How Brook Lopez Can Improve His Rebounding Rate

October 5th, 2012 by Ethan Sherwood Strauss Leave a reply »
Well, he could jump for the ball. That usually helps.

All kidding aside, Brook Lopez's decline as a rebounder is surprising. Way back in 2009-2010, Lopez averaged 8.7 boards per contest. Granted, this wasn't an astounding figure for a center, but it also wasn't embarrassing. The next season, that rebound total fell all the way to 5.9. 

While you can credit Ex-Mr. Kardashian for stealing a lot of those available boards, much of the decline was about Lopez's play. In a New York Post interview with Fred Kerber, he attributed the poor board numbers to "being lazy." Lopez even went on to say, “It’s just been a constant focus daily. And it does help keeping those rebound attempts."

I am usually the last person to cast the blame with an athlete's effort level. I cannot presume to know what players are thinking, or how hard they are trying out there. But in the case of Lopez, after watching game film of his past two seasons, I don't know what else to say. It just looks like he's not engaged as a rebounder. 

There are functional problems with Lopez's approach, though. On many airborne shots, Lopez can be spotted with his arms ...

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