Reggie Evans Will Rebound Your Children

I'm not going to tell you that Reggie Evans is the best player you've never heard of. Because he isn't.

I'm not even going to tell you that Reggie Evans is a great all around basketball player. Because ... well ... he isn't.

I'm not going to tell you his game is fun to watch or that he should have a huge fan club. Because his game isn't fun to watch and he probably wouldn't even want a huge fan club.

What I will tell you is that Reggie Evans was built to do one thing and one thing only.

Rebound the basketball.

And can he rebound the basketball!

Reggie Evans likes rebounding more than James Harden likes pizza rolls.

For my money, Reggie Evans is the most tenacious rebounder this side of Dennis Rodman.

There have been others in the past that rebound at least as effectively as Reggie, and in today's game, Kevin Love rivals his proclivity for ripping the ball off of the backboard as soon as humanly possible. However, I'm not sure anyone other than Rodman can say that they rebound with as much dedication, passion, and just plain will power.

This year, Evans recorded a rebounding rate of 26.67%, meaning that while on the floor, he grabs just over one out of every four possible boards.

Pretty impressive.

Whats more impressive is that this mark ranks second all-time in rebounding rate; second only to Rodman, of course, who ripped a stunning 29.73% of all available rebounds during the 1994-95 season.

Breaking it down further, this year Reggie grabbed 38% of all available defensive rebounds, good for first in the league. He snatched 15.5% of all available offensive rebounds, good for second in the league.

He had nine games this season with at least 20 rebounds.

He can even rebound the basketball from his back if he needs to.

Now, rebounding is a fantastic ability to have but as happens so often in the NBA, a player's bad qualities outweigh the good ones.

Not with Reggie. If nothing else, Evans is a man who knows is role. We're talking about a guy, who on his career, averages 3.0 field goal attempts a game. He hasn't even attempted a single three-pointer in his career. Reggie just isn't concerned with putting the ball in the hoop. That's not his job. Reggie's job is to rebound the basketball and not to let anyone get in his way while doing it.

So what does a typical stat line look like for a guy like this? Consider this line from 20 March against the Dallas Mavericks: 4 points on 2-5 shooting, 4 fouls, and 22 rebounds in 32 minutes of action. Yes, he grabbed 22 rebounds but failed to record a double double. Again, he's not interested in anything else.

Or this one from 14 April against the Toronto Raptors: 0 points on 0-0 shooting, 1 foul, and 16 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. He didn't even record a shot in 30 minutes of action! How many players could do that and still have a significant impact on the game? Better question, how many players would do that? He's the inverse Michael Beasley!

Now, Reggie Evans and his rebounding abilities actually come with one additional basketball attribute that doesn't involve rebounding the rock like he's got a collection.

Reggie Evans is a notorious flopper.

And he's pretty good at it.

It's a random and very frustrating trait for his opponents to deal with. It fits perfectly, though. Reggie is a very physical rebounder who knocks around opposing rebounders with little regard. When fouls aren't called, opponents get frustrated and return that physicality.

Reggie knows this. He's expecting it. He's counting on it.

And when the time comes ... he flops. And in most cases, his opponents are rewarded with time on the bench.

Allowing Reggie to happily go back to doing what he does best. The only thing he knows how to do when he's not on his back drawing fouls.

Rebounding the basketball.

Click on a photo to enlarge.