Where will Ben's 11.3 rebounds go?

I'm guessing that they will go to Chicago.

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

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.

If Nazr can work on not fouling too much you could be right.

I third the prof's observations about the "big" boards that Ben would occasionally get. The way I would occasionally put it to people is that Ben was one of a small handful of players I've ever seen where you could put a great highlight reel together of nothing but a bunch of rebounds that he got.

Agree with the professor here. As long as Flip instills in his players mind during the training camp that Ben is no longer there and the rest of the team has to try to provide some help here instead of relying on Ben, Ihink we won't suffer that much, but it will be a challenge to keep both Sheed and prince drom hanging out on the perimeter.

Nas may be able to grab at least 9 boards a game , but like the prof says, he may not be able to do it with the swagger and beast like way that Ben did it. :(

You guys might be getting a little carried away with the so-called emotional rebound. I think a blocked shot can certainly set the tempo for a game to let the opponent know that the paint is not open for business. Ben certainly did that on occasion.

There is a difference between stealing a rebound from a teammate and stealing one from the other team. I think that an emotional rebound is one that the other team would obviously get if it wasn't for the hustle of a player.

A good example of this were the emotional rebounds that &*%$@ Foster was getting against us.

He got every rebound, no joke.

If they let me, I'll go get the rebounds.