Hoops 101 - Part #2 (Rebounding)
The Value of a Possession
One of the most important things I learned while playing college basketball is this: Every possession is critical, every possession is important.
This holds true when you’re playing on offense and defense. Your effectiveness on every offensive and defensive play will determine how successful you will be.
In order to win a basketball game, you must score points. To score points, you must have the ball!
Now that we’ve established an atmosphere of fear in our opponent, stopping them from consistently scoring, it’s not time to TAKE the ball away from them.
The beginning of an offensive possession is the moment a defensive rebound is grabbed. This is the beginning of your opportunity to put points on the scoreboard.
As you’ll see in our pyramid illustration, rebounding is the other foundational element of basketball. Believe it or not, EVERYONE can be an effective rebounder. This holds true in both rebounding the basketball and stopping your opponent from rebounding the basketball.
Given this, every missed shot is a chance to grab the ball and attack your opponent. Typically, teams who grab defensive rebounds, immediately attacking their opponent, get opportunities for easy scores in transition.
On offense, it simple, OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS = EXTRA OPPORTUNITIES TO SCORE. The value of consistent offensive rebounds is priceless. There’s nothing more (especially when your opponent is playing good defense) to grab an extra possession after a missed shot. When this consistently happens, it demoralizes your opponent because now they have to buckle down and play defense all over again.
In basketball, you must make the most out of every opportunity. This is most quickly shown in rebounding as it’s be beginning of your opportunity to score.
