OKC Thunder preview: Dennis Schroder – the difference maker
The 24-58 Atlanta Hawks had very little to cheer about last season as they were one of the worst teams in the league. However the Hawks pulled off one of the upsets of the year, travelling to Utah to defeat a scorching Jazz team 99-94.
The primary reason? Schroder came to play.
In the best performance of his career, Schroder torched the Jazz to the tune of 41 points (16-28 from the field, 3-7 3-point, 6-10 free throws), 7 assists and 5 rebounds in 41 minutes.
Besides making a mockery of the best defense in the NBA, Schroder’s best attributes were on display.
Pick and Roll (PnR)
The German relies heavily on PnR sets with 49 percent of his offensive plays based around a screen. In 10.5 possessions Schroder, scored 0.88 points per possession (PPP). To put this stat in perspective, Westbrook uses the PnR 31.8 percent of the time and scores 0.85 PPP.
Adams finished 12th (3.8) in points per game as the roll man. Of the 11 players ahead of him, only Clint Capela of the Rockets scored more points per possession (1.34 vs 1.22). Schroder is set to be the beneficiary of his partnership with Adams and one expects both to improve this season.
Passing Ability
While Schroder’s game is similar to Russ’, he is a natural point guard with tremendous vision. Unlike the Brodie, the German plays at his own pace and allows plays to unfold.
The Hawks ranked 8th (98.85) in pace last season while the Thunder were 18th (97.46). With Oklahoma City emphasis pace this season, Schroder will post similar assist numbers despite playing fewer minutes.
Isolation and Mid-range Shooting
The 25 year-old finished 12th in total points (3.5) in isolation per game at a 15.1 percent rate. Additionally, Schroder converted 44.8 percent of his shots from the mid-range, hitting 44.4 percent on pull-ups.
Analytics loathes mid-range jumpers and OKC possess two players who excel in that area. Nonetheless, Thunder fans better get use to more mid-range shots.
Concerns
Defensive Consistency
Finding low light clips of Scrhoder’s inconsistent defense is difficult but when engaged is a strong on ball defender. The issue is consistency. Check out the German’s defense on All Star Kyrie Irving.
But then you get plays like this.
After doing a great job initially of stopping the ball, Schroder gets caught ball watching and is beat when Irving cuts. He needs to be constantly engaged to stop plays like this from happening. Luckily, the Cavaliers were unable to convert on the play.
Schroder is a good defender when switched on. With Oklahoma City looking to hang its hat on defense, he has a chance to change the narrative that he is a poor defender.