The Boston Celtics have had a relatively quiet offseason after narrowly making the playoffs and being subsequently beaten by their division rivals, the Brooklyn Nets, in the first round.
With Danny Ainge out and Brad Stevens in, the Cs are heading in a new direction, and despite all the inactivity in free agency, it’s a good one.
Stevens has made it clear that the Boston Celtics will be financially flexible next summer by shredding all the non-essential personnel long-term contracts in favor of expiring ones. However, Stevens has also made it clear he wants the team to get back into the limelight.
Hence the acquisitions of Al Horford, Josh Richardson, Kris Dunn, and, now, Dennis Schroder will greatly help Boston’s defense while providing different offensive skill sets.
It looks as though Boston is seeking more defensive contributors as the market dries up.
Schroder has seemingly fallen into Boston’s lap after turning down an $84 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers that, ultimately, made him a free agent, and regret his decision from a financial perspective.
Brad Stevens and the Celtics have netted the German guard, offering him the taxpayer MLE for a year so Schroder can prove that he’s worth a bag and so the Celts can stay financially organized.
The deal is mutually beneficial and, once it’s confirmed, Boston will have gotten one of the biggest steals of the offseason.
This article will cover why that is and what Schroder can bring to the Boston Celtics on both ends of the court:
The good and bad of Dennis Schroder’s offense
After getting traded to the Lakers for a package centered around Danny Green, many expected Schroder to break out alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but those expectations were quickly curved as both LA’s juggernauts sustained injuries early on.
The injuries the Lakers suffered throughout the season played a large part in Schroder’s shortcomings on the stat sheet, so if you’re looking at his Basketball Reference page, I would like to direct your attention to a more detailed breakdown as to what he can provide.
Beginning with his scoring, Schroder makes his money in the mid-range and getting downhill. He’s a master at working around picks and getting to his spot at the elbow or the free-throw line for a clean pull-up jumper.
In the past two seasons, Schroder has shot 45 percent from 10-16 feet away from the rim and from 16 feet to beyond the 3-point line, showing some solid touch inside the arc.
He can create his own shots, but he’s particularly good at challenging the dropped center in the pick and roll with his jump-shooting by leveraging his speed and superior balance.
Schroder is a great downhill scorer, using his long strides and longer arms to blow by his man and get to the rim with ease, but this downhill scoring also opens up his mid-range game since the bigs will let him shoot jumpers over layups.
Either way, Schroder is proficient in both realms, and that’s something the Boston Celtics have missed since Gordon Hayward left.
If Schroder decides to take his chances at the rim, he has an assortment of moves in the location to get his shot up.
Although he’s not a great finisher in any regard, he does possess a reliable floater and has a solid layup package.
His passible interior game, elite mid-range shooting, and reasonable free throw rate make him an ideal advantage creator for the Boston Celtics.
Schroder can punish defenses overplaying Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown and leverage Robert Williams’s and Horford’s perimeter gravity.
I expect Schroder’s scoring production to jump back up to what it was in 2019-20 with him now in Boston.
However, Schroder is far from the perfect scorer.
He has plenty of flaws that were exploited on an understaffed Lakers roster this season, and the Cs should hope those flaws don’t bleed into next season.
Schroder’s shot selection was abysmal, mostly due in part to his tunnel vision and lack of space creating on his dribble drives. He is an inconsistent 3-point shooter and does not have enough counters to be a lead creator.
It would be in Ime Udoka’s best interest to pair Schroder with one of Brown or Tatum at all times so he can feed off the mismatches they generate. Hopefully, that will improve Schroder’s shooting numbers and ease his decision-making.
Moving away from his scoring, the veteran provides an exciting passing level to the Boston Celtics’ depth chart.
Schroder has averaged 4.7 assists in 26 minutes per game throughout his career, an impressive mark and one the Boston Celtics should be eager to leverage. He’s a great pick and roll ball handler, coming off screens and being able to locate the rolling or popping big with ease, tallying 1129 assists at the rim and 118 on above the break triples.
Schroder is a two-handed passer, limiting his manipulation ability but increasing his accuracy, which is essential for Boston’s two bigs specializing in different skill sets.
When Schroder is driving downhill, he is an excellent dump-off passer, tricking the big into jumping with him and providing his man down low with a timely and accurate pass.
In transition, Schroder keeps his eyes peeled for run-outs, and more often than not, he hits them.
His passing abilities will bode well next to Boston’s premier offensive weapons.
Schroder is far from a great passer, though. As I said, he lacks creativity and manipulation skills due to his two-handed passing playstyle.
His shortcomings as a higher IQ passer lead to his high turnover rate, cTOV% of 11 percent.
Since he can’t see over the defense and has good anticipation skills, he often grows indecisive the longer he’s on the ball and gets locked in on one passing option.
If defenses can key in on Schroder’s favorite outlet, he becomes a turnover machine since he lacks the counters and vision to find another outlet. It would be best for Udoka to limit his reps as a primary ball-handler, given how careless and limited he is as a passer.
The good and bad of Dennis Schroder’s defense
A major reason why the Boston Celtics have taken such a significant interest in acquiring Schroder is because of his high-level defense. He provides elite point of attack defense and between him, Marcus Smart, and Williams, Boston’s defense will have the most active hands in the league.
Schroder is great at pickpocketing careless bigs or stripping loose ball-handlers, leveraging his 6-8 wingspan to overwhelm opposing creators.
Schroder has a very high motor, often picking up opposing guards in a full-court press, and possesses high caliber screen navigation to keep up with screen-heavy guards. He’s positionally aware and is very good at denying the ball, often leading to steals that ignite transition plays.
The only weakness in Schroder’s defensive game is his size and his underwhelming help instincts.
At 6-3, 172 pounds, he can quickly be taken advantage of by bigger creators in the post or when going downhill.
If Schroder can’t get his hands on the ball before the opposing offensive creator steps on him, he will be very quickly beaten off the dribble.
Schroder is not a liability as an off-ball defender, but he’s also not a high-level contributor. He doesn’t step off his man to get in passing lanes and doesn’t offer much help outside of digs, meaning teams can limit Schroder’s impact by not putting him in action.
However, with all the defensive talent the Boston Celtics possess, if a team is choosing to go around Schroder, then chances are that means they are going at Smart, Tatum, or Brown, who are all superior defenders to Schroder anyways.