Atlanta Hawks: 5 goals for Dennis Schroder in 2017-18
5. Dish out 600 or more assists
In his first season as a starting point guard, the passing of Dennis Schroder led to 499 field goals for the Hawks.
The 499 assists ranked as the 12th most in the league, but was 140 fewer than his predecessor, Jeff Teague, posted during his lone season with the Pacers.
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Fair or not, the production of Schroder is going to draw comparisons to Teague, a former All-Star that led the Hawks to a franchise-record 60 victories just two seasons ago.
If Schroder manages to post 101 more assists for a total of 600, it’d average out to 7.3 assists per game — one above his assist average in 2016-17 and a mark higher than Teague ever reached during his seven-year tenure in Atlanta.
Only six players — Teague, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, John Wall, Ricky Rubio and LeBron James — managed to total over 600 assists last year, but for Schroder to join the exclusive group, he will have to adapt to a new set of teammates.
Schroder averaged 1.0 or more assists per game to three individual players — Paul Millsap, Dwight Howard and Tim Hardaway Jr. — who are no longer on the roster.
Establishing himself as an even more effective playmaker is a top priority and if he can dish out over 7.0 assists per game in his second year as a starter, the Hawks won’t second-guess their decision to let Teague walk.