Blog Posting #88, November 29, 2009

My Rebounding Secret

OK. I was just watching the Maui Classic basketball tournament and something just catapulted me off my plush and comfy Lazy Boy to this rock-hard computer chair because I just have to say what’s on my mind. So I paused the game and got on the laptop.

Not once, not twice, not three times, but one too many times, this 7’0” center, while under the basket in good rebound position, let someone else grab the rebound before he could. Hey, big man! You are seven feet tall. You should get every rebound. How do you allow smaller players to come in and just take it from you right before your eyes? If you found a burglar in your home, would you tell him, “Hey, dude. Take anything you want. Need some help carrying some of that stuff out, dude?” You probably would. You would probably tell him, “Dude! Don’t forget the jewelry box in the master bedroom and, if you have trouble picking the lock on the safe, I’ve got the combination, dude.”

This 7’0” player is what I call a “selective jumper.” You know what I mean. You’ve seen them in every league. They stand flat-footed, watching the flight of the ball and determining whether or not it’s going in. They are players that only jump when they have to. “It looks like it’s going in. I guess I won’t have to jump then. I’ll just save the energy.”

How do I know he is a selective jumper? Because I used to be one myself until I got sick and tired of being embarrassed. What did I do about it? Well, that’s my secret but now that I’m retired, I’m going to share it with you. This secret got me at least four more rebounds a game, every game. My secret is: Every time a shot was attempted, I assumed it was going to be missed and jumped for the rebound. It was very common, after the ball went in, to see me with my hands above the rim with no rebound to get. But for every one that went in, one was missed and I got it. No more embarrassment. I got to the ball before anyone else could, something the 7’0” selective jumper needs to learn. Following are two tips that will make my secret work for you: Percentage Positioning and Knowing When to Jump.

Percentage Positioning
Determining where the missed shot is most likely to rebound isn’t brain surgery. It’s so easy a caveman can do it. So, if the shot is released from the left side of the half-court, and you are on the same side, what are you doing there? Spin and claw your way to the right side where that ball is going. I don’t care if your teammate is there. Get over there!

Knowing When to Jump
For rebounding, “It’s not how high you jump; it’s when you jump.” For me, perfect timing on the rebound was when I was almost at the highest point of my jump, my arms were stretched completely upward, and my hands were above the rim when the ball was there. More often than not, I had near perfect timing. How? I figured out, for a fifteen-foot jump shot, if I’m leaving the floor at the exact time the ball hits the rim, the timing would be near-perfect; the ball and I would meet in mid air. For a three-pointer, I jumped a split-second later and for a close-in shot, a little sooner. For the bank shot, I left the floor when the ball made contact with the backboard. Most of the time, I either got a tip-in or got both hands on the ball. While in the air, it was kind of cool to see those “selective jumpers” watching from below.  

Summary:
So there’s my secret. It works. Assume every shot is going to be missed and go get it. Get yourself in position and don’t be a “selective jumper.” Selective jumpers are average. Why be “average?”  Like I said before, that got me at least four more rebounds per game.

But there was one other thing that got me one, or sometimes two, more rebounds per game. In my second professional year, at the end of the first quarter of a game, an opposing player attempted a half-court, desperation, shot, at the buzzer. It hit the rim and bounced out to half court, right to an official. As I walked toward my bench and by the official who was holding the ball, he asked me, “Why didn’t you grab that rebound?” I asked him what he meant. He said, “On the statistics sheet, for every shot attempt, there has to be a rebound. That one will go down as a “team rebound” for your team. Had you grabbed it, you would have received credit.” My eyes opened wide and asked him if he was serious. “As a heart attack,” he said.

Just a little tip I wanted to pass along now that I’m retired. Well, I better get back to that basketball game that’s on pause. Hope I don’t have to come back here to the computer. I love my Lazy Boy.