OKC Thunder: Shortened season hurt Dennis Schroder 6th man campaign
OKC Thunder sixth man Dennis Schroder was integral to the team’s success and if the media were voting today he’d have a better shot at claiming the award.
As they say, hindsight is 20-20. If the media was voting today for the Sixth Man of the 2019-20 season there’s a good chance OKC Thunder guard Dennis Schroder might usurp Montrezl Harrell in the top spot.
Certainly, Schroder seemed to have a much more successful postseason than the Clippers’ big man. Harrell struggled in both series the Clippers played, but in particular, had trouble remaining on the floor versus the size of the Nuggets.
That has to be a concern for the LA club who needs to make a decision on the Sixth Man of the Year as he enters his free agency this offseason and will be seeking a sizeable contract with copious years.
Harrell’s regular season consisted of 63 appearances where he produced 18.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.1 blocks in 27.8 minutes per game.
OKC Thunder guard Dennis Schroder hurt by the timing of award voting
In the postseason his numbers fell off a cliff and weren’t even as successful as the prior year when OKC Thunder newcomers Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari were his teammates. He registered 10.5 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 0.4 assists in18.7 minutes.
Certainly, the drop in minutes affected his production but ask yourself why Doc Rivers had to limit his minutes. In the first series, he was just getting his rhythm back after missing extensive time out of the bubble. Yet, his minutes didn’t increase over the two series.
In fact, he only played over 20 minutes four times in 13 playoff matches, twice in both series and the first occasion was the second game in the Mavericks series so that sort of defeats the rest and rhythm argument.
Rather, the 7.6 fewer minutes per game was more a factor of Harrell’s size. As a big man, he’s played at the center spot because he can’t function in the power forward role due to his inability to hit from distance. The problem is at 6’7″ he also can’t contend against larger frontcourt players which both the Mavericks and Nuggets featured.
Considering Harrell attempted 518 shots this season and 502 were taken within 10 feet of the basket and the vast majority of those at the rim (385).
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/22/2020.
Looking at Dennis Schroder’s bubble performance and through the playoffs, he remained an important reason why the OKC Thunder succeeded.
Because Schroder left the bubble for the birth of his daughter he only appeared in two of the OKC Thunder seeding games; the first versus the Utah Jazz and the last versus the Clippers. His totals in those games were 13 points, two assists, two rebounds, and a steal against Utah and 17 points, four assists, a rebound, a steal, and hit all three 3-pointers against the Clippers.
| Rk | G | MP | FGA | FG% | 3PA | 3P% | FTA | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 31:34 | 12 | .250 | 5 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| 2 | 2 | 31:54 | 12 | .417 | 4 | .500 | 2 | .500 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
| 3 | 3 | 39:12 | 23 | .435 | 10 | .200 | 9 | .778 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 29 |
| 4 | 4 | 31:07 | 16 | .625 | 7 | .571 | 7 | .857 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 30 |
| 5 | 5 | 20:53 | 13 | .462 | 8 | .375 | 5 | .800 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 19 |
| 6 | 6 | 37:06 | 16 | .313 | 5 | .000 | 2 | 1.000 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 12 |
| 7 | 7 | 35:09 | 17 | .294 | 6 | .333 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/26/2020.
Unlike Harrell, the Thunder point guard who turned 27 recently kept his playoff averages similar to his regular-season output of 18.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 4.0 assists. His numbers against the Rockets through seven contests were 17.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.6 assists. In the Thunder three wins, Schroder averaged 23.6 points but in the four losses, his tally was 12.5 points proving his direct impact on winning.
As per the basketball reference chart in the games, the Thunder won even Game 6 when Schroder only scored 12 points he contributed in other ways such as rebounding and assists.
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Ultimately, Schroder finished second to Harrell and was on 96 of the 100 ballots submitted by the national media. We maintain Schroder’s presence was more valuable to the Thunder than Harrell’s was to the Clippers especially since LA also needed Lou Williams to produce – a factor that signifies why he also was among the top three candidates to win the award.
A full break down of who selected Dennis Schroder and where they ranked him on their ballots can be viewed on the official NBA site.
Moving forward, the big question is whether Schroder will once again be vying for the Sixth Man award in 2020-21 or if the team will elect to move him when he is at the highest trade value he’ll likely ever be.
Next. How 16th pick in the 1989 draft turned into Dennis Schroder. dark