Dënniß ßchrööder is getting to be a darn good player. The Hawks kicked Jeff Teague to the curb so that they could start The Schredder, and it’s paying off. Atlanta is still somehow a playoff team, and their main ball-handling professional is averaging 18 and 6 while beefing with Isaiah Thomas. That might seem secondary to his many on-court contributions, but don’t underestimate the power of beefage in the playoffs.
It’s always great when foreign players actually reach their potential. ßchrööder didn’t look like much in his rookie year, and I figured he would be, at-best, a marginal backup PG. At least that’s what I think I thought. Maybe my older descriptions for him are filled with unearned praise and pandering to the German audience (Guten Tag!). Anyway, realistically, expectations weren’t super high after that first year, but here he is, getting close to being an All-Star caliber PG. If you just look at raw counting stats and not the advanced ones that say the Hawks are better with him off the court.