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Andre Drummond is a monster on the boards. His size, wingspan and vertical leap combine to make him the most fearsome rebounder of his generation.
Drummond is averaging 19.3 rebounds this season, the first player to average so many boards since Wilt Chamberlain in 1971. Chamberlain is, of course, an all-time great in the NBA, but it is important to understand the context in which he played.
When Chamberlain 24(!) rebounds in 1966-67, he was just one of four players to average more than 19 rebounds that season, joining Nate Thurmond, Jerry Lucas and Bill Russell.
This year, Drummond's closest competitor is DeAndre Jordan, who is averaging 12.9 rebounds per game. That's part of the reason Drummond has moved up to No. 4 in Sekou Smith's MVP rankings.
To put Drummond's dominance in perspective, prior to his Saturday tilt against the Clippers, he held a somewhat smaller 6.3 rebounds per game advantage over second-ranked Jordan. That 6.3 differential between Nos. 1 and 2 was nearly the same differential as Nos. 2 and 54 in the NBA, Giannis Antetokounmpo, who averaged 6.2 rebounds less than Jordan.
Detroit Bad Boy's own Christopher Daniels illustrates the difference for the tl;dr types.
Drummond's dominance on the offensive boards is even more stark. Before Saturday, he was averaging 3.4 offensive rebounds more than the nearest competitor Rudy Gobert. Dre's 7.1 offensive rebounds per game nearly doubled up Gobert's 3.7 offensive boards. In this case, the difference between Nos. 1 and 2 was the same as between Nos. 2 and 231. The 231st-ranked player, Trey Burke, is averaging a scant 0.3 offensive rebounds per game.
In other words, Drummond's owning the boards to such a degree other towering big men are akin to backup point guards.
Drummond. Is. A. Beast.
Huge thank you to Chris for making these awesome graphics.