Remember a while
back when people were yaking and yaking about who the best rebounder in
NBA history was? Chamberlain? Russell? Malone? Rodman? I remember when
experts said that there were more rebounds to be had in the old days, so
you couldn't compare eras with one another. Ha!
Since the 1950-51 season
rebounds as a statistic have been kept. The NBA recorded individual rebounds
as well as team rebounds. Unfortunately, they only started to record opponent's
rebounds in the 1970-71 season.
Now an explanation. I divided
this study into two different parts. One for the 1950-1970 seasons, and
the other for the 1970-2000 seasons. The reason for this is the recording
of the opponent's rebounds. For the 1950-1970 seasons, I used the NBA average
for total team rebounds as the opponent's total. Although this is not very
accurate, it was the best system for this table, so not to jeopardize the
numbers for the 1970-2000 seasons. Since the recording of opponents rebounds
in the 1970-71 season and beyond, the numbers are a lot more accurate.
What I did was this:
Total Individual Rebounds
/ (Total team Rebounds + NBA avg. for rebounds) for part one,
then
Total Individual Rebounds
/ (Total Team Rebounds + Total Opponent's Rebounds) for part two.
Lastly I also added a Pct.
Avg. This is an advantage for players who have missed games. It gets the
per game average, not just the total. (this formula is applicable for both
part one and two) For example, look at Maurice Stokes, who played 67 out
of a possible 72 games in the 1955-56 season. I got his Pct. with this
formula:
1094 / 4449 + 4327 = 0.1247
To get his Pct Avg. I used
this formula:
(1094 / 4449 + 4327) *
67 / 72 = 0.1340
Note: all numbers derived
from the SportingNews Official NBA guide. With Duncan shooting over LJ
in the Finals
So check out the numbers,
the top two rebounders every year, get ready to get dizzy, and have fun!
