All these guards are averaging more rebounds per game than Nets center Brook Lopez. pic.twitter.com/069SFEQBpE
— HoopsHype (@hoopshype) November 20, 2014
This infographic, courtesy of HoopsHype, is a list of guards averaging more rebounds per game than 7-foot Nets center Brook Lopez, who is returning from multiple foot injuries.
The chart’s a bit misleading, as it deals with rebounds per game, rather than per possession or per opportunity. But it’s damning, particularly to see Lopez’s teammate Joe Johnson ahead of him on the same list.
It’s also not incorrect. The Nets corral just 46.7 percent of all available rebounds with Lopez on the floor, which is the worst of any Nets player. (The league average is 50 percent, for obvious reasons.) Lopez’s rebound rate, which estimates the percentage of rebounds available that a player grabs, is a paltry 9.9 percent, which would be the worst of his career, and ranks just below the league average for all players, not just centers.
Lopez has had some good moments this year, most notably a rim-rocking tip-dunk off an offensive rebound late in regulation in the close game against the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night. But his rebounding has trended downwards his entire career; despite his massive size, he’s got a legitimate chance to become the worst-rebounding center in NBA history.