The Atlanta Hawks are simply not good enough on the glass, and it has cost them two preventable losses to the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls.
The two games the Hawks have been dominated on the rebounding front are the two games Kristaps Porzingis has played in so far. This is no coincidence, as The Unicorn has been a weak rebounder for the majority of his career. He usually ends possessions outside of the paint on offense and lacks the mobility to snake through traffic when crashing the boards. On defense, his high hips and strength disadvantage allow opponents to bully Porzingis on the box out.
In the loss to the Bulls, Porzingis had a whopping two rebounds over 25 minutes of action. His matchup, Nikola Vucevic, recorded 17 boards, including four on the offensive side. It is impressive the Hawks remained as close as they did in spite of such a lopsided rebounding advantage.
Where do we go from here?
While Porzingis isn’t the only problem on the glass, as the center, he is certainly the most important one to address. There’s no reason to believe he can suddenly just become a better rebounder with new coaching or conditioning programs. Simply put, the other players will have to overachieve to cover Porzingis’s weakness.
Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu are the only two rebounders who have historically been strong and have continued this high-level rebounding this season. The problem with these two players, however, is that they both see extended playing time at the four. Johnson is a power forward, while Okongwu can slide into this role alongside Porzingis.
When these two players are asked to defend forwards, they no longer end possessions in the paint as frequently as Porzingis does. So, despite their high intensity on the glass, they are simply unable to overcome the weakness at the center position.
Hope is not lost, however. The title-winning 2024 Boston Celtics roster featured both Porzingis and solid team rebounding.
This was possible for a few reasons, most important of which were the rebounding strengths of power forwards Jayson Tatum and Al Horford, who are some of the best rebounders in the league at the four. This is eerily similar to the duo of Johnson and Okongwu, with a hyper-athletic slashing four and a combo big to clean up the glass.
Where the Hawks and Celtics diverge is the rest of the roster. Jrue Holiday, Derrick White, and Jaylen Brown are all players who fight on the glass. The Hawks have the size to match, with the exception of Trae Young, but Zaccharie Risacher and Dyson Daniels have not had the impressive rebounding performances necessary to cover Porzingis.
While Porzingis’s weak rebounding is more or less set in stone, the Hawks should be able to overcome this through a focus on the glass and as the roster gains continuity. If the Hawks cannot solve this problem, however, the team’s ceiling will be brought back down to Earth.