Los Angeles Lakers: Does Dennis Schroder deserve a long-term contract?
Dennis Schroder’s weaknesses
The stats jump off the screen and yell Dennis Schroder is having a poor season. He ranks last on the Lakers in basketball-references tell-all-stat, VORP, at -0.1, which means he’s been less valuable than any old random replacement-level player.
Schroder’s shooting an ugly 42 percent from the field and an even uglier 30 percent from deep while averaging a measly four assists per game. On defense, he’s 11th on the Lakers in defensive rating (107) and 12th in defensive box plus/minus.
These stats paint an ugly picture, and they oddly show that Dennis Schroder’s strengths also lead to his most significant weaknesses on the court.
Yes, Dennis Schroder goes 100 percent the entire time he’s on the floor, but his Tasmanian Devil style of play can lead to bonehead plays. Often, as Dennis Schroder flies around the court, a blur of energy, he forgets to read the court, and he fails to use his basketball IQ, and in the end, he gets beat off the dribble or gets lost as a help defender.
There are times Schroder needs to reign things in a bit, he needs to drop into third gear and assess the situation, but he doesn’t seem capable of this. He’s a high-low player who can’t find the middle ground.
Dennis Schroder’s incredibly fast, and yes, he’s capable of smothering smaller point guards like Tray Young or Collin Sexton in a way few players in the league can. One reason Schroder’s so fast is because of his slight build, and at only 170 pounds, he’s incapable of stopping larger point guards (Beal, Harden, Wall, Holiday, Murray, and so on) from plowing their way to the rim.
Dennis Schroder’s attitude has lifted the Lakers at times this season, but his vendetta against the more famous point guards throughout the league has also led him to failure. Dennis Schroder’s got one of the worst cases of tunnel vision in the NBA, and the rest of the association knows it.
You can count on one thing from Dennis Schroder: After he gets beat by an opposing point guard on defense, he’s going to put up a bad shot on offense.
It doesn’t matter if three defenders are standing in the lane as Schroder drives towards the rim or if he needs to chuck up an 18-foot fall-away jumper; he’s going to launch. That’s why Dennis Schroder averages over 11 drives per game (33rd in the NBA and first on the Lakers), but only four assists.