What do Nikola Jokic, Angel Reese, and Russell Westbrook have in common? They’ve all been accused of stat padding. Stat padding is when a player boost their stats at the expense of team success. Let’s focus on Angel Reese and why these claims are ridiculous. Critics say that Reese is merely grabbing her own rebounds off her own misses. So I went back to her last five games and analyzed the stats and film, and here’s what I came up with. In Reese’s last five games, she’s grabbed 87 rebounds, and 12 of those came off of her own misses. Without these 12 rebounds, still, Reese would have been averaging 15 rebounds per game. And watch these clips closely. Most of the time these usually end up in either a foul or a made basket. It’s not padding. It’s a combination of rookie clumsiness and hustle. Reese is a generational rebounder. I mean, watch plays like this one handed rebound where she tapped it back out to a teammate. A lot of you don’t understand just how impressive that play is. The stat padding label, it’s only thrown at great players. It’s not an insult, it’s a compliment.