While many younger basketball players like to focus on their shooting and scoring abilities, there are a plethora of other ways you can be instrumental to your teams’ success. One such way, is to be a great rebounder. Rebounding not only takes skill, but it is a vital core of any great basketball team and can be the difference between a won or lost game.
Below, we are going to review basketball rebounding cues to be a better player and how you can use these rebounding cues to help your team.
What Are Rebounding Cues?
Generally, in basketball, there are a number of cues which can help you to prepare for an upcoming play and to complete a certain action. For instance, typically, when a player is looking to make a chest pass, the telltale sign and cue will be that they will hold the ball with two-hands against their chest, before pushing the ball to the receiver.
Similarly, when a player is looking to take a shot, a telltale sign or cue will be that they will begin to lift the ball in a shooting manner, before elevating themselves for the jump shot.
However, in basketball, when it comes to rebounding cues, they can be a bit more difficult to judge. Passes, shots, and quick dribbles tend to have similar routines, dependent on the player. A rebound, however, has to be judged on a multitude of factors.
These factors include not only the position of the shooting player but also their form, their historical accuracy from a shot location, and the level of defense being played on the shooter.
Why Are Rebounds So Important in Basketball?
Simply stated, rebounds can win or lose games.
To delve further, rebounds offer your team an opportunity to take possession of the ball. With the possession of the ball, your team has an added opportunity to score and either increase the lead or decrease the lead of the opposing team.
In basketball, it is important to remember that there are only a limited number of possibilities to gain possession of the basketball.
Your team can attempt to steal the ball from the other team or player, they can regain possession off-of the opposing teams’ turnover, they can gain possession through a made basket by the other team, or they can gain possession off-of a rebound.
However, from these possibilities, the easiest and most likely scenario is that possession will be regained off-of a rebound. But, while this is the highest probability, it is not a guaranteed one. Rather, the offensive team will also be scrambling to secure the rebound and to contain possession of the basketball.
Therefore, having a team of players that understands the importance of rebounding is paramount to winning games. If you and your team cannot secure the rebound efficiently, you will be giving the opposing team additional chances and opportunities to score and further their lead or decrease yours.
Learning How to Understand Rebound Cues
Understanding how to rebound is actually quite easy. A missed shot attempt is secured, ideally with both hands, and you and your team begin to dribble the ball down the court on offense.
However, understanding how to rebound can be a vastly different skill.
You see, rebounding itself takes practice to understand the motion of the basketball once it is shot. Not all shot attempts are equal. A player attempting a half-court shot will lead to a wildly different rebounding opportunity than one where a player is attempting a layup.
So, when it comes to rebounding cues, the biggest piece of advice I give to my own players is to learn how to shoot the ball and analyze where the missed shot attempt lands.
Notice how the ball bounces quickly off of the rim from a missed shot past the three-point line versus how it does so softly from a missed shot near the basket.
The core of rebounding, in of itself, is analyzation. You must begin to understand how the ball will likely act in any shot attempt situation and react to the likelihood. It is a game of probabilities and one that will only be fully realized by taking shot attempts and analyzing the trajectory of the ball on a missed shot.
Additional Rebounding Cues
In addition to understanding the likelihood of a shots rebound, it is also important to understand a players shot attempt, their form, and their historical performance. While physics plays a role in a ball’s trajectory, those guiding principles are dictated by the players ability to shoot a ball.
For example, a sharpshooter like Stephen Curry will have a more accurate, less wild shot attempt from past the three-point line than, let’s say, Shaquille O’Neal. O’Neal is not known for his three-point shot and an attempt from him to shoot the ball past the three-point line will likely be wildly off.
Similarly, you should study and analyze both your competitions and your teams’ shooting abilities. Learn how the players you’re playing with shoot and begin to rebound off of certain expectations.
Give the sharpshooters their respect and understand that a miss will likely be more accurate and closer to the rim than a last-second heave by a less accurate shooter. As you begin to do this, you will increase your own chances of being in the right spot at the right time for the rebound.
Lastly, one of the best rebounding cues you can take from others is the hustle. Rebounding is a game of “who wants it more.” While not always the case, there are multiple instances in a game where the basketball will hit the floor once or twice before being picked up.
Mentally prepare yourself to not only work for the easy, obvious rebounds, but to also hustle for the difficult ones as well.