Possessions matter. For the Boston Celtics, they matter a lot. They are the foundation of everything the Celtics want to accomplish. At least, that was the case last season.
Not necessarily earning the most possessions. The Celtics actually ranked dead last in the NBA in total possessions by a landslide. But rather, earning more possessions -- more chances to score -- than the opponent on any single night.
That's at the crux of Mazzulla Ball, as detailed in an article about Boston's offseason additions. Paul George is a defensive playmaking monster, and Mitchell Robinson's defense is top-notch, too.
But Robinson's true gift is offensive rebounding. It's how he creates extra possessions. Boston knows that better than anyone, as Joe Mazzulla has intentionally fouled Robinson in the past just to get him off the floor.
Yet somehow, Robinson's offensive rebounding is still underrated. He's one of the NBA's best offensive rebounders, but that still doesn't capture his greatness.
Last season, Robinson only played 19.6 minutes per contest. The New York Knicks carefully managed his playing time in order to keep him healthy for the entire season (and the playoffs).
Despite that, he still pulled down 4.2 offensive rebounds per game. That ranked second in the NBA behind only Donovan Clingan, who grabbed 4.5 -- in 27.2 minutes a night.
Rather than looking at the raw counting stats, let's use offensive rebounding percentage. That's the percentage of a team's shots a player rebounds. For context, here are a few players:
According to Basketball Reference's league leaders page, Robinson technically doesn't qualify for the leaderboard. He didn't play enough minutes. By those numbers, Clingan led the league, grabbing 17.7% of his team's misses. Moussa Diabate was second (16.5%), Jalen Duren was third (15.3%), Rudy Gobert was fourth (14.1%), and Neemias Queta was fifth (13.5%).
Now, let's insert Robinson into the picture. Where would he have ranked had he played enough minutes to "qualify" for the leaderboard? First. By a mile. Robinson grabbed 23.9% of his team's misses. Nearly a quarter of them.
For context, according to Basketball Reference, the best single-season offensive rebounding mark in NBA history was