the Celtics was the team becoming a juggernaut on the boards. Despite losing their top three big men in the offseason and Jayson Tatum having a torn Achilles, Boston was 6th in the regular season in defensive rebounding percentage, 5th in offensive rebounding percentage, and third in overall rebounding percentage.
Rebounding percentage is a stat that measures the share of total available rebounds that a team (or player) pulls down. So, in other words, when the Celtics were on defense and the opponent missed a shot, they pulled it down 71 out of every 100 times, good for 71%, sixth in the league (the Spurs led the league in DRB% at 72.4%).
But as John Karalis of Sports Illustrated pointed out recently, the Celtics are primed to create an even greater rebounding advantage this season and use it to diversify their offense.
Healthy Tatum and Mitch Robinson should make Celtics' rebounding elite
Boston’s defensive rebounding was very good last year, but they should be even better this season. For one, they’re getting a full season of Tatum back. JT wasn’t 100% of the player he was before the injury when he returned, but one area of his game that was better than ever was his defensive rebounding.Â
In his 16 regular-season games, Tatum had a ridiculous 31.3% defensive rebounding percentage, which would have been third in the league among qualified players, behind just Victor Wembanyama and Karl-Anthony Towns, and just ahead of Nikola Jokic.
They’re also adding in Mitchell Robinson, whose 26.1% defensive rebounding percentage would have been 8th in the league, just ahead of Rudy Gobert. And of course, they still have Neemias Queta, whose 22.7% rate was 20th in the league.
Celtics' defensive rebounding should trigger transition offense
That’s three elite rebounders who should be able to completely dominate the defensive glass, which means the Celtics’ guards and wing players should be able to leak out in transition, where they thrive. At least one of Tatum, Queta, and Robinson should be on the court at all times, and often two of the three. That leaves their young athletic wings open to get out and run.
The centers and Tatum can key fast breaks with strong rebounding and outlet passing while limiting opponents to one shot per possession against a horde of strong defenders. Boston has guys to match up and will make teams work to get good shots. Making sure they limit offensive boards and putbacks will be key, and they have the personnel to do it.
Getting Payton Pritchard and Derrick White out ahead of the pack and into space with wings like Hugo Gonzalez, Jordan Walsh, Baylor Scheierman, and others running and filling the lanes should lead to a bunch of easy baskets for the Celtics and should make their offense, which should already be quite potent in the halfcourt, absolutely deadly.
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