Dennis Schroder may have the worst story of “fumbling the bag” in professional sports history. During the 2020-21 season, the Los Angeles Lakers offered him a five-year $84 million contract extension. Thinking he would make more money than on the free agent market, Schroder turned it down. The result? Dennis Schroder received no big contract offers and signed a one-year deal with the Boston Celtics for $5.89 million. Now, the Boston Celtics are in the NBA Finals and Schroder is… at home. Midway through the season, Boston traded him to the Houston Rockets. To say Schroder has had a rough year would be an understatement. That being said, he is still just 28 years old and is a productive player. He is just the kind of guard that the Bucks need to make a priority target in free agency.
Dennis Schroder Is Familiar with Coach Mike Budenholzer
Dennis Schroder started his NBA career with the Atlanta Hawks under coach Mike Budenholzer. In five seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, Schroder averaged 12.9 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game. He increased his scoring average in each of his five seasons with Atlanta, averaging 19.4 points, a career-high, in his final season with the team. Coincidentally, Schroder’s final year was an Atlanta Hawks player was the same year Mike Budenholzer was fired from Atlanta.
Dennis Schroder Can Start or Come Off the Bench
Throughout the course of his NBA career, Dennis Schroder has been both a full-time starter and a role player off the bench. Additionally, he has been used as both a point guard and shooting guard. In both of these cases, the Bucks are in need of some drastic improvement.
As a starter for the Atlanta Hawks from 2016-18, Dennis Schroder averaged 18.6 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 6.3 assists per game. He also shot 44/32/85 from the field. As a starter for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020-21, Schroder averaged 15.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. For comparison, Grayson Allen, the Bucks’ starting shooting guard, averaged 11.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game in 2022.
For the majority of his career, though, Dennis Schroder has come off the bench. In the five seasons in which he has come off the bench in his career, the only one in which he did not averaged double-figures in points was his rookie season. Aside from that year, Schroder has put up points per game averages of 10.0, 11.0, 15.5, 18.9, and 13.5. Besides Bobby Portis, who started 59 games this year, the Bucks’ leading scorer of the bench was Pat Connaughton, who averaged 9.9 points.
Conclusion
The Milwaukee Bucks lost to the Boston Celtics in large part due to the fact that their bench got outplayed. Another major reason was the poor play of starting guard Grayson Allen. By signing Dennis Schroder in free agency, the Bucks can fix either one of those problems. Either Schroder can come off the bench, which he has done before to great success, or he can replace Grayson Allen as the Bucks’ second starting guard. In either case, it would be a major upgrade for the Bucks. Schroder is now a free agent for just the second time in his career. Hopefully the Bucks can convince him to reunite with his first NBA head coach in Milwaukee.
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