Los Angeles Lakers: Why Dennis Schröder should struggle on the team

The Los Angeles Lakers are set for a trade to acquire Dennis Schröder from the OKC Thunder. Unfortunately, the team made a mistake in doing so.

The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly going to acquire Dennis Schröder via trade from the OKC Thunder this week. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on November 15th that the team was finalizing a trade to receive Schröder from the Thunder in exchange for Danny Green and the 28th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.

But is Schröder the right type of player for Los Angeles? No, as they ran an offensive system centered around the post-up last season. The team was second in the league in post-up possessions last season, averaging 14.3 per game. The team gave 88.8 percent of their post-up possessions to Anthony Davis and LeBron James as they averaged 12.7 per game.

Los Angeles’ offensive system caused perimeter players to spend a significant amount of time as a floor spacer. For example, Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Rajon Rondo took more than 38 percent of their shots from behind the arc this past regular season.

Unfortunately, Schröder’s history indicates he would struggle in the role as he has a career shooting percentage of 33.7 percent from behind the arc on 3.7 attempts per game. Therefore, defenders would ignore him to provide help defense elsewhere, causing the floor spacing to shrink.

For example, defenders left Schroder open on 90 percent of his 3-pointers this past regular season. He only converted 33.3 percent of his 4.5 open attempts per game.

If Los Angeles wants Schröder to thrive on the team, they need to allow him to run pick and rolls. Schröder had his best offensive season during the 2017-18 season when he averaged 10.6 pick and rolls per game.

He shot 46 percent from the field on 8.4 attempts per game. The field goal percentage helped him generate 9.2 points, 47.4 percent of his scoring output, as he averaged a career-high 19.4 per game. Unfortunately for Schröder, Los Angeles had a pick and roll guard last season in Rajon Rondo and refused to accentuate his strengths.

Rondo’s best offensive season in recent memory came during the 2015-16 season when he averaged 6.2 pick and rolls per game. Rondo converted 46.7 percent of his field-goal attempts on 4.4 attempts. The field goal percentage helped him generate 4.6 points, 38.6 percent of his scoring output, as he averaged 11.9 per game.

Did the Los Angeles Lakers target the wrong guard?

Rondo was allowed to run 3.8 pick and rolls per game last season. The Lakers would have been better off pursuing D.J. Augustin or E’Twaun Moore in free agency with at least the taxpayer mid-level exception as they possess the skills to thrive as a floor spacer.

Augustin has a career shooting percentage of 37.9 percent from behind the arc on 3.4 attempts per game. Conversely, Moore has converted 39 percent of his 3-pointers over the past seven seasons on 2.4 attempts.

On the other hand, Schröder would have been better off in Portland, who was third in the league in pick and roll possessions averaging 26.7 per game. They shot 43.3 percent from the field on 21.9 attempts. The field goal percentage helped them generate 26.5 points.

Portland’s pick and roll centric offense would have maximized the offensive production a team can get out of Schröder. More importantly, Portland could’ve used him as the bench struggled, shooting 44.2 percent from the field on 22.3 attempts. The field goal percentage helped them generate 26.6 points, last in the league.

According to TradeNBA, Portland could have traded a young asset in Anfernee Simons and Trevor Ariza for Schröder. In conclusion, unless the Los Angeles Lakers accentuate Schröder’s strengths, he should have a disappointing tenure with the organization.