Getty Dennis Schroder, Boston Celtics
Dennis Schroder has split opinions since the Boston Celtics acquired him in free agency.
A ball-dominant point guard with shooting limitations and a reputation for providing intense perimeter defender. The Celtics already had a similar player on their books in Marcus Smart, so the move to bring in Schroder felt somewhat redundant to some.
However, Schroder has proven to be a far better scorer than his counterpart, especially when turning the corner off screens and attacking downhill. But, for all his scoring ability, the Braunschweig native is proving to be a streaky player and has mixed in some stellar performances with some non-impactful games.
Yet, for a guard on a one-year deal, earning a bargain $5.9 million this season, Boston is clearly armed with a bargain contract, should they choose to enter trade discussions. After all, there will likely be multiple teams who look to Schroder’s scoring ability off the bench and see him as an ideal piece to push them further into playoff contention or envision him being a catalyst for a deep playoff run.
Two game sample is enough for me to say Pritchard should have more minutes than Dennis Schroder moving forward 🙌🏾
And while the Celtics may also view the veteran guard as a potential playoff weapon, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Schroder’s presence on the roster is limiting the development of sophomore guard Payton Pritchard, which may cause Brad Stevens to take action before the trade deadline.
NBA Insider Views Schroder as Trade Asset
In a recent appearance on the Celtics Talk podcast, former Brooklyn Nets assistant GM and now NBA Insider Bobby Marks discussed Schroder’s trade value and why the Celtics should consider trading the nine-year veteran.
“Schroder, he’s not part of the future, that’s the economics of the NBA here, he was great as short term fix,” Marks said, “If you can get multiple two’s or a player that has another year left on his contract, and you’re right with Josh, as far as wings have value, 6’6’’ guys that have another year left on their contract, have a lot of value on their contract. And that’s your path, as far as those are your two guys. And were still six weeks away, seven weeks away from the trade deadline, you’ll know where you are, and even if Boston are hanging around 5 or 6, I still think the right thing is to do something with Schroder.”
It’s worth noting that as Schroder will become a free-agent at the end of this season, his value to other teams is rather limited, because there’s no guarantee the speedy guard will re-sign with them once his current contract expires. As such, any deal for Schroder would likely see the receive a minimal return.
“We’ve talked about Schroder, because it’s a salary-cap quagmire, where you have a player making $5.9 million, let’s face it he should be making more, he’s playing well, you can only pay him $7 million next year because of his non-bird rights. The likelihood is he’s not coming back next year on a one-year deal, so what do you do with him at the deadline if you’re the sixth seed. That’s a hard question for that front office to ask, I don’t think you trade him and get a future two but is there maybe a guy that has some years on his contract. The other problem, is that the team inheriting Dennis, inherits the same problem that Boston just had,” Marks explained when discussing the potential pitfalls of looking to trade Schroder around the deadline.
Schroder Has Been Impressive This Season
Schroder has participated in 28 games for the Celtics this season, filling in as a starter on 18 occasions. During his 32.8 minutes per game, the veteran guard is averaging 16.8 points, 4.7 assists, and 3.5 rebounds per game while shooting 43.5% from the floor, per Basketball-Reference.
Schroder has also given the Celtics additional rim pressure this year, with the guard attempting 99 shots within four feet of the basket, per Cleaning The Glass. Ime Udoka has put an emphasis on the ball touching the paint on offense, not just to get better scoring opportunities, but also to force defenses into rotations before kicking out to perimeter shooters.
And no other Celtics player can get to the restricted area like Schroder due to his speed and shiftiness with the ball in his hands. However, the downside to the 6-foot-1 guard’s play, has been his motion stopping isolation plays, which according to Instat’s tracking data, account for 16.8% of his total offense.
If Prichard can play like he did last season, and has the past game and a half, I’ll drive Schröder to the airport myself
Payton Pritchard’s re-emergence as a viable bench piece for the Celtics has also added further pressure to find a resolution to the Schroder conundrum, but with the current climate around the league due to COVID, it’s unlikely see see any movement on the trade front before the turn of the year.
Until then, it will be interesting to see how Udoka intergrates Pritchard into his rotations without minimizing the impact that Schroder can have on games off the bench.