BASKETBALL REBOUNDING

It’s been documented that each rebound equates to 1 point on the score board.  If one team out rebounds another say 40 to 20, that team should win the game by 20 points.  This stat is not completely accurate, but is a great rule of thumb.  So clearing the basketball backboards is paving the way to victory.  Mental / physical strength and stamina; awareness and anticipation used in conjunction with court location, dictates your rebounding positioning and style.  No one is born with these abilities but everyone can learn them. 

The physical conditioning required to become a great rebounder, defensive player, or for that matter a great offensive player, should be achieved during the off season.  During the season you should be training to maintain your level of conditioning and learn the system your coaches are designing for your team.  Practices should be limited to stretching, warming up, learning, and practicing.  Maintaining your physical conditioning should happen before and/or after practice. A great rebounding team is the most difficult of all teams to defeat.  Since they have learned to rebound as a team they have also learned to play defense as a team.  Because they have the resolve to learn rebounding and defense, by default they have become an offense quick to take advantage of an opportunity or a mismatch.  A great rebounding team will limit an offense to one shot 60% of the time and a great defensive team will make certain that 75% of those shots are intensely contested.  If a defense is limiting the shots in the paint then most of the shots are jump shots creating long rebounds and fast break opportunities. 

Long shots create long rebounds generally to the left or right of the basket.  Late in the game, long side shots generally rebound back to the same side; during the first 3 quarters long side shots generally rebound long to the opposite side of the court.  Short shots create short rebounds. Outside the paint a smaller player has an advantage on long rebounds because most of the time smaller players are quicker to the basketball than taller or bigger players.  I make these distinctions because basketball has often been called a game conducive to tall athletes.  It is true tall basketball players sometimes have an advantage on the inside just because of height, but intelligent smaller players can mitigate a height advantage most of the time.  This demonstrates one of the reasons I love coaching basketball; removing what are only perceived limitations from a basketball players' minds. 

What skills are required to become a great rebounder?  In order of importance: timing, positioning, and blocking out.  How does this all add up?  If you position yourself for a rebound before it’s time, you take yourself out of the flow of your team’s defense, breaking down the defense’s continuity and your ability to be in the right place at the right time.  No matter how good you are at blocking out, if you’re not in the proper position to do so, all that ability and training is wasted.  When playing your man or your zone you always need to be aware of the rest of the court, otherwise you’re not playing team defense (five players moving in unison as one entity).  When the shot is taken you can see if it’s a long or short shot and immediately know where it’s most likely to go when it misses. 

When the shot goes up it’s time take your eyes off the ball and concentrate on your man.  Your sole purpose at this time is to keep your man from getting that rebound.  You might not get it either, but it is imperative your man not get the rebound.  Get in position, inside position with your man on your back (you want your man on your back because this is a position of strength; feet spread and knees bent with your man between your elbows), and block your man out of the play, as far away from the basket as is possible.  This is when your strength training comes into play and the fun begins.  ‘Cuz you see, your opponent is trying to get the rebound too.  Mental and physical strength and stamina, court awareness and anticipation used in conjunction with your court location, dictates your rebounding positioning and style.  Rebounding tests your physical and mental resolve.

Big dominant players tend to maul smaller players that have established an inside position while both are going for a rebound.  Size is sometimes the answer, however basketball smarts is the answer most of the time.  If you are fouled going for a rebound, or going after the ball for any reason, you obtain possession of the basketball even if you've never touched it.  Smaller players often find themselves in the paint when a shot goes up.  Instantly that player becomes a rebounder.  All positions in basketbll are allowed their space on the court, when that space is encroached upon, and the referee sees it, a foul is called. When a long shot misses it generally rebounds long, and just as generally that rebound follows a geometric pattern.  A rebounder's responsibility is to configure where a shot may rebound to, if in fact it misses.  Give it your best guess.  (If one is playing "In The Zone" it's surprising how consistently correct that best guess is.)  The point here for you to understand is; if you actually consider the flight of the ball, and therefore the resultant rebound, you will often be correct in your assumption.  If yours is the best guess on the basketball court, and you’re in position, you get the rebound.  Why bother fighting for position and putting yourself in jeopardy of committing a foul if the rebound is not going anywhere near you?  I'll tell you why!  What if you're wrong?  If you're in the paint you always fight for inside position.  Elsewhere on this website I mention cross-training, specifically karate.  If you understand positioning and leverage, the way it's taught in martial arts, and your opponent does not, who do you think will aquire the preferred inside position?  Now, I'm not suggesting you break your opponent's leg, only that cross-training helps, maybe in many ways you have yet to realize. 

When you get the rebound your opponent should immediately attempt to dislodge the ball from your grip.  Your first job is to retain possession of the ball; secondly you want to get the ball to the proper player as soon as possible, whether that player is standing right next to you or is all the way down court standing under the other basket.  This is when you’re relying on your court vision to make a snap decision. All of the above information applies to defensive rebounding. 

Almost all of the above also applies to offensive rebounding.  But as an offensive player you will be working harder to get positioning for a rebound because you already have at least one opposing player between you and the basket.  The closer you are to the basket when the shot goes up the more like a defensive rebounder you become fighting for position in order to keep the other team from gaining control of the rebound.  But when you have an opportunity to gain possession of the rebound your first thought, as an offensive player, is to attempt to score by tipping the ball back up.  Tipping it up against the basketball backboard like you’re shooting a lay up is normally the best way to tip it in for an offensive rebounding shot, or tip in.  That means you can go up with one hand, with the possibility of getting higher than the defense that’s going up with both hands, and tipping it in just outside the reach of the extended arms of the defense.  To make things go in your favor as an offensive rebounder, get to know your teammates tendencies.  If you know your teammate is going to shoot you have an opportunity to beat the opposition to the rebound should the rock not drop in the hole.  So in some circumstances the offense has the jump on the defense if the offense is alert and on its toes. 

Basketball rebounding is a battle.  The team that wins the rebounding battle usually wins the basketball game.  A shooter unfamiliar with the E-Book, "The 'Mental Key' To High Percentage Basketball Shooting" offers up plenty of opportunities for rebounding.  Very few basketball players rebound a basketball well.  Dennis Rodman became an NBA basketball player, an all-star, because he was great at one aspect of the game, basketball rebounding.  He was one incredible rebounder.  Dennis wasn't much of a shot or a dribbler, he was however darn good with a fast-break outlet pass.  Dennis was fortunate enough to discover his niche while still playing high school basketball, this gave him many years to work on and perfect his basketball rebounding technique.

Most of the books listed below have many basketball rebounding drills.  I suggest you pick a different rebounding drill for each and every practice, run that rebounding drill until your muscles ache.  Persistence and determination will improve your rebounding technique and give you a kind of rebounding sixth sense.  Many players that have a difficult time finding a spot for themselves on their basketball team can earn a spot simply on their rebounding talents.  If you pull down 10+ rebounds per game, you are guaranteed many minutes of playing time.

Basketball rebounding tests your physical and mental resolve.  A great rebounder not only secures a spot on a basketball team, a great rebounder, through forethought and dedication, has set  themselves up for a great life.  Life is not easy but worth the fight.  The same mind set and determination that make a great basketball rebounder also make for a great life.