MIES (Switzerland) - In a game increasingly defined by pace and spacing, one of basketball's most influential trends has come from an unexpected place.
Before offensive rebounding surged back into vogue in the NBA, the concept was already being stress-tested in New Zealand - in the midst of FIBA competitions, where margins for error are razor thin and innovation is often a necessity, not a luxury.
In this video, please find a compilation of New Zealand's offensive rebounds during the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Qualifiers.
For years, conventional wisdom in the NBA warned against crashing the offensive glass. Teams feared the trade-off: chase rebounds and risk being punished in transition. That logic dominated elite basketball through the 2010s. But as detailed by Fred Katz of The Athletic, New Zealand's national team flipped the equation. Lacking depth and star power, they embraced an aggressive yet disciplined approach known as "tagging up", committing multiple players to the boards while denying opponents clean runways in transition. It wasn't reckless. It was calculated.
Paul Henare, who served as head coach of the Tall Blacks from 2015 to 2019, had his teams crashing the offensive glass against prevailing trends.
The strategy intrigued the present New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown, who was back then the Nigeria national team head coach, who reached out to Henare ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, searching for ways to adapt the concept to his own game plan.
"I do remember Coach Brown being intrigued," Henare said, as quoted by The Athletic. "It wasn't like he was taking this call just to ask a couple of questions. Like, no, no - he was genuinely interested in this."
It's fascinating how basketball trends like these originate. Henare adapted the concept of tagging up after learning from Australian league coach Aaron Fearne, who later went on to coach New Zealand's U19 team.
And from there, the idea continued to grow and evolve.
Coaches began applying the principles at the highest level, and today offensive rebounding is booming once again - powered by data, structure, and collective buy-in. The ripple effects are visible everywhere, from national teams searching for competitive edges to NBA rosters built around second chances.
Few embody this revival better than Steven Adams, whose relentless work on the glass has turned missed shots into a weapon rather than a failure.
It's a reminder that in basketball, innovation can come from anywhere. It doesn't have to start with the biggest teams or the brightest stars. Sometimes, the next major shift begins with teams willing to challenge assumptions, stand their ground, and fight for one more possession. In an era obsessed with speed, basketball is rediscovering the value of strength, discipline - and the power of the offensive rebound.
Who would have thought it would all be jump-started in New Zealand?
FIBA