Drag to rotate · The shaded zone shows where missed shots actually land; the orange figure is your selected player
The stat that settles it: rebound rate
Raw rebounds per game reward minutes and pace. Total rebound percentage (TRB%) fixes that: the share of all available rebounds a player grabs while on the floor.
| Player (2023-24) | Height | RPG | TRB% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Hart | 6'4" | 8.3 | 13.8% |
| Myles Turner | 6'11" | 6.9 | 12.1% |
| Jaren Jackson Jr | 6'10" | 5.5 | 9.6% |
| League avg center | ~6'11" | — | ~15% |
So the tweet's core observation is right — Hart really does out-rebound some starting centers — but it's the calculator that proves it, not just the eye test. Analytics and watching the games agree here.
Why height isn't destiny
- Miss geometry: most misses rebound 6–12 feet from the rim, often to the weak side — long threes carom even farther. Being 7 feet tall directly under the rim can be the wrong spot.
- Box-outs create real estate: a well-timed box-out matters more than a 7-inch height gap once the ball is in the air.
- Anticipation: elite rebounders start moving on the shot's release, reading arc and angle. That's a skill, not a measurement.
- Motor: Hart crashes from the perimeter on nearly every miss; many bigs leak out or ball-watch. Effort compounds over 70 misses a game.
- Role design: Turner and JJJ are rim-protectors who contest shots first — contesting often takes you out of rebounding position. Low TRB% is partly the job, not just the player.
Analytics vs the eye test — a false fight
The best framing: the eye test generates hypotheses, analytics tests them. "Hart rebounds like a big" is an eye-test claim that TRB% confirms. "JJJ is a bad rebounder" is an eye-test claim the numbers complicate — his blocks and contest rate explain a chunk of the gap.
When they disagree, dig deeper: check per-possession stats, role context, and tracking data (contested vs uncontested boards). When they agree — as with Hart — you've probably found the truth.