The Whiteboard: Dennis Schroder cannot play with Russell Westbrook

Getting rid of Carmelo Anthony’s contract was nice, but the Oklahoma City Thunder cannot play Russell Westbrook and Dennis Schroder together.

The Oklahoma City Thunder got themselves a somewhat talented player when they traded Carmelo Anthony away for Dennis Schroder in a big three-team deal, especially if you’re big on counting stats.

Schroder put up 19 points, six rebounds and three rebounds per game with the Atlanta Hawks last season. The team was horrible, sure, but Schroder went out and got himself some numbers. The Thunder could use a player like that to throw out there when Russell Westbrook sits.

The problem is going to be Schroder’s role on the floor when Westbrook isn’t sitting. Russ has sat out for five games over the last three regular seasons combined, and he’s averaged just over 35 minutes played per game in that span. The Brodie does not sit out all that often.

If Westbrook continues to play for roughly 35 minutes each night, that leaves just 13 non-Russ minutes per game. In those minutes it makes a lot of sense for Schroder to tear up bench units and do a lot of the stuff Westbrook does, just not as good.

Schroder, for his part, has averaged about 31 minutes per game over his last two seasons. Considering he’s down to go over to Germany to tell the media there he wants to be traded, he might not be the kind of low-key player who could be cool with playing 18 minutes less per night than he has since becoming a starter.

That’s going to create an impasse in Oklahoma City. Clearly Westbrook should be playing a lot of minutes if he’s healthy. That’s a no-brainer. That leaves two options when it comes to Schroder: play him next to Russ, or barely play him.

Billy Donovan will not have it easy with that decision. He might even catch the blame for those two not working together, which is tough. Schroder just isn’t useful without the ball in his hands, and he’s not nearly good enough to justify Russell Westbrook not having it when they’re on the floor together.

Schroder shot 30 percent from deep last season, in the 20th percentile among point guards per Cleaning the Glass. He also made 30 percent of his non-corner 3s, which places him in the 16th percentile. Most concerning, Schroder’s 21 percent from the 3-point corners was worst among all point guards according to CtG.

Dennis Schroder just isn’t a useful player when he’s shooting the basketball, meaning defenses simply won’t be concerned with him when he doesn’t have it. Schroder also is a pretty bad defender who may be charged with a felony in the coming weeks/months. This is all in addition to his trips to Germany to give the German press a piece of his mind.

Good luck, OKC Thunder. You will need it.

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