Indiana Pacers stats that must improve: Rebound Percentage
Almost a yearly tradition, on the margins of a patented weak point, the Indiana Pacers remained one of the league’s worst rebounding teams last season. With a 47.6 rebound percentage, good for 29th in the association, only topping the small-ball, guard-heavy assemblage in Houston, the team struggled almost on a nightly basis on the battle of the boards.
While the Pacers have Domantas Sabonis, one of the league’s best overall rebounders in the past two seasons, the team doesn’t have a steady crop of tenacious rebounders to supplement the All-Star. Myles Turner, the team’s starting center, normed a below-average 6.6 rebounds per game.
On the secondary, Indiana’s guards are big enough to outmuscle their counterparts, but it is largely futile if the primary option to corral rebounds struggle to secure the rock. One of the most overlooked aspects in this regard is snatching boards off blocks. With the Pacers ranking first last season in blocks per game, sharpening the team’s instinct in securing loose balls should augment their rebounding.
Luckily, the team’s additions in Isaiah Jackson, a springy big man, and Torrey Craig, a tenacious rebounding wing, should be a boost in that department. If Domas retains his elite status as a rebounder and Turner improves his numbers on the boards, this should be a very viable point of improvement, especially with this stat also resulting in the Pacers giving up the most second-chance points per game last season.