So Ben's gone, what will happen to the 11.3 rebounds he consumed last season. I'm thinking:

Nazr might get around 7 of those
Sheed should increase his by at least 1 (maybe)
1 to be dispersed between the others

and 1.3 will get lost on the breeze, which will see us ranked about 27th in the league in rebounding, harking back to the lofty days of 2001-02 when we were dead last. Worried anyone?

Total Reb Rank (+/- diff rank)
2000-01 - 1st (9th)
2001-02 - 29th (28th)
2002-03 - 25th (19th)
2003-04 - 11th (5th)
2004-05 - 4th (1st)
2005-06 - 19th (15th)<------note correction as per webz Slippy
2006-2007 27th?
I know total rebounding stats can be misleading sometimes so I included the rebounding difference in red.

Interesting to see we went from 1st to last in the space of 1 season during 2001-02.

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...to Chicago.

Personally, I think our rebounding is going to suck next year unless we convince our guards to chase rebounds again. I expect a marginal increase to be shared by Sheed, Dice, Rip, Chauncey and Tay. Mark Nazr down for about 7 boards a game.

Prince, Hamilton, and Delfino if he plays all have to step up rebounding. Prince in particular needs to go up by at least two a game. Sheed ought to pick up more just because Ben isn't around.

Tay and Rip are the keys to better rebounding and boards are the keys to wins.

I'm guessing that they will go to Chicago.

Interesting to see what may be considered an LB effect...strong rebounding. If we were 27th last season, at least we can't drop that far. The answer is to increase our offensive efficiency.

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oops... that should be 2006-07 - 27?

last year was:

2005-06 - 19th (15th)

If you can edit that first post Slip, go right ahead.

LOL. That's what I was going to say!

Edited first post to reflect changes requested by webz.

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With team's playing at different tempos and hence not all having the same number of rebounding opportunities, the rebounding differential is the key statistic to look at.

The Pistons were average (15th out of 30 NBA teams) in rebounding differential last year at -0.3.

If you look at Ben's total rebounds the last 4 years, you see a declining pattern:

2003: 15.4
2004: 12.4
2005: 12.2
2006: 11.3

If this pattern would have continued, the Pistons would have got about 10 rebounds from Ben in 2006-07.

Nazr pulled down 5.2 rebounds in 17 minutes last year. If you left Nazr on the court for the 35 minutes that Ben was averaging (which, of course, you shouldn't do), even Nazr could pick up the 10 boards that Ben would have gave you.

I'm going to predict (using no rationale whatsoever) that the Pistons will actually improve in rebounding differential this year (better than -0.3). I think the team will collectively get the job done.

I'm gonna go along with this prediction.

My own -- meager -- rationale is the following: whenever you have a player who really stands out in one area of the game (be it boards, points or assists), other players tend to back off that territory (cf. Rodman on the Bulls). Ben's board numbers were probably magnified (and other players' diminished) by the fact that everyone saw this as his role. I think that other players certainly have the physical ability to fill that statistical gap and the team numbers may actually improve since it must now surely be clear to everyone that Ben's not there to take care of the boards.

The thing that won't be so easily replaced is the kind of rebound that Ben got, that emotionally uplifting swooping defensive clear, or the offensive taps back to the perimeter, or those that he'd hustle out to the perimeter to get himself, getting us a new 24. Ben pulled countless emotionally big boards. I think it remains to be seen how we fare in that category.