Andre Drummond raised eyebrows during media day for the Philadelphia 76ers, when he claimed that he is the best rebounder ever to play the game. Drummond’s comment quickly went viral on social media and when former NBA player Ron Harper came across it on X, he slammed the big man.
“Lol do you listen to yourself kid? Jokes.”
Considering Harper played alongside Dennis Rodman for three seasons on the Chicago Bulls, you can understand why he was particularly dismissive of Drummond’s claim. While I don’t think the 76ers center is the best rebounder ever, he is one of the better ones we have ever seen.
Drummond has won four rebounding titles and averages 12.4 rebounds per game for his career, which ranks 15th all-time. The two-time All-Star is also the only player in that top 15 to average fewer than 30 minutes per game, at 27.2. So, if he had been given a bit more time on the court, he could have been a bit higher up the list too.
In the 2023-24 season, Drummond averaged just 17.1 minutes per game for the Chicago Bulls but still managed to put up 8.4 points, 9.0 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.5 blocks. So, the 31-year-old certainly deserves respect for his rebounding prowess, but I just wouldn’t put him near the top of the pile.
Someone who has a strong case to be at the top is Rodman. Despite being just 6’7″, he averaged 13.1 rebounds per game for his career and won seven straight rebounding titles from 1991-92 to 1997-98.
Rodman was hauling in 16.7 rebounds per game in those seven seasons, which is just absurd. Keep in mind, he was also doing this at a time when there was no shortage of great big men in the NBA.
The likes of Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Shaquille O’Neal, Dikembe Mutombo, and Alonzo Mourning were all in the league, but none of those greats could match Rodman on the glass. In my opinion, he is unquestionably the best rebounder in the modern era.
Now, if you go back further, two men stand head and shoulders above everybody else when it comes to rebounding, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. Chamberlain ranks first all-time in rebounds per game in NBA history with 22.9 while Russell is second with 22.5.
I don’t want to take anything away from the two icons, but the era they played in certainly helped them put up those numbers, as the pace was so high. Once the games started to slow down over time, it just became impossible for anyone to put up anywhere close to the numbers Chamberlain and Russell had put up.
This makes crowning a player as the greatest rebounder ever a rather difficult task. If I had to pick one player as the best, though, I’d probably go with Rodman, because what he did in his era should not have been possible for a man his size. He was up against some giants, in every sense of the word, and still managed to emerge as the premier rebounder of the time.
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