Who are your top 10 rebounders in NBA History?

[1987_Lakers]

My list in no order.

Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain
Moses Malone
Bill Walton (healthy)
Kevin Garnett
Dennis Rodman
Charles Barkley
Ben Wallace
Dwight Howard
Kevin Love

This is the list off the top of my head. If I had to pick a player for #1 it would probably be Rodman. I think a healthy Bill Walton is an extremely underrated rebounder, he was probably the best defensive rebounder ever from the center position when he was healthy. You can argue Moses Malone is the best offensive rebounder this league has seen.

[kNicKz]

I loved how rodman would tap a rebound out of a 7 footers hands and keep jumping at it until he got it lol

[AngelEyes]

Chamberlain is probably the best. After him it would be Rodman, Russell and Moses.

[9erempiree]

My list in no order.

Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain
Moses Malone
Bill Walton (healthy)
Moses Malone
Dennis Rodman
Charles Barkley
Ben Wallace
Dwight Howard
Kevin Love

This is the list off the top of my head. If I had to pick a player for #1 it would probably be Rodman. I think a healthy Bill Walton is an extremely underrated rebounder, he was probably the best defensive rebounder ever from the center position when he was healthy. You can argue Moses Malone is the best offensive rebounder this league has seen.

It depends if you mean greatest rebounder or era-specific rebounders.....Some of those on your list are era-specific players that may be dropped for future players.

The ones in bold are the players that I believe are Era-Specific players:

Bill Russell - only successful in his era. Wasn't built very tough but a very good leader.

Wilt Chamberlain
Moses Malone
Bill Walton- would not make a team today or at least the last 20 years of NBA history.

Moses Malone
Dennis Rodman- era-specific especially when a 6 feet 7 inch guy leads the league in rebounds.

Charles Barkley- era-specific as well, no way a 6 feet 4 player leads the league in rebounds in the future. Tells you about the competition.

Ben Wallace
Dwight Howard
Kevin Love

[Legends66NBA7]

Bob Pettit
Dave Cowens
Nate Thurmond
Jerry Lucas
Elvin Hayes

Those also came to my head that went unnamed in the OP.

[guy]

My list in no order.

Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain
Moses Malone
Bill Walton (healthy)
Moses Malone
Dennis Rodman
Charles Barkley
Ben Wallace
Dwight Howard
Kevin Love

This is the list off the top of my head. If I had to pick a player for #1 it would probably be Rodman. I think a healthy Bill Walton is an extremely underrated rebounder, he was probably the best defensive rebounder ever from the center position when he was healthy. You can argue Moses Malone is the best offensive rebounder this league has seen.

Might take Hakeem, Robinson, Shaq, Duncan, or KG over some of them.

[9erempiree]

Bob Pettit
Nate Thurmond
Jerry Lucas
Elvin Hayes

Those also came to my head that went unnamed in the OP.

The ones bolded are era-specific players/rebounders, in my opinion. They good for the era played in.

The rest are good rebounders.

[Legends66NBA7]

Wow, I can't believe I forgot about Wes Unseld.

Even along side Elvin Hayes for some seasons, still averaged a damn good amount of rebounds per game.

[ReturnofJPR]

#1 is Dennis Rodman

[no pun intended]

Reggie Evans. lol.

[Graviton]

Reggie Evans. lol.
Seriously, this guy can get 20 rebounds in 20 minutes. :oldlol:

[MetsPackers]

The ones bolded are era-specific players/rebounders, in my opinion. They good for the era played in.

The rest are good rebounders.

You would be a top f@ggot in any era

[Round Mound]

The ones bolded are era-specific players/rebounders, in my opinion. They good for the era played in.

The rest are good rebounders.

:facepalm :no:

[Poetry]

Charles Barkley- era-specific as well, no way a 6 feet 4 player leads the league in rebounds in the future. Tells you about the competition

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAKG-kbKeIo

[Pointguard]

No order.

Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain
Moses Malone
Jerry Lucas
Moses Malone
Dennis Rodman
Charles Barkley
Ben Wallace
Dwight Howard
Kevin Garnett

[k0kakw0rld]

Dennis Rodman :rockon:

[Round Mound]

In Terms of Efficiently Scoring and Dominating That Way and Then Rebounding To Add To The Table? Id Go With Wilt The Stilt and Sir Charles

[kshutts1]

Moses Malone was so good that he made OP mention him twice.

And to people saying "era specific rebounders"... please. No such thing as an era-specific rebounder. No matter the era, it's about positioning, timing, hard work and length, in that order.

[pauk]

1. Dennis Rodman
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Bill Russell
4. Moses Malone
5. Charles Barkley
6. Dwight Howard
7. Kevin Love
8. Hakeem Olajuwon
9. Tim Duncan
10. Shaquille O'Neal


Pound for Pound: Dennis Rodman & Charles Barkley.

[JellyBean]

My Top 10 Rebounders in NBA History:

Moses Malone
Dennis Rodman
Buck Wiliams
Bill Russell
Artis Gilmore
Wilt Chamberlain
Jack Sikma
Wes Unsled
Larry Smith
Nate Thurmond

[Sarcastic]

How can Barkley be pound for pound one of the best ever, when he is the fattest one of all? :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm



If you really wanna know who is the pound for pound best rebounder, it's either Oscar Robertson or Fat Lever.


Fat Lever had a 4 year stretch of averaging 8 - 9 rpg, and he weighed only 170 pounds.

[Overdrive]

It depends if you mean greatest rebounder or era-specific rebounders.....Some of those on your list are era-specific players that may be dropped for future players.

The ones in bold are the players that I believe are Era-Specific players:

Bill Russell - only successful in his era. Wasn't built very tough but a very good leader.

Wilt Chamberlain
Moses Malone
Bill Walton- would not make a team today or at least the last 20 years of NBA history.

Moses Malone
Dennis Rodman- era-specific especially when a 6 feet 7 inch guy leads the league in rebounds.

Charles Barkley- era-specific as well, no way a 6 feet 4 player leads the league in rebounds in the future. Tells you about the competition.

Ben Wallace
Dwight Howard
Kevin Love

Why is Russell era specific and not Wilt?

Why do you disregard Barkley and Rodman, when infact Ben Wallace, another 6'7" guy, posted great rebounding numbers during his prime - the same time your idol, who you want to prob up with this whole era specific remarks, had his?

[Psileas]

Going by rebounding rates, there will appear plenty of role players who had never spent serious energy on offense, players who played 20-25 mpg and players who rarely contested shots, prefering to just go for the rebound, apart from the often mentioned size-athleticism advantages of some. I tend to leave out as many of these cases as I can, although rarely will you find someone who fulfills all the aspects.

Approximate list (bonuses):
1. Wilt (multiple records, energy spent on offense, contested lots of shots, rarely rested)
2. Rodman (highest rebounding rates, small size, rebounded great even with declined athleticism)
3. Russell (contested lots of shots, multiple records, spent more time out of the paint than most centers, rarely rested)
4. M.Malone (offensive rebounding (official) records, energy spent on offense)
5. Howard (contests shots, plays some offensive role)
6. Love (plays outside the paint a lot, has offense, not very athletic)
7. Barkley (shortest player in the list, still rebounded great with declined health and athleticism, energy spent on offense)
8. Unseld (short, not a leaper)
9. B.Wallace (short, contested shots)
10. Hakeem (energy spent on offense, contested many shots)

[UtahJazzFan88]

Reggie Evans has to be at least in the discussion, he just has never really had proper minutes on the court mainly due to his offensive liability.

[Walker]

I wouldn't consider him top 10 but Shawn Marion is one of the best of the current era.
Even after losing his hops he can still get it done.

[Hoiids]

I think Chris Bosh deserves some love on this list.

[Mrofir]

Why is Russell era specific and not Wilt?

Why do you disregard Barkley and Rodman, when infact Ben Wallace, another 6'7" guy, posted great rebounding numbers during his prime - the same time your idol, who you want to prob up with this whole era specific remarks, had his?

wasn't ben wallace on the detroit pistons team that embarrassed LA in the finals in 2004?

I really think empire is just trolling permanently

[dh144498]

wasn't ben wallace on the detroit pistons team that embarrassed LA in the finals in 2004?

I really think empire is just trolling permanently

except he didn't say Wallace was an era-specific player, idiot... :facepalm

[zizozain]

1. Dennis Rodman
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Bill Russell
4. Moses Malone
5. Charles Barkley
6. Dwight Howard
7. Kevin Love
8. Hakeem Olajuwon
9. Tim Duncan
10. Shaquille O'Neal


Pound for Pound: Dennis Rodman & Charles Barkley.

really? Shaq top 10 rebounder in NBA History?

:no:

[Carbine]

Rebounding should not be gauged by raw rebounding numbers.

It should be gauged by how good you are as a traffic rebounder and how well you box out.

[Rubio2Gasol]

really? Shaq top 10 rebounder in NBA History?

:no:

Why not? Shaq was a great rebounder. he could've have tried harder alot of the time but lets not pretend like the dude wasn't a beast on the boards.

[Champ]

I would add Dave Cowens to the list.

[KOBE143]

1. Dennis Rodman aka the Worm, GOAT rebounder.. :bowdown:

[SCdac]

Kevin Willis is an overlooked great rebounder.

http://www.tradingcarddb.com/Images/Cards/Basketball/2309/2309-10Bk.jpg

In the 1991-1992 season his twenty best rebounding games were:

33 (16 off)
31 (11 off)
24 (7 off)
23 (6 off)
23 (4 off)
22 (6 off)
22 (10 off)
22 (8 off)
21 (6 off)
21 (8 off)
21 (4 off)
21 (3 off)
21 (7 off)
20 (7 off)
20 (8 off)
20 (10 off)
20 (9 off)
20 (8 off)
20 (8 off)
20 (6 off)

91-92 season average: 15.5 rpg, 5.2 orpg, 37 mpg, 81 games

[Whoah10115]

Reggie Evans. lol.


Came here to post this. He's been great for 10 years.

[Whoah10115]

Why not? Shaq was a great rebounder. he could've have tried harder alot of the time but lets not pretend like the dude wasn't a beast on the boards.


He was a great rebounder...I know you say Kevin Love doesn't play defense but he was doing it all year and putting up even better numbers than last year. I think that the argument against Shaq is that he didn't play much defense if he wasn't in the post or getting a block. But I always thought he was strong on the boards. Hard to argue with rebounding numbers, sometimes.


Hakeem, tho, was better. Hakeem is actually very underrated on the boards. He contested every single play, and still got back to put up crazy numbers. He was well over 12 a game for his career when he completed the repeat.

[Unstoppabull]

Wilt and Russell.
And everyone else. OP got it.

[Vertical-24]

While I think guys like Wilt and Bill's rebounding stats are inflated due to era...I can't leave them out.

No general order, but my picks:

Dennis Rodman
Bill Russell
Moses Malone
Charles Barkley
Wilt Chamberlain
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (in his prime)
Dwight Howard
Ben Wallace
Kevin Love
David Robinson

[Whoah10115]

How can Barkley be pound for pound one of the best ever, when he is the fattest one of all? :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm



Inch for inch.

[pauk]

Wilt and Russell.
And everyone else. OP got it.

Actually, per possession / minute they were not the best.... that was Dennis Rodman..... by very far.... For example....

Dennis Rodman in 1994-95:

16.8 RPG in his 94.6 poss. per game & 32.0 mpg.

Wilt Chamberlain in 1960-61:

27.2 RPG in his ~140 poss. per game & 47.8 mpg.


Dennis Rodman in 1994-95 with ~140 poss. per game & 47.8 mpg:

~37.2 RPG in ~140 poss. per game & 47.8 mpg.

The league back then in the 60s compared to 90s (or today) averaged anything from 30 to about 60 more poss. per game....



Per possession, per minute... Dennis Rodman is factually the GOAT rebounder....

Then you consider his size....

[fpliii]

Actually, per possession / minute they were not the best.... that was Dennis Rodman..... by very far.... For example....

Dennis Rodman in 1994-95:

16.8 RPG in his 94.6 poss. per game & 32.0 mpg.

Wilt Chamberlain in 1960-61:

27.2 RPG in his ~140 poss. per game & 47.8 mpg.


Dennis Rodman in 1994-93 with ~140 poss. per game & 47.8 mpg:

~37.2 RPG in ~140 poss. per game & 47.8 mpg.

Two questions:

1) What's the source for 140 possessions a game?
2) Why do you believe it's safe to assume that rebounds scale linearly with more minutes and possessions?

Not that I agree/disagree with either, but both of those assumptions require pretty sizable leaps of faith.

[dh144498]

Dennis Rodman leads the categories for career ORB%, DRB%, and TRB%.

[plowking]

I think Elton Brand deserves a mention. Hes an absolute beast on the offensive glass, and has been his whole career.

[Pointguard]

KG is getting dogged here. TD is getting more love, when KG has 4 rebounding titles in TD's prime while TD has none. If KG wasn't multitasking like crazy and playing first team all defense with his feet, he would be, unquestionably a top three rebounder with about five or six rebounding titles under his belt. He definitely takes one of Ben Wallace's two rebounding titles. KG was a better rebounder than Wallace in Wallace's prime pretty easily as well.

Psileas, how does rebounding rates work? KG had five straight years where nobody on the team had half as many rebounds as him.

[pauk]

Two questions:

1) What's the source for 140 possessions a game?


Its an estimate...

1960s Wilts & Russells average possessions per game (assertions of up to 146 poss. per game): books.google.com/books?id=jltvUlb5_-YC&pg=PA282&dq=nba+possessions+per+game&hl=sv&sa=X&ei=dQhbUZimJ7OP4gSBqIHgCw&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v.=onepage&q=nba possessions per game&f=false

Here you can even read assertion of Russell's Celtics averaging up to 152 poss. per game: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/441840-bill-russell-an-overrated-nba-legend

I have been reading/finding lots of various facts about 60s average poss. per game through books or internet... the minimum league average was 126 poss. per game and maximum 150+ poss. per game in the 60s...... and Wilts/Russells teams averaged more than any other teams....

We can just estimate, but its very accurate to say that the
60s averaged anything from 30 to 60 more poss. per game compared to 90s (or today)....... this is very factual....

Dennis Rodman's average poss. per game that season for example (1994-95) was 94.6 (pace): http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/SAS/1995.html

League averages down until 1974:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats.html



2) Why do you believe it's safe to assume that rebounds scale linearly with more minutes and possessions?

Its just very logical to believe that more possessions = more oppurtunities to score, rebound, pass, block, steal, turnover.....

...and there is evidence of that, as you can see here if you scroll down and compare to 90s league averages (or today): http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats.html ...and keep in mind that Russels/Wilts teams averaged much more of almost everything than the league average....

So its not just logical, its also factual....





Not that I agree/disagree with either, but both of those assumptions require pretty sizable leaps of faith.

No, those are facts.... faith is just delusion...




No matter how many poss. per game Wilt/Russell had to work with compared to Rodman they averaged an absolute minimum of 30 more poss. per game (now i am being kind).....

By calculations even if Wilt/Russell averaged as little as 125 poss. per game, its still 31 more poss. per game than Dennis Rodman in the 90s.... Rodman would still come out on top..............

[Pointguard]

While I think guys like Wilt and Bill's rebounding stats are inflated due to era...I can't leave them out.

No general order, but my picks:

Dennis Rodman
Bill Russell
Moses Malone
Charles Barkley
Wilt Chamberlain
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (in his prime)
Dwight Howard
Ben Wallace
Kevin Love
David Robinson

Just to let you know that in Kareem's rebounding prime a 36 year old Wilt was steadily outrebounding Kareem. Throughout Kareem's prime Wilt was outrebounding him by 4,3,2 rebounds per game, respectively, and he was 34-36 years old.

[fpliii]

The estimates in my files vary a bit from your estimate, but I just wanted to see what your source was. I don't think we're very far off, and this is a minor point in comparison to (2) so it's not worth discussing.


Its just very logical to believe that more possessions = more oppurtunities to score, rebound, pass, block, steal, turnover.....

...and there is evidence of that, as you can see here if you scroll down and compare to 90s league averages (or today): http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats.html ...and keep in mind that Russels/Wilts teams averaged much more of almost everything than the league average....

So its not just logical, its also factual....





No, those are facts.... faith is just delusion...

I have to disagree with you here as well, since we haven't properly evaluated the relationship between rebounding and minutes/pace. Maybe I'll play around with the dataset in R when I have a chance, and see what turns up. I do suspect that the law of diminishing returns will be in play though, but I don't have any data to back this up at the moment.

[deja vu]

Off the top of my head (not in order)...

1. Dennis Rodman
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Bill Russell
4. Charles Barkley
5. Moses Malone
6. Dikembe Motumbo
7. Dwight Howard
8. Walt Bellamy
9. Elvin Hayes
10. Nate Thurmond

[pauk]

The estimates in my files vary a bit from your estimate, but I just wanted to see what your source was. I don't think we're very far off, and this is a minor point in comparison to (2) so it's not worth discussing.



I have to disagree with you here as well, since we haven't properly evaluated the relationship between rebounding and minutes/pace. Maybe I'll play around with the dataset in R when I have a chance, and see what turns up. I do suspect that the law of diminishing returns will be in play though, but I don't have any data to back this up at the moment.

You disagree that i will not be able to get more rebounds if i have 30 to 60 more oppurtunities to run after a rebound?

Hm....

[fpliii]

You disagree that i will not be able to get more rebounds if i have 30 to 60 more oppurtunities to run after a rebound?

Hm....

No, but I do disagree that you'd be able to rebound at the same level. I think with more minutes/possessions, your per possession rebounding impact would decline.

[pauk]

No, but I do disagree that you'd be able to rebound at the same level. I think with more minutes/possessions, your per possession rebounding impact would decline.

Its true... but its also true that your rebounding average will increase... :)

[ProfessorMurder]

Only one mention of Mutombo so far? Come on.

The guy was trying to swat every shot and still rebounded like crazy. Not only is he blocking shots, he's still getting a ton of rebounds.

He's 2nd all time in blocks, 10th all time in offensive rebounds, 10th all time in defensive rebounds, and 19th in total rebounds.

Plus he led the league in total rebounds 4 times, two of those years he also led in total blocks.

He's at least a top 15 rebounder of all time.

[necya]

my best at rebounding with no order :
Barkley
Bellamy
Bird
Chamberlain
Malone
Oakley
Rodman
Russell
Unseld
Williams

[1987_Lakers]

Off the top of my head (not in order)...

1. Dennis Rodman
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Bill Russell
4. Charles Barkley
5. Moses Malone
6. Dikembe Motumbo
7. Dwight Howard
8. Walt Bellamy
9. Elvin Hayes
10. Nate Thurmond

Hayes isn't anywhere close to being a top 10 rebounder in history, his teammate Unseld was a better rebounder. Hayes played tons of minutes in an inflated era, if you look at his TRB% it is pretty pedestrian.

[1987_Lakers]

Only one mention of Mutombo so far? Come on.

The guy was trying to swat every shot and still rebounded like crazy. Not only is he blocking shots, he's still getting a ton of rebounds.

He's 2nd all time in blocks, 10th all time in offensive rebounds, 10th all time in defensive rebounds, and 19th in total rebounds.

Plus he led the league in total rebounds 4 times, two of those years he also led in total blocks.

He's at least a top 15 rebounder of all time.

Mutombo is a great call. He and Walton are being ignored in this thread for some reason.

[BarberSchool]

Rodman
Barkley
Chamberlain
O'Neal
Jabbar
Unseld
M. Malone
Russell
Mutumbo
Duncan
Oakley

[Pointguard]

Its an estimate...

1960s Wilts & Russells average possessions per game (assertions of up to 146 poss. per game): books.google.com/books?id=jltvUlb5_-YC&pg=PA282&dq=nba+possessions+per+game&hl=sv&sa=X&ei=dQhbUZimJ7OP4gSBqIHgCw&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v.=onepage&q=nba possessions per game&f=false

Here you can even read assertion of Russell's Celtics averaging up to 152 poss. per game: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/441840-bill-russell-an-overrated-nba-legend

I have been reading/finding lots of various facts about 60s average poss. per game through books or internet... the minimum league average was 126 poss. per game and maximum 150+ poss. per game in the 60s...... and Wilts/Russells teams averaged more than any other teams....

We can just estimate, but its very accurate to say that the
60s averaged anything from 30 to 60 more poss. per game compared to 90s (or today)....... this is very factual....

Dennis Rodman's average poss. per game that season for example (1994-95) was 94.6 (pace): http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/SAS/1995.html

League averages down until 1974:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats.html



Its just very logical to believe that more possessions = more oppurtunities to score, rebound, pass, block, steal, turnover.....

...and there is evidence of that, as you can see here if you scroll down and compare to 90s league averages (or today): http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats.html ...and keep in mind that Russels/Wilts teams averaged much more of almost everything than the league average....

So its not just logical, its also factual....





No, those are facts.... faith is just delusion...




No matter how many poss. per game Wilt/Russell had to work with compared to Rodman they averaged an absolute minimum of 30 more poss. per game (now i am being kind).....

By calculations even if Wilt/Russell averaged as little as 125 poss. per game, its still 31 more poss. per game than Dennis Rodman in the 90s.... Rodman would still come out on top..............
Just letting you know that in your other post you had grossly lowered Wilt's numbers in 1962 to the point it had to be 190 possessions per game.

While I have Rodman as top four rebounder, I can't call Rodman the best rebounder because he wasn't strong in the playoffs. When people focused hard on keeping him off the boards he simply wasn't that great. He did have a couple of years where he was great in the playoffs, but that is diminutive when many of the other guys have five or six years at stellar levels. Four of his contemporaries were a whole lot better rebounders in the playoffs for way too many more years - Hakeem, D Rob, K Malone and Barkley. Being focused on didn't bother them and they were more involved in other aspects of the game as well.

Karl Malone's name should pop up more on people's list as well. 12 years of over 800 rebounds is crazy in the modern era. He might be the most consistent of them all.

[Rubio2Gasol]

He was a great rebounder...I know you say Kevin Love doesn't play defense but he was doing it all year and putting up even better numbers than last year. I think that the argument against Shaq is that he didn't play much defense if he wasn't in the post or getting a block. But I always thought he was strong on the boards. Hard to argue with rebounding numbers, sometimes.


Hakeem, tho, was better. Hakeem is actually very underrated on the boards. He contested every single play, and still got back to put up crazy numbers. He was well over 12 a game for his career when he completed the repeat.

The thing about it, with Shaq I almost prefer it. He was such a liability on defense everywhere else, and actually had a positive impact defensively if he stayed in that zone.

Love lack of defense is not what causes him to rebound well, rather it's his desire for more rebounds that puts Minesota in bad defensive spots pretty often. He defends the post pretty well, but as soon as you make him have to rotate outwards the entire defense gets stretched because they have to switch in a situation they shouldn't need to switch.

I saw it happen still, not as much because of matchups and then other times he actually played defense, but I still think he does it.

[1987_Lakers]

Rodman
Barkley
Chamberlain
O'Neal
Jabbar
Unseld
M. Malone
Russell
Mutumbo
Duncan
Oakley

Can you explain to me how Shaq & Kareem were better rebounders than Dwight, K. Love, & Walton?

[ThaRegul8r]

While I think guys like Wilt and Bill's rebounding stats are inflated due to era...I can't leave them out.

People keep talking about Wilt and Russell's rebounding being inflated and use that as an excuse to discredit them, yet by career rebound rate only Rodman had a higher rebound rate for his career (and they were shotblockers unlike Rodman, which takes away from rebounding opportunities), which shows that they were GOAT rebounders in any era (and I've posted this before on this board, but people would rather believe what they wish to believe).

And with all this "inflated stats" talk, I'm just curious if in a decade plus from now people will say the scoring stats of all the volume-scoring wings of this era were inflated due to the league deliberately changing the rules in their favor.

[La Frescobaldi]

Gotta mention some unknown guys on here.... Mel Daniels, Red Robbins & Dan Issel over in the old ABA.
Big Dan had that fire in his eyes goin after that old red white and blue ball.

Garnett was absolutely elite in his days and his IQ for angles has always been right at the top of everyone who has ever played

[ThaRegul8r]

Only one mention of Mutombo so far? Come on.

The guy was trying to swat every shot and still rebounded like crazy. Not only is he blocking shots, he's still getting a ton of rebounds.

He's 2nd all time in blocks, 10th all time in offensive rebounds, 10th all time in defensive rebounds, and 19th in total rebounds.

Plus he led the league in total rebounds 4 times, two of those years he also led in total blocks.

He's at least a top 15 rebounder of all time.

Since blocks have been officially recorded beginning in '73-74, Mutombo has been the best and rebounding and shot-blocking over the course of a career. No rebounder has a higher career block percentage, and no shot-blocker has a higher career rebound rate.

[senelcoolidge]

#1 Wilt Chamberlain
#2 Dennis Rodman

[Whoah10115]

The thing about it, with Shaq I almost prefer it. He was such a liability on defense everywhere else, and actually had a positive impact defensively if he stayed in that zone.

Love lack of defense is not what causes him to rebound well, rather it's his desire for more rebounds that puts Minesota in bad defensive spots pretty often. He defends the post pretty well, but as soon as you make him have to rotate outwards the entire defense gets stretched because they have to switch in a situation they shouldn't need to switch.

I saw it happen still, not as much because of matchups and then other times he actually played defense, but I still think he does it.


The thing with Shaq is that I think he didn't give much effort in his zone. He didn't play out of it when he played his best defense. Jackson just made him play his lanes harder than he used to. It coincided with huge rebounding numbers, so take nothing away from him. I still think he got away with a huge lack of responsibility. He's like Cristiano Ronaldo (lol, that's a cheap shot). But seriously, I don't think he's top 10 but I never understand the criticism he got for his rebounding. I guess that, if anything, he gets HIS rebounds and doesn't have a great impact on the boards for everyone else. But that's hardly what he gets criticized for and he put up huge numbers.


On Kevin Love, I completely agree about his defense. But I don't think it's his desire for rebounds that get him in trouble. The game against OKC this year is the best example. I've been really impressed with his defense this year, but he has trouble rotating out. A stretch 4 is trouble for him and even Ibaka can be. If his man stretches beyond the post area I think he's in some trouble. A lot like Barkley, actually. Which is why I think there are better centers to partner him than Pekovic. I think Kevin Love would propose to Joakim Noah. Probably why Barkley loves Noah so much.

[1987_Lakers]

Since I'm pretty much the only person who has mentioned Bill Walton & I'm seeing guys list players like Hayes, Kareem & Shaq which is ridiculous let me show you some Walton numbers...

76-77: 14.4 RPG. #1 in the NBA, ahead of Kareem who was at the peak of his career, also ahead of a young Moses Malone. Walton: 21.2 TRB%. 32.3 DRB%.

77-78: 34.2 DRB%. Only Ben Wallace & Dennis Rodman have ever recorded a higher Defensive Rebounding Percentage.

85-86: Walton as a banged up 33 year old was still able to grab 7 rebounds in 20 minutes. He had a 19.4 TRB% which was among the league leaders.

Walton didn't play much but when he did the red head was an amazing rebounder. In only 468 games he has a career 30.2 DRB%. Dwight Howard who is an amazing rebounder and hasn't hit his 30's yet has a career 29.3 DRB%. Think about that for a moment.

Walton is probably the great defensive rebounder in NBA History if you exclude Dennis Rodman.

[La Frescobaldi]

Since I'm pretty much the only person who has mentioned Bill Walton & I'm seeing guys list players like Hayes, Kareem & Shaq which is ridiculous let me show you some Walton numbers...

76-77: 14.4 RPG. #1 in the NBA, ahead of Kareem who was at the peak of his career, also ahead of a young Moses Malone. Walton: 21.2 TRB%. 32.3 DRB%.

77-78: 34.2 DRB%. Only Ben Wallace & Dennis Rodman have ever recorded a higher Defensive Rebounding Percentage.

85-86: Walton as a banged up 33 year old was still able to grab 7 rebounds in 20 minutes. He had a 19.4 TRB% which was among the league leaders.

Walton didn't play much but when he did the red head was an amazing rebounder. In only 468 games he has a career 30.2 DRB%. Dwight Howard who is an amazing rebounder and hasn't hit his 30's yet has a career 29.3 DRB%. Think about that for a moment.

Walton is probably the great defensive rebounder in NBA History if you exclude Dennis Rodman.
You are casting pearls before swine it seems. Theres guys on here lately saying Larry Bird wouldn't play in the NBA.
Bill Walton? They probly never even heard of him

[Xiao Yao You]

Just letting you know that in your other post you had grossly lowered Wilt's numbers in 1962 to the point it had to be 190 possessions per game.

While I have Rodman as top four rebounder, I can't call Rodman the best rebounder because he wasn't strong in the playoffs. When people focused hard on keeping him off the boards he simply wasn't that great. He did have a couple of years where he was great in the playoffs, but that is diminutive when many of the other guys have five or six years at stellar levels. Four of his contemporaries were a whole lot better rebounders in the playoffs for way too many more years - Hakeem, D Rob, K Malone and Barkley. Being focused on didn't bother them and they were more involved in other aspects of the game as well.

Concentrating on rebounding like Rodman, Wallace, Evans certainly has to be taken into consideration when being compared to guys that had all around games.


Karl Malone's name should pop up more on people's list as well. 12 years of over 800 rebounds is crazy in the modern era. He might be the most consistent of them all.

Karl wasn't that strong on the offensive glass.

[BuffaloBill]

How can Barkley be pound for pound one of the best ever, when he is the fattest one of all? :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm




:roll: :roll: :roll:

[Bigsmoke]

My list in no order.

Bill Russell
Wilt Chamberlain
Moses Malone
Bill Walton (healthy)
Kevin Garnett
Dennis Rodman
Charles Barkley
Ben Wallace
Dwight Howard
Kevin Love

This is the list off the top of my head. If I had to pick a player for #1 it would probably be Rodman. I think a healthy Bill Walton is an extremely underrated rebounder, he was probably the best defensive rebounder ever from the center position when he was healthy. You can argue Moses Malone is the best offensive rebounder this league has seen.


Elvin Hayes was a better rebounder than Bill Walton

[1987_Lakers]

Elvin Hayes was a better rebounder than Bill Walton

Is that why Walton had a higher rpg average than Hayes from 75-78 despite Hayes playing 7 more MPG? Look at the TRB%, Walton kills Hayes in that category.

Hayes was an overrated chucker.

[Round Mound]

Elgin Baylor should also be Mentioned

[ErhnamDjinn]

It depends if you mean greatest rebounder or era-specific rebounders.....Some of those on your list are era-specific players that may be dropped for future players.

The ones in bold are the players that I believe are Era-Specific players:

Bill Russell - only successful in his era. Wasn't built very tough but a very good leader.

Wilt Chamberlain
Moses Malone
Bill Walton- would not make a team today or at least the last 20 years of NBA history.

Moses Malone
Dennis Rodman- era-specific especially when a 6 feet 7 inch guy leads the league in rebounds.

Charles Barkley- era-specific as well, no way a 6 feet 4 player leads the league in rebounds in the future. Tells you about the competition.

Ben Wallace
Dwight Howard
Kevin Love
lolz not sure if serious, Rodman and Charles Barkely played in the ERA when the bigmen still ruled, they went up daily against David Robinson, Malone, Ewing, Olajuwon, Mourning etc and your telling me there era specific hahaha

[hangintheair]

My top two list of all time..

1.) Andrea Bargnani
2.) Brook Lopez

[Pointguard]

Since I'm pretty much the only person who has mentioned Bill Walton & I'm seeing guys list players like Hayes, Kareem & Shaq which is ridiculous let me show you some Walton numbers...

76-77: 14.4 RPG. #1 in the NBA, ahead of Kareem who was at the peak of his career, also ahead of a young Moses Malone. Walton: 21.2 TRB%. 32.3 DRB%.

77-78: 34.2 DRB%. Only Ben Wallace & Dennis Rodman have ever recorded a higher Defensive Rebounding Percentage.

85-86: Walton as a banged up 33 year old was still able to grab 7 rebounds in 20 minutes. He had a 19.4 TRB% which was among the league leaders.

Walton didn't play much but when he did the red head was an amazing rebounder. In only 468 games he has a career 30.2 DRB%. Dwight Howard who is an amazing rebounder and hasn't hit his 30's yet has a career 29.3 DRB%. Think about that for a moment.

Walton is probably the great defensive rebounder in NBA History if you exclude Dennis Rodman.
To be honest, Walton gets way too many passes for me. It's totally unfair he should even be in a rebounding conversation. He was the best rebounder for one year and that is the only year he's in the top five in his career. He's had only four "good years" (as opposed to stellar years) of rebounding in general and those four years would be mediocre in comparison to others. Only once in the post season did he really do notable board work. Its so unfair to compare him to guys that are career rebounders and have years on top of years of doing it. One good year puts you on the map but it can't make up for a career where you just weren't top notch in any other year.

[1987_Lakers]

To be honest, Walton gets way too many passes for me. It's totally unfair he should even be in a rebounding conversation. He was the best rebounder for one year and that is the only year he's in the top five in his career. He's had only four "good years" (as opposed to stellar years) of rebounding in general and those four years would be mediocre in comparison to others. Only once in the post season did he really do notable board work. Its so unfair to compare him to guys that are career rebounders and have years on top of years of doing it. One good year puts you on the map but it can't make up for a career where you just weren't top notch in any other year.

Walton has 4 years where he led the league in DRB%. That is good enough for me to list him.

I don't care if he was injured throughout his career, when he played he was a beast on the boards, he even led his team to a title in '77 while dominating the boards. He was even the Celtics best center in the '86 Finals when they beat Houston.

I feel much more comfortable having a player like Walton on the list over a 6 foot 8 Jerry Lucas who put up great numbers in an inflated era vs weaker competition.

Jerry Lucas in 1971 only had a 17.1 TRB% despite averaging nearly 15.8 RPG.

[DatAsh]

How can Barkley be pound for pound one of the best ever, when he is the fattest one of all? :facepalm :facepalm :facepalm



If you really wanna know who is the pound for pound best rebounder, it's either Oscar Robertson or Fat Lever.


Fat Lever had a 4 year stretch of averaging 8 - 9 rpg, and he weighed only 170 pounds.

Oscar Robertson seems like an odd choice here.

[Pointguard]

Walton has 4 years where he led the league in DRB%. That is good enough for me to list him.

I don't care if he was injured throughout his career, when he played he was a beast on the boards, he even led his team to a title in '77 while dominating the boards. He was even the Celtics best center in the '86 Finals when they beat Houston.

I feel much more comfortable having a player like Walton on the list over a 6 foot 8 Jerry Lucas who put up great numbers in an inflated era vs weaker competition.

Jerry Lucas in 1971 only had a 17.1 TRB% despite averaging nearly 15.8 RPG.

TRB is a skewed stat. The second best TRB% since Rodman retired is Marcus Camby of 2011? In fact, as an individual he's had the second best year EVER two years ago when nobody will ever recall him as a rebounder that year. This is followed by years from Reggie Evans, Danny Fortson and Jayson Williams as having the best Total Rebounding Percentage years.

Joe Pyrzbella, Kris Humphries and Dan Gaduric have all had better years than Dwight Howard ever had. Jeff Forster is number 7 all time careerwise. Along with Jeff Forster, Emeka Okafor and Ervin Johnson all ranking very high careerwise, higher than the majority of the players of every-bodies list here. A stat has to be bad to totally miss the point over whole careers. I recall Ervin Johnson being timid about rebounding and averaged 6 rebs per game - he spent a majority of his career averaging under 6 rebs per game. All of these guys are more impressive than Walton with this stat. So to include Walton on the bases of this stat brings a whole lot of other mess.

The Stat is too deceptive and has to be used in conjunction with another pure stat to be truly valued. Its all over the place and puts obscure players in high places even when they showed no propensity to rebound.

[1987_Lakers]

Most of the guys you mentioned had limited minutes. Which would explain their high TRB%.

Camby, Gadzuric, Pyrzbella etc all played limited minutes and that should tell you why the league didn't label them as one of the league's best rebounders. It still doesn't change the fact they they did a great job on the boards in their limited minutes. Walton had a 20-21 TRB% while playing 33-35 MPG.

I think TRB% is a cool stat. It is a really nice stat to have if you want to compare rebounders from the 70's/80's to rebounders now. It's a much more reliable stat to go by than rpg because we know the pace of the 70's & 80's was completely different to what it is now.

[ThaRegul8r]

Elgin Baylor should also be Mentioned

Barkley was better than Baylor.

[Round Mound]

Barkley was better than Baylor.

Ok. but Baylor is Probably the GOAT Rebounding SF. He Should Also Be Mentioned Among GOAT Rebounders.

[9erempiree]

The estimates in my files vary a bit from your estimate, but I just wanted to see what your source was. I don't think we're very far off, and this is a minor point in comparison to (2) so it's not worth discussing.



I have to disagree with you here as well, since we haven't properly evaluated the relationship between rebounding and minutes/pace. Maybe I'll play around with the dataset in R when I have a chance, and see what turns up. I do suspect that the law of diminishing returns will be in play though, but I don't have any data to back this up at the moment.

I have to agree that there is no correlation between minutes per game and rebounding.

The Law of Diminishing Return does exist because the more minutes you play; you have to factor in the more fatigue you are going to be.

There is no way a person is going to rebound at the same rate. No constant level of that.

[DatAsh]

People keep talking about Wilt and Russell's rebounding being inflated and use that as an excuse to discredit them, yet by career rebound rate only Rodman had a higher rebound rate for his career (and they were shotblockers unlike Rodman, which takes away from rebounding opportunities), which shows that they were GOAT rebounders in any era (and I've posted this before on this board, but people would rather believe what they wish to believe).

And with all this "inflated stats" talk, I'm just curious if in a decade plus from now people will say the scoring stats of all the volume-scoring wings of this era were inflated due to the league deliberately changing the rules in their favor.

I think this sort of raises the question of what it means to be the best rebounder. Is the best rebounder the player that will on average rebound more than any other player? I'd bet money that Rodman would out-rebound Chamberlain or Russell over the course of a season or playoffs, given equal minutes and pace. Or, is the best rebounder the player most likely to grab the most rebounds in a scenario where that is their only focus? I'd bet money that Chamberlain and Russell would out-rebound Rodman in that scenario.

[michaelray]

Jerry Lucas definitely worth a note

[Xiao Yao You]

I have to agree that there is no correlation between minutes per game and rebounding.

The Law of Diminishing Return does exist because the more minutes you play; you have to factor in the more fatigue you are going to be.

There is no way a person is going to rebound at the same rate. No constant level of that.


But it does make a difference if you are getting your rebounds against the 2nd unit instead of the 1st.

[Rubio2Gasol]

I think this sort of raises the question of what it means to be the best rebounder. Is the best rebounder the player that will on average rebound more than any other player? I'd bet money that Rodman would out-rebound Chamberlain or Russell over the course of a season or playoffs, given equal minutes and pace. Or, is the best rebounder the player most likely to grab the most rebounds in a scenario where that is their only focus? I'd bet money that Chamberlain and Russell would out-rebound Rodman in that scenario.

I don't think the gap is large in the latter case, in fact it's even debatable. People assume that height and athleticism wins out, but Rodman had better timing.

[La Frescobaldi]

I think this sort of raises the question of what it means to be the best rebounder. Is the best rebounder the player that will on average rebound more than any other player? I'd bet money that Rodman would out-rebound Chamberlain or Russell over the course of a season or playoffs, given equal minutes and pace. Or, is the best rebounder the player most likely to grab the most rebounds in a scenario where that is their only focus? I'd bet money that Chamberlain and Russell would out-rebound Rodman in that scenario.
I dunno...... P Jackson often said Rodman was one of the greatest athletes he ever saw... But Wilt getting 55 rebounds on Russell? Bill must have had the flu or somethin!! That's just crazy levels of energy right there.

[La Frescobaldi]

I don't think the gap is large in the latter case, in fact it's even debatable. People assume that height and athleticism wins out, but Rodman had better timing.
can't agree. Not at all.

[Pointguard]

I think this sort of raises the question of what it means to be the best rebounder. Is the best rebounder the player that will on average rebound more than any other player? I'd bet money that Rodman would out-rebound Chamberlain or Russell over the course of a season or playoffs, given equal minutes and pace. Or, is the best rebounder the player most likely to grab the most rebounds in a scenario where that is their only focus? I'd bet money that Chamberlain and Russell would out-rebound Rodman in that scenario.
I agree.

Its why I mentioned KG. He won four titles while usually leading his team in blocks, points, even assist and steals, while being the defensive keg as well. Wilt seemed unaffected in rebounding when he lead the league in scoring or assist or when we know he lead in blocks. Obviously if they had only two priorities on the court (like a lot of the specialist), they would be better rebounders. So yeah, the multitasker is the better rebounder if its close, without question. Rodman wasn't great in the post season... as some other responsibility immediately affected his rebounding proficiency. And that responsibility is something tiny in comparison to what KG and Wilt had to contend with at all times.

So a great rebounder for me has to first be a consistently outstanding. Two, be fundamental, hungry and mentally tuned in. Three, he is this way in all situations and bring it up in tougher situations like a great scorer.

[ProfessorMurder]

Since blocks have been officially recorded beginning in '73-74, Mutombo has been the best and rebounding and shot-blocking over the course of a career. No rebounder has a higher career block percentage, and no shot-blocker has a higher career rebound rate.

Very cool, didn't know that. Thanks :cheers:

[ThaRegul8r]

Very cool, didn't know that. Thanks :cheers:

You're welcome. Looking at career leaders:

NBA & Career Leaders for Total Rebound Pct

Rank Player TRB%
1. Dennis Rodman 23.44
2. Dwight Howard 20.86
3. Moses Malone 19.83
4. Larry Smith 19.30
5. Marcus Camby 19.18
6. Dikembe Mutombo 19.10

NBA Career Leaders for Block Pct

Rank Player BLK%
1. Shawn Bradley 7.83
2. Theo Ratliff 7.19
3. Mark Eaton 6.92
4. Alonzo Mourning 6.57
5. Dikembe Mutombo 6.28

Mutombo's the only player to rank that high on both lists. Howard's still active, so he has yet to hit his decline phase while Mutombo's got a whole career in the books, so we don't know how he's going to end up, and Camby's still active, so he could still drop behind Mutombo, but Mutombo's still in the top six for both rebound rate and block percentage for a career since '73-74.

But I don't think people realize that since the league has been officially recording the stats, Mutombo's been the best at combining rebounding and shot-blocking. So since you brought him up, that provided an opportunity to give him some props.

[senelcoolidge]

Oscar Robertson seems like an odd choice here.

Robertson was a great rebounding guard.

[Xiao Yao You]

Howard's still active, so he has yet to hit his decline phase

Looks like he may have hit his decline phase if he doesn't improve on this season.

[ProfessorMurder]

You're welcome. Looking at career leaders:

NBA & Career Leaders for Total Rebound Pct

Rank Player TRB%
1. Dennis Rodman 23.44
2. Dwight Howard 20.86
3. Moses Malone 19.83
4. Larry Smith 19.30
5. Marcus Camby 19.18
6. Dikembe Mutombo 19.10

NBA Career Leaders for Block Pct

Rank Player BLK%
1. Shawn Bradley 7.83
2. Theo Ratliff 7.19
3. Mark Eaton 6.92
4. Alonzo Mourning 6.57
5. Dikembe Mutombo 6.28

Mutombo's the only player to rank that high on both lists. Howard's still active, so he has yet to hit his decline phase while Mutombo's got a whole career in the books, so we don't know how he's going to end up, and Camby's still active, so he could still drop behind Mutombo, but Mutombo's still in the top six for both rebound rate and block percentage for a career since '73-74.

But I don't think people realize that since the league has been officially recording the stats, Mutombo's been the best at combining rebounding and shot-blocking. So since you brought him up, that provided an opportunity to give him some props.

And it's crazy to think that the rebounding % and block % of his career are lower than they should be because he played until he was 80. :bowdown:

[DatAsh]

Robertson was a great rebounding guard.

Sure, but we're talking about the best in history. For some perspective, his rebounding rates are somewhere in between Kobe's and Jordan's.

[Xiao Yao You]

And it's crazy to think that the rebounding % and block % of his career are lower than they should be because he played until he was 80. :bowdown:

Not sure his % went down much? He still was putting up numbers in less minutes.

[ProfessorMurder]

Not sure his % went down much? He still was putting up numbers in less minutes.

Yeah you're right. It probably didn't hurt much because his per 36 minute stats were about the same, while only playing about 15mpg in his Houston years.

[kNicKz]

And it's crazy to think that the rebounding % and block % of his career are lower than they should be because he played until he was 80. :bowdown:

same with camby

[Pointguard]

You're welcome. Looking at career leaders:

NBA & Career Leaders for Total Rebound Pct

Rank Player TRB%
1. Dennis Rodman 23.44
2. Dwight Howard 20.86
3. Moses Malone 19.83
4. Larry Smith 19.30
5. Marcus Camby 19.18
6. Dikembe Mutombo 19.10

NBA Career Leaders for Block Pct

Rank Player BLK%
1. Shawn Bradley 7.83
2. Theo Ratliff 7.19
3. Mark Eaton 6.92
4. Alonzo Mourning 6.57
5. Dikembe Mutombo 6.28

Mutombo's the only player to rank that high on both lists. Howard's still active, so he has yet to hit his decline phase while Mutombo's got a whole career in the books, so we don't know how he's going to end up, and Camby's still active, so he could still drop behind Mutombo, but Mutombo's still in the top six for both rebound rate and block percentage for a career since '73-74.

But I don't think people realize that since the league has been officially recording the stats, Mutombo's been the best at combining rebounding and shot-blocking. So since you brought him up, that provided an opportunity to give him some props.
Mutombo was underrated to me. He was also the best protector of the paint as well. He had a larger range covered than any other post 80's shot blocker as well, even more so than Eaton.