Average 10+ Rebounds per Game
Thomas Bryant is a boundless ball of energy out on the court. No one will ever say he lacks hustle. A constant energy supply like the one Bryant seems to possess should lend itself well to rebounding, one stat that can largely be determined by hustle. You can outwork your man for a rebound; it’s hard to do the same for an assist.
But for whatever reason, Bryant’s tenacity didn’t translate to big rebounding numbers. As the Wizards’ premiere big man for the majority of the season, Bryant was only able to average 6.3 rebounds per game. Not quite what you want to see from your 6’11 center.
However, as Bryant’s minutes increased, so did his rebounding totals. As a centerpiece of the squad now, hopefully, he’ll get more chances.
The Wizards will need the rebounding help. They were one of the worst rebounding teams in the entire NBA last season (28th in team rebounding). To make matters worse, some of the few players they had that did grab rebounds are now gone. Dwight Howard, Bobby Portis, and Jabari Parker had the Wizards’ top three per-game rebounding averages. Although none of them played as many games in a Wizards uniform as Bryant did last year, it’s still concerning that one of the team’s significant weaknesses from last year got even weaker.
Bryant, himself, could do a lot to carry the load and improve the Wizards rebounding abilities with a big year on the boards, though.