For Dennis Schröder — the German point guard the Nets acquired from Toronto — coming to Brooklyn is going to be like learning an entirely new language.
And we don’t mean vocabulary and accents, but sets and systems.
How well he does adjust may decide whether he’s a rental or puts down roots.
The Nets headed into this weekend’s All-Star break on a downer, but Schröder insists they can come out of the layoff and turn their campaign around.
If so, he’s going to have to get up to speed with new teammates and completely different schemes than he was used to with the Raptors.
“This is vacation, family, whatever, and then get back on the 20th and get to work because I think the next 28 games after All-Star we want to win every single game,” Schröder told Sports+. “We want to get to the playoffs, and we’ve just got a stack every single day to get better.
“…I want to accomplish the biggest thing, and for us, it’s the playoffs. We’ve got a chance to make it. We’ve got the talent in this group to make it. And I just want everybody to feel the same way. I don’t know how many people went to the postseason before, but that’s when it’s really fun, and I would love for them to have the same goal, and the organization as well and to push for a playoff spot.”
Cue the Jim Mora “playoffs” rant.
The Nets (21-33) are 2 ½ games behind the Hawks (24-31) with 28 to play for the last Play-In Tournament spot. And they staggered into the break off a 50-point pasting in Boston, the second-worst beating in franchise history and fourth-most-lopsided loss in the NBA this season.
The rout came partly because starting point guard Ben Simmons sat out — he’s not yet cleared by the performance team for back-to-backs — and Schröder was forced to step in and start against the NBA’s winningest team and one of its most disciplined and voracious defenses without having had time to learn the plays.
“That’s tough,” Mikal Bridges said. “…He’s new. He doesn’t know what [sets] we’re in, and he has the ball. So it’s tough not knowing what we’re doing and kind of running around.
“And you play a team like Boston, you can’t just be freestyling. They’re a really good team and they’re detailed on both ends to the highest level … and you can’t just run around like a chicken with your head cut off. You’ve got to have stuff prepared for them. … It’s tough for Dennis because he hasn’t been here. So he doesn’t know and then now we’re running around, spacing’s bad and then it goes from there.”
Schröder was acquired from the Raptors at the trade deadline, a point-guard swap with fellow 30-year-old Spencer Dinwiddie, who had been equal parts disgruntled and marginalized in Brooklyn.
After a stellar debut in the Feb. 10 rout over the Spurs (15 points, dozen assists, plus-10), Schröder backslid in the back-to-back against the Celtics.
First came a nine-point, three-assist effort Tuesday, and then a four-point, one-assist nightmare Wednesday. And dealing with the Celtics’ stars — including Jayson Tatum in both games and Jaylen Brown in the first meeting — proved a mismatch for the 6-foot-1 guard.
“A lot of switching. It makes it harder for every point guard to play against Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum-type of players like that who like to post up,” Schröder told Sports+. “But I’m always here for the challenge, and we’ve always got a scheme where we switch out and the bigger guy covers for me. A lot of people are switching now these days. You have to do it.”
Fitting in
The new Net said his teammates and the organization have been welcoming. After essentially staggering the point guard minutes with Simmons in his team debut, he approached Jacque Vaughn about playing some alongside the former All-Star in an effort to accelerate getting on the same page.
“I told him that I would like to see how it feels like playing with Ben because I think I can play real fast,” Schröder told Sports+. “And on the defensive end being scrappy and just go in transition. And [Vaughn] was like, OK, because normally I just came in for him and I kind of liked that lineup.
“So just getting used to it when he’s back after All-Star, getting used to that and then try to make a push to win every single game we play.”
An eight-minute taste of the lead guards paired together in Tuesday’s home loss to the Celtics at least teased potential. The Nets outscored the Celtics by eight points in those minutes, and they were active defensively (a 56.6 Defensive Rating and plus-57.1 net rating).
What’s the German word for camaraderie?
But just when Schröder needs practice time to get acclimated — to Simmons, the offensive sets and a vastly different switching scheme on defense — the Nets headed into the All-Star break.
Schröder said he planned to go to Toronto to spend time with his wife and three small children. He said he might also go to Germany, where the semifinals of the BBL-Pokal (the German basketball league’s in-season cup) are being held Saturday in Munich.
“And my doctor is there, too, I see every summer,” Schröder told Sports+. “It’s not because I’m hurt, but I try to make sure I’m 110% when I get back. The doctor always helps me during the summer, and we had a great summer with the national team, so that’s the reason I want to go.”
“Great summer” is hardly an overstatement. Schröder won the MVP at the FIBA World Cup, carrying undefeated Germany to the gold medal, including a win over Bridges’ and Cam Johnson’s Team USA squad in the semifinals.
Schröder lauded Germany’s team ethos, and he’s hoping for similar second-half camaraderie in Brooklyn.
“That’s the reason why I always say having no egos in the team, making sure everybody on the same page comes a long way. And we’ve seen it, experienced it last summer, even the summer before, and that’s what I tried to accomplish here as well,” Schröder said.
“Everybody welcomed me. I knew Lonnie [Walker IV], I played with him last season [with the Lakers]. That makes it easier for me to be comfortable because I know him already. But everybody else didn’t give me a feeling that it was my first day or I’m new to this group. Everybody coming up to me and talking to me, I’m doing the same. That’s real positive.
“Of course on the negative side — not really negative side — but I’ve got to learn different schemes now on the defensive end. In Toronto, it was not like the usual defense, so I had to get used to that again. All the offensive plays.”
Thinking long-term
Schröder may have to adapt to the switching scheme if he plans to be in Brooklyn long-term, and he told the Post that he hopes to.
A first-round draft pick of the Hawks in 2013, he averaged 19.4 points and 6.2 assists in his final season with the team in 2017-18. He put up 18.9 points and 4.0 assists for the Thunder in 2019-20, when he finished second in voting for Sixth Man of the Year.
In July, he inked a two-year, $26 million contract with the Raptors, who had lost Fred VanVleet in free agency.
The Nets saved money by swapping him for Dinwiddie — who was set to become a free agent — and also created a huge trade exception.
Now they have an affordable insurance policy against another Simmons injury or a useful trade asset this summer if need be.
It was just good business.
Schröder is a veteran and a grownup, and understands how the game is played. But he’s now on his seventh NBA team, and he also wants to put down long-term roots.
“I’ve always been a player who is of course competitive and wants to win [no] matter what. I’m not a guy who chases stats. For me, if you get two points to win a game, I’m happy,” Schröder told Sports+. “We had that year in Atlanta [2014-15] where we won [60] games. … It didn’t matter who scored and everybody was just happy in the locker room and didn’t take any time for granted and made sure that we just enjoyed the moment.
“Hopefully I can stay here. Of course, I never want to just bounce around. But it is what it is. I understand the business as well, so it’s no hard feelings. But of course to stick with one organization who believes in you and tells you, ‘Oh, yeah, I like what you’re doing,’ of course it’s great.”
