Every season the draft brings a fresh infusion of talent to the NBA. In theory this is an even, steady process. In practice, hindsight and historical perspective show that there are borders and boundaries — talent doesn’t just arrive in the NBA, it arrives in generational waves. Sometimes we can’t see these aesthetic dividing lines for decades, sometimes you simply can’t miss them.
The present day NBA appears to be on the cusp of welcoming a remarkable new generation to its forefront — players who are not just incredible but incredibly unique. Players who will not just excel but transform the roles and responsibilities of basketball players as we understand them. Over the course of this week, The Step Back will be examining many of the players who could figure prominently in The Next Generation. Not every player we turn our attention to is destined to be a star, but all could play a role in defining the future of the NBA. Read the whole series here.
The Next Generation: Dennis Schroder
Gold car, gold streak in the ‘do. Stars in the back of it. No. 17 everywhere to remind the basketball world his draft slot in the 2013 NBA Draft. He’s a little bit of Rajon Rondo and a little bit of Russell Westbrook with just a touch of Dennis Rodman. What guy is this? Does this person exist? He does.
His name is Dennis Schroder and he plays point guard for the Hawks.
In Mike Budenholzer’s first draft as the head coach in Atlanta, he took an undersized German point guard with the No. 17 overall pick. The franchise reportedly loved three players in that draft that could go to them at No. 17. Some Greek kid with a hard to pronounce name, an NBA legacy kid from a Big Ten school and this little German punk that likes to skateboard.
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The Greek kid was Giannis Antetokounmpo. He went No. 15 to the Bucks. Milwaukee is very happy with that selection. The legacy kid was Tim Hardaway Jr. He went to the Knicks at No. 24 out of Michigan. New York didn’t know what they were doing with him. Atlanta would negotiate a draft day deal to pry Hardaway away from the Knicks back in 2015. He’s since carved out a nice rotational role for a playoff-bound Atlanta team.
Schroder falls somewhere in between Antetokounmpo and Hardaway. He’s not going to be a generational talent from overseas like the Greek Freak, but he can end up a more dynamic player than Hardaway. Keep in mind that he’s only 23 and nobody likes you when you’re 23, not even Tom DeLonge or Mark Hoppus. Travis Barker is cool with most people.
Schroder played sparingly his rookie year, but had a big sophomore season playing for a 60-win team in 2014-15. He backed up then All-Star point guard Jeff Teague, playing a huge sixth man role for Atlanta, which made it to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history.
Eventually, Budenholzer had a difficult decision to make. Teague was at his peak a top-10 point guard in basketball, but Schroder was too good to not have in the starting lineup. Atlanta’s point guard duo had a great deal of respect for one another, but one of them had to go.
Budenholzer traded Teague to his hometown Pacers in a three-team deal involving his old buddy Quin Snyder’s Jazz. Snyder got a solid point guard in George Hill, while Budenholzer got the No. 12 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, which eventually became small forward Taurean Prince out of Baylor.
Budenholzer took a big risk in trading away a sure thing in Teague for a brilliant but still unrefined floor general in Schroder. When Budenholzer handed Schroder over the keys to the Atlanta point guard position, did he think that the car would be solid gold? Frankly, did he even care or expect anything less?
Atlanta is a fickle professional sports town. It really likes three things: Teams can at least be .500 annually, homegrown kids and players that have a little bit of pizzaz to them. They have been a playoff team for a decade. Schroder definitely didn’t grow up in College Park listening to Ludacris. However, the guy’s got style. He’s not the trendsetting of a Deion Sanders or Michael Vick, but we have to give the dude his respect.
It’s not just his physical appearance that sets him apart, his brand of basketball is unique in its own right. Most times he’s on the court, Schroder is easily the sinew-iest guy on the floor. Yet he attacks the rim with the ferocity of a Westbrook. It’s reckless abandon, as he really doesn’t care how hard he hits the Philips Arena hardwood. That high-glass layup coming off the wrong foot is oh-so-smooth when it works.
He has this no-look flick of the wrist bounce pass he’ll dime to power forward Paul Millsap on the block to do Millsap things, mostly just being awesome in the post-up/isolation set. In their first year together, Schroder and center Dwight Howard have a powerful alley-oop rapport Schroder could never establish with long-time Hawks center Al Horford.
Schroder doesn’t have time for Horford’s premeditated, methodical approach to playing stretch five. He wants buckets and Howard has no problem slamming it home to rile up the opposition, getting the Philips Arena crowd temporarily engaged from the wonderful world of Instagram dominating their iPhone.
Maybe his most underrated move as a point guard is what will inevitably separate him from Rondo: Schroder can hit a 3-pointer. Since he loves to attack the rim off a ball-screen, the defense will often overplay that notion and drop back the basket. Schroder will take a sweeping dribble motion to either side and hit a lethal long-range jumper. The opposing coach will call timeout, yell at whomever missed up and instruct him to not let the kid with gold hair beat him.
He’s still got plenty of room to grow. We’ve seen Schroder take over in winning time for Atlanta over the last three years, especially since being forced into the starting role. He could be as good as — if not better — than Rondo in his prime. Schroder offers more range as a jump shooter and seems to enjoy being Isaiah Thomas’ antagonist on defense.
However, Schroder plays a brand of NBA basketball that can be described as being 90 percent housebroken. He’s not alone in this. Other players like DeMarcus Cousins, Draymond Green and Howard play this way. They’ll do something unbelievable on one end of the floor and then commit a stupid foul on the other. Schroder takes ownership of it, but looks away like a dog does when he destroys your futon after you took too long self-checking out 50 items at Publix because talking to people is hard.
There’s a lot to like about Schroder past, present and future. When he figures out this adulting thing in his mid-20s, he’s going to be a lot of fun to watch to play basketball for the Hawks. Until then, just enjoy watching him trying to figure it all out. He’s probably going to. When he does, Budenholzer is going to look like genius drafting this kid out of Germany. Is the golden streak here to stay in the ATL? Let’s hope so.