Ivan Rabb needs to play more

Ivan Rabb, in his limited minutes, continues to impress. We previously discussed what the goals should be for Memphis for the remainder of the season. One of those goals was playing Jaren Jackson Jr. as much as possible. Given Jackson’s injury, the team requires a new goal.

That new goal needs to be simply transitioning those extra Jackson Jr. minutes to Rabb. The Gasol trade fetched a quality center, so Memphis can’t go nuts throwing minutes at Rabb. However, given Kyle Anderson’s own injury and the absolute fruitlessness of playing Joakim Noah at all, Rabb needs to see his playing time increase.

To Bickerstaff’s credit, Rabb is averaging 20 minutes per game over his last 17 appearances. Such a number is proportionally a huge increase on his 13 minute per game average on the season. Yet, it is still not enough. The season is going no where. Rabb should be out there for close to, if not more than, 30 minutes a night, so the team can gauge what they have in the second year pro.

They might just be pleasantly surprised with what they find.

Grading Data

On the year, Rabb has logged a mere 485 minutes. The first 447 of those minutes are currently in our grading database. Small sample alert, but in those 447 minutes Rabb has been excellent.

As you can see, Rabb is sporting an A- or better in 6 of the 11 categories we track, with a B in a 7th category. Overall, Rabb is a C or better in 10/11 categories. The lone F is perimeter shooting, which is the one area where if he could get a pass, he would get a pass. (He doesn’t, to be clear, given how important shooting is)

Offense

The strength of his game is the finishing and post play. Rabb has skills around the basket to go with his athleticism. Watch as Rabb, the right handed shooter, hits a left handed turnaround hook shot from an awkward angle behind the backboard.

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Bare in mind this was once the #5 prep recruit in the nation, so his fluid movement and vertical leap should come as no surprise from the 6’10”, 220 pounder.

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To tie in his excellent off-ball movement, watch Rabb recognize his defender is too distracted and take off toward the rim on an inbounds pass under the basket. Rabb then impressively hangs and readjusts his shot mid-air, again displaying atypical athleticism for someone his size.

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In this last clip, you will see Rabb have the touch to still finish despite a push in the back from strongest man alive Steven Adams.

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All in all, Rabb is shooting 73.3% on shots within three feet of the basket. For his career, he is now a 70.8% shooter at the rime. His high mark this season is contributing to his ridiculous eFG% of 60.7%, and true shooting percentage of 63.2%. Those marks would rank 8th and 15th in the league, respectively, if Rabb had sustained such production over enough minutes to qualify for the leaderboards.

Rebounding

As pointed out by our grading, Rabb is an exceptional rebounder. His second jump is very quick, and he has the strength to box out well.

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Furthermore, Rabb hustles, as he rarely gives up on a play.

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His total rebound rate of 17% would rank 19th in the league if he could qualify for the leaderboard.

In Total

Rabb is also providing solid gravity as he rolls to the rim. This makes sense given how talented he is at finishing around the basket. He is a decent playmaker as well.

In all, Memphis doesn’t have much left to play for this season. The remainder of the games should be used to evaluate guys that have to potential to be a prominent part of the future. Rabb has that potential. Joakim Noah does not.

Increase Rabb’s minutes over the final stretch of games.

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