As valuable as Ryan Kalkbrenner has been for the Charlotte Hornets, he still has plenty of flaws to work on. Among them is his seeming inability to clean up the defensive glass, as his defensive rebounding percentage (16.4 percent) is in the 22nd percentile among bigs and is even worse than that of LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges. However, it's unfair to gauge the rookie's impact based on that statistic alone, given that the Hornets have limited opponents to a second-best 10.1 offensive boards per game.
Kalkbrenner has helped a ton in that area, as his penchant for boxing out opposing big men has provided his teammates with enough space to crash the boards.
Still, does Kalkbrenner need to improve his defensive rebounding numbers? Considering that he is usually the tallest player on the court, maybe grabbing more defensive boards could give the Hornets a boost. The problem is that he is slow-footed and has had difficulties dealing with more athletic matchups.
Ryan Kalkbrenner got exposed in Brooklyn
Charlotte's loss to one of the worst teams in the league on Monday has left a bad taste in fans' mouths. Not a lot went right for them, including allowing the Brooklyn Nets to haul in 13 offensive rebounds. Kalkbrenner, though he alone wasn't to blame, to be clear, may not have done enough to keep the opponents from crashing the boards.
The thing is, it was a bad situation all around for the Creighton University product because he faced what may be his Kryptonite. Nic Claxton proved too quick for him, underscoring the potential downside of his lack of assertiveness in cleaning the defensive glass when the Hornets face agile centers.
Of course, they have a solution for such a predicament in Moussa Diabate. However, while Diabate has been a monster in the rebounding department, putting him on the floor could mean sacrificing the interior defense that Kalkbrenner has provided Charlotte with.
Perhaps upgrading the power forward position could do wonders for the team, although finding a reinforcement or replacement for Bridges at this point in the season might be implausible. Ball could also supply some needed help by giving more attention to rebounding opponents' misses, which could even open up more fastbreak opportunities for the crew. Kon Knueppel has also been decent in grabbing boards, which shows that Charlotte could put more effort into gang rebounding to help out Kalkbrenner.
For now, all the Hornets can do is come up with stopgap solutions until the 23-year-old pivot becomes a greater threat on the defensive boards — at least the same way as he has become a force on the offensive end.