Positional Power Rankings: 30 best point guards in the NBA
By Connor Learn
Dennis Schroder
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When the Atlanta Hawks made the move to unload one-time All-Star Jeff Teague in a trade this off-season, it was met with skepticism by some. The Hawks, a veteran team, acquired a draft pick in the process and handed the reigns of the point guard position to 23-year-old Dennis Schroder. The German point guard had impressed in limited minutes the year prior, but moving into a full time starting role was a leap for the young player to make.
Moving into a starting role for the first time in his career has predictably led to career highs across the board: 17.7 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.0 rebounds nightly. Schroder has become known as one of the fastest players in the league; he is a threat to get to the rim at any time. This makes his slightly below average 3-point shooting somewhat negligible, though he has improved in that area. Him and Tim Hardaway Jr. are sometimes the only Hawks who create their own offense regularly.
Schroder is an undersized point guard at this point — 6-foot-1 and only 172 pounds. As a result, he sometimes struggles with certain defensive assignments. But even with Schroder on the floor for over 30 minutes per night, Atlanta has managed to field the NBA’s fourth-most efficient defense. The player that the Hawks received for Teague, rookie Taurean Prince, has begun to come into his own of late. That and the play of Schroder makes that deal look smart in retrospect. The future is bright for the young German in Atlanta.