The best rebounders in the NBA, featuring Andre Drummond

Who are the best rebounders in the NBA? Looking at rebounds per game gets us a partial answer, but it doesn't account for a couple of important factors. First, different players get different numbers of opportunities for rebounds. Second, not all rebounds are created equal. Some are uncontested, while others are most definitely not.

The two charts below should give us some more insight. The top chart maps rebounding chances per game against the percentage of those chances that actually get rebounded. (We're including every player who gets at least 14 chances per game.) The second chart looks at the leaders in rebounds per 36 minutes, and breaks those rebounds into uncontested (in purple) and contested (in orange). NBA.com defines "contested" as those rebounds where an opponent is within 3.5 feet of the rebound.

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Some takeaways:

• It's probably premature to say definitively that Andre Drummond is the best rebounder in the NBA. But... not by much. He's leading all 29 players in the top chart by pulling in a whopping 73% of rebounding chances. If he's near the ball, he's getting it. Even more impressively, he's doing it the hard way - he's second in total rebounds / 36 mins, and has more contested rebounds AND fewer uncontested rebounds than any of the other top 9 players in that category. What a beast. Oh, did I mention he turned 20 this summer?
• When it comes to board work, Kevin Love dishes out quality and quantity. He's averaging over 21 rebounding chances per game - nobody else in the game earns over 18 chances. That's proof of both his ability to stay on the floor and his incredible nose for the ball.
• If Drummond is the best young rebounder in the game, DeMarcus Cousins certainly isn't far behind.
• Only 29% of Dwight Howard's rebounds this season are contested, compared to 44% for Drummond and 41% for DeAndre Jordan. I have no idea what to make of this, honestly.
• Speaking of Jordan, his improvement on the boards from past seasons has been remarkable. It's partly because he's staying on the floor, playing over 35 mpg after never even breaking 29 mpg in previous season. But he's also grabbing far more rebounds on a per-36-minutes basis (13.0 this year, compared to a career average of 10.8). Combined with Blake Griffin's usual rebounding excellence, the Clips at least have a solid 1-2 punch inside. (Too bad they also have the not-so-solid 3-4-5 punch of Ryan Hollins, Antawn Jamison and Byron Mullens.)
• Shout out to Carmelo Anthony, grabbing almost 70% of his rebounding chances. He's easily setting new career highs in both offensive and defensive rebounding rates, which is doubly impressive given his sky-high usage rate.
• Anderson Varejao. Struggling.

(Primary data source: NBA.com/stats)

The greatest rebounders in modern NBA history

Let's look at the best rebounding seasons in modern NBA history (1974-2013) in two different ways.

First, who's dominated rebounding on both ends of the court? In Sheet 1, I've plotted the 48 player seasons that had the highest mix of rebounding on both ends of the court, as measured by DRB% and ORB%. (Those are the percentages of all available rebounds that the player collected while they were on the court.) The size of the circles represents the number of minutes played (min 1500 mins to qualify). Thanks to Basketball Reference for the stats.

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Next, I wanted to look just at defensive rebounding dominance over time. Why isolate on just def rebounds? Two reasons:

1. Offensive rebounding opportunities are often determined by the team's scheme. For example, the Doc Rivers-era Celtics teams punted on offensive rebound opportunities almost completely to focus on getting back on D. Kevin Garnett didn't forget how to grab offensive rebounds when he went to Boston. He was simply instructed not to.
2. Players with high usage rates on offense are generally less likely to have offensive rebound chances than someone who's allergic to the ball and just camps out at the basket.

So Sheet 2 shows every player since 1974 who's had multiple seasons of DRB greater than 28%. I'm looking for guys who've dominated the glass year after year.

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Takeaways

- When it comes to combined rebounding on both ends, as with most things, Dennis Rodman is on another planet. His 1994-95 season is statistically the best mix of offensive and defensive board work in modern NBA history, and it's not close. But bear in mind he played only 49 games that season, thanks to a mix of butting heads with the Spurs organization and injuries. Personally, I'd put his 1992-93 at the top of his rebounding list. He played over 3300 minutes that season, grabbed over one-third of all defensive rebound chances and 18% of potential offensive boards. It's an amazing combination of stamina, talent and effort.
- Moses Malone, y'all. Young Moses was relatively thin, quite good on the defensive glass... and a preposterous beast on the offensive boards. He started in the ABA at age 19, and led his respective league in total offensive boards eight of his first nine pro seasons. Moses finished his career with just over 7300 off rebs. No one else in modern NBA history has over 4800. (Bear in mind, they didn't keep off reb stats during the Russell-Wilt era.)
- I knew Maurice Reggie Evans had a great rebounding season in 2012-13. I didn't realize his defensive board work was the best in the past 40 years. Hoovering almost 38% of available boards... wow.
- Get / stay healthy, Kevin Love and Dwight Howard. You're both on historic paths if you stay upright.