The pure boards per game numbers seem pretty simplistic to our curious minds however, so in true 82games fashion we'll take a look at this question from a number of angles.

(All stats reflect games played through February 19th of the 2003-2004 season, and only includes players unless otherwise noted with at least 800 minutes played on the year.)

1) NBA Top Offensive Boarders

Rank Player Team Off Reb% 1 Dampier GSW 14.0% 2 Foster IND 13.0% 3 Haywood WAS 12.3% 4 Brand LAC 12.1% 5 Gadzuric MIL 11.9%

Since players have varying opportunities to pull down rebounds, rating them on a percentage basis makes the most sense. With the exception of Brand, the leaders are guys who don't play big roles in the halfcourt offense, but instead crash the offensive glass!

2) NBA Top Defensive Boarders

Rank Player Team Def Reb% 1 Garnett MIN 26.7% 2 Camby DEN 25.4% 3 Duncan SAS 24.0% 4 Boozer CLE 22.8% 5 Wallace DET 22.5%

The top defensive rebounders feature some perennial all-stars in KG, Duncan and Big Ben. Part of Denver's success this year must also be credited to the fine play of Camby, and LeBron has a potent sidekick already in Mr. Boozer.

3) NBA Top Overall Rebounders

Rank Player Team Reb. Rtg 1 Camby DEN 35.6 2 Dampier GSW 35.5 3 Garnett MIN 35.3 4 Duncan SAS 33.3 5 Wallace DET 33.2

Adding together the Offensive Rebound % and Defensive Rebound % gives us the overall (simple) player rating. We'll be moving beyond that in the course of this article however! Right now it's a tight three-way battle for top honors!

4) Player versus Counterpart
Sometimes the player who pulls down the rebound doesn't deserve as much credit as a teammate who blocks out the opposing glass-crashers. To look at the rebounding stats on another level we compared a player's own 48 minute production versus what his counterpart achieved while on the floor at the same time.

Rk Player Team Reb48 Opp48 Net 1 Garnett MIN 17.3 9.7 +7.6 2 Dampier GSW 17.3 12.0 +5.3 3 Duncan SAS 16.6 11.5 +5.1 4 Camby DEN 17.3 12.6 +4.7 5 Randolph POR 13.6 9.1 +4.5 6 Harpring UTA 10.6 6.3 +4.3 7 Kidd NJN 8.7 4.4 +4.3 8 Boozer CLE 15.5 11.9 +3.6 9 Ming HOU 13.4 10.0 +3.4 10 Howard DAL 11.9 8.5 +3.4

Pretty compelling case here for Mr. Garnett although he doesn't often go head-to-head with the opposing team's center. Still, it's a dominant figure he puts up in this category. We also catch a few players who have mismatches at the smaller positions, like Kidd, Harpring and Howard. In case you are wondering, Cliff Robinson is at the bottom of the table with a -7.3 rebounds per 48 minutes net.

5) Best On Court Impact
For another way to gauge a player's rebounding skills in light of the above point that boxing out is a key factor, and working with your teammates to ensure the rebound doesn't fall into enemy hands is another, we'll take a look at the performance of the team in the rebounding department while a player is on the court.

Player Team Off% Def% Tm Net Collins UTA 35.9% 71.9% 53.9% Kirilenko UTA 38.5% 68.8% 53.6% Wilcox LAC 36.2% 70.1% 53.1% Brand LAC 39.8% 66.5% 53.1% Stevenson UTA 38.0% 68.3% 53.1%

Well it's an indictment of a stat when the top ten players no less come from two teams! Clearly what we are seeing is that the Jazz and the Clippers are good rebounding teams that put an emphasis in the gameplan on winning the battle of the boards each night.

6) On / Off Court Impact
So given the rebounding proficiency of teams can vary, the final twist is to compare the overall team rebounding performance with a player on court versus off court.

Offensive Rebounding Player Team ON OFF Net Jackson SAC 33.6% 26.8% +6.8% Palacio TOR 32.9% 26.1% +6.8% Jeffries WAS 36.5% 30.0% +6.5% Jamison DAL 35.6% 29.3% +6.3% Brand LAC 39.8% 34.0% +5.8%	Jackson and Jamison currently fill the 6th man scoring sparkplug roles, and not surprisingly have an inclination to look for the ball off the offensive glass. Brand meanwhile is simply a force in the paint. Palacio and Jeffries? Their influence is tougher to explain.
Defensive Rebounding Player Team ON OFF Net Randolph POR 69.7% 61.8% +7.9% Grant MIA 72.8% 67.2% +5.6% Collins UTA 71.9% 66.8% +5.1% Miller SAC 68.8% 63.9% +4.9% Nene DEN 68.0% 63.2% +4.8%	Randolph has been putting up big numbers, but how will that change now with Abdur-Rahim and Ratliff alongside? Nene on the other hand has seen his rebounds decline, but obviously does his part in making sure the ball ends up in Denver hands.
Total Rebounding Player Team ON OFF Net Jeffries WAS 52.1% 47.6% +4.5% Thomas PHI 51.3% 47.8% +3.5% Davis CHI 51.9% 48.4% +3.5% Cardinal GSW 51.9% 48.6% +3.3% DeClercq ORL 50.5% 47.3% +3.2% Ford MIL 50.9% 47.7% +3.2% Martin NJN 50.7% 47.7% +3.0% Camby DEN 51.1% 48.3% +2.8% Diaw ATL 51.2% 48.4% +2.8% Haywood WAS 51.4% 48.7% +2.7%	In the final analysis we have to conclude that rebounding success is tied into a lot of other factors -- the offensive threat of launching a fast break, the spacing on the floor at both ends of the court, the type of shot allowed, etc. The On/Off stats don't exactly bring the obvious rebounding studs to the top of the charts, but do pose some interesting questions -- why would point guard T.J. Ford bring about such a remarkable improvement in rebounding for the Bucks?

Who is the best?
We won't pretend like we can hand down the indisputable final verdict on this right now, but of all the looks above, the one stat that stands out is Kevin Garnett's personal matchup with his man: roughly 17 rebounds per 48 minutes for KG, and 10 for his opponent. You do the math.