Dennis Schroder has learned to slow down

https://www.bostonherald.com/2021/11/28/1119bh-s-schroder/




Dennis Schroder has learned to slow down




Boston Celtics’ Dennis Schroder, left, and Cleveland Cavaliers’ Ricky Rubio battle for a loose ball in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Saturday, Nov. 13, 2021, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)


By MARK MURPHY | Boston Herald
November 28, 2021 at 4:00 a.m.



Dennis Schroder was three days past his 19th birthday when, with his older sister Awa accompanying him from Germany to keep tabs, he moved to Atlanta and joined the NBA in September 2013.

He had always dreamed big as a youngster and after two years of professional basketball on his hometown team this wasn’t going to be any different. The Hawks were a year away from a franchise record 60-win season, and their backcourt featured Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver and Lou Williams — all at the peak of their powers.

But Schroder saw himself as a starter, and went after everyone, especially Teague, from the start.

Al Horford, anchor of the defense on those Mike Budenholzer teams, smiles now at the thought of the tempestuous rookie either not understanding his place in the pecking order, or not caring.


“He was so competitive that he came in with a certain expectation of himself and quickly he found out that’s not how things work,” said Horford. “And there’s some steps you need to take to get to where you need to be.

“As a young player he had expectations of probably playing a lot, probably starting, things of that nature. It was difficult for him.”


Schroder, though, was on a team of consequence and character. His locker was between those of Paul Millsap, a friendly vet on call at all hours when Schroder had questions, and Korver. Horford faced him from the other side of the locker room. DeMarre Carroll and Elton Brand also helped set a tone of accountability. They all bonded over Uno card games on flights and team dinners.

The team was also in the process of a bizarre dismantling. Williams, a good friend who introduced Schroder to the excitement of Atlanta, was traded after the latter’s rookie year. Carroll signed as a free agent with the Raptors after the 60-win season. An anvil dropped on the team when Horford, after much debate, and the Hawks’ panicky, cap-consuming signing of Dwight Howard as insurance in case the all-star center left, became a Celtic.

But the turnover also cleared the way for Schroder as a lead scorer. By his last season as a Hawk he was averaging 19.4 points and 6.2 assists a game. And he was calming down, sort of.


“Me and my family was talking about it yesterday. Having babies, having kids, having a wife. I think it helps you a little bit in that category,” he said. “I’m still a competitive guy, but at the end of the day I’m doing it the smart way. I just try to bring whatever I have to help the team win — no other bull****. No other side effects or whatever. Nothing is not important. That’s what I’ve learned over the years. You meet a lot of people over the years in this league, but when you get between the lines it’s wartime.

“Al helped me with that as well. My first year I was fighting against everyone because I was trying to make my way. It was how I grew up in Germany as well.”

‘He’s gonna go at you’

Schroder’s contentious nature started early, going back to kindergarten, as he recalls.

“It was pretty tough with the racism over there — being black, going to kindergarten and everybody asking those questions — why is your skin dirty, why do you have this, calling you the N-word and all that type of stuff,” he said of his early life in the northern German city of Braunschweig. “It was challenging, but it made me mentally tough over the years, just being proud of my skin and trying to make a name for myself.

“I didn’t get into fights — just a lot of arguments where you’re embarrassed in front of a lot of people, stuff like that. It was helpful in a way because now I know how to approach these things. When I was young I had my big brother (Che) behind me all the time so that when trouble happened I called my brother.”

But he did leave Germany with defiance after two seasons as the young star of Braunschweig’s entry in the German Bundesliga. He became the target of Celtics fans during Game 3 of a 2016 second-round playoff series between the C’s and Hawks when he got into a scrape with Isaiah Thomas.

The Celtics star clearly started it, slapping Schroder off the back of the head after scoring, and the two were separated after some initial shoving. Both were given technical fouls — Thomas’ act upgraded to a Flagrant 1 — and tempers hadn’t cooled by the first time the teams played each other the following January.

A jittery Schroder didn’t play well — he fell into early foul trouble, shot 2-for-11 and finished with four points and three assists — and on the way to a 28-point performance, Thomas set the Hawks guard off again.

Schroder accused Thomas of insulting his mother — something Thomas vehemently denied.

“I’m playing basketball,” Schroder told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. “If he think that he got to curse at my mom or say some dumb stuff about my family, that has nothing to do with basketball. That’s his choice. I’ve got too much class for that. Next one, we are going to get it.”

Horford, by then a Celtic, wasn’t surprised by the role of either player in the feud.

“Oh yeah. That’s Dennis’ competitiveness in everything,” he said. “I’m talking on-the-court-wise. He’s not going to back down from anybody. He’s gonna go at you — sometimes it might be borderline kind of dirty. You just never know. You love the competitiveness he brings. But yeah, I remember that. He probably crossed the line, IT probably crossed the line too. Definitely was both sides. Just the competitor.”

Schroder now looks back fondly on his IT moment.

“At the time he was one of the best point guards playing in the league, and for me it was just a great situation to compete and a great opportunity to compete against one of the best players,” he said. “It got chippy — that’s what playoffs are about, it just happens, emotions are always involved and it gets heated. That’s part of the game. But it was really a great experience to play against him.”

Ultimately, the confrontation helped smooth some of those sharp edges.

“He’s more mature, because early Dennis would have challenged somebody, would have went at somebody, not caring,” said Horford. “Also being from Germany was a transition for him too, the way he spoke, or the way he said things, it could come off as rude here. You’re thinking, ‘Oh, did he just say that?’ So he’s more mature, knows how to pick his spots. If he sees something he will tell you. He’s the kind of person, he’s not going to hold back. And he wants to play the right way. If he needs to, he’ll call guys out too.”

‘You have to be ready’

They’ve reunited as Celtics — Horford hoping that the promise he originally saw the first time around in green is about to hit full flower, and Schroder, after a nightmarish summer on the free agent market, playing for a new contract in 2022.

“That’s the reason I chose here, to be honest, being with Al again,” said Schroder. “The last couple of years when we saw each other and played against each other, we’d talk after the game. There was always a dream to play with him again, because he’s a great vet who cares about winning, cares about his family. You don’t get that much. He’s a winning mentality guy and I appreciate that about him.”

Schroder hopes that he’s made that same progress personally. The Hawks traded him to Oklahoma City in the summer of 2018, and there was no choice in the matter. He was the backup to, first, Russell Westbrook and then Chris Paul, period. By that second season he was the NBA’s leading scorer off the bench (18.9 ppg), and finished second in the sixth man voting to an old friend — the Clippers’ Lou Williams.

It was, Horford believed, the greatest season of Schroder’s career.

“Yes. I think so, fair to say,” he said. “That year was very impressive. Everybody talked a lot about Chris Paul, rightfully so. But when I was looking at the games I was seeing something different. I was seeing that Dennis was a guy that was just as important.

“He’s finding his way, just as as a team we’re finding our way. As he gets comfortable, as he gets familiar I think we will be better. He’s shown certain flashes of what he can do, but I think he’s finding his way. We all are as a team right now.”

As evidenced by a recent three-game run where he led the Celtics in scoring and took over down the stretch as Jayson Tatum struggled with his shot, he’s back to that OKC form after a season of purgatory with the Lakers. He’s learned that the rewards come to those who are patient.

“Being patient is how I’ve matured,” he said. “My first year I played the first 18 games and after that didn’t play. So patience helped me a lot. Doing everything to get better, even if you don’t play, working out. At the end of the day you’re going to do it for you, no matter the kind of situation you’re in. When you get a chance you have to be ready. You learn that over the years. That was the biggest thing.”

And, as Schroder learned through his friendships with the likes of Horford, Korver and Millsap, the rewards from these bonds go on forever. From guys like Jeff Teague.

“Every day when I came in there, that was my approach at first, try to make a name for myself, try to compete hard and go at Jeff,” said Schroder. “End of the day, when you get to know the league and how it really works, how the politics work, you know that OK, these people in your locker room are your brothers.

“End of the day you’re going to compete, and it’s going to be against everybody else. I had to learn that, and me and Jeff sat down and had a lot of talks about it. He told me, from the start, in two or three years it’s going to be all yours. Don’t worry about it, just keep getting better every single day. I learned a lot from him.

“To this day, certain moves I have — I got them from Jeff. You can tell. He helped me a lot just breaking the game down — let the game come to me in a way that makes sense.”


Bob
MY NOTE: Dennis Schroder was always one of those players I loved to hate but would have loved to see in green. The competitiveness he brought against us annoyed the everlovin' shite out of me, the same way Marcus Smart does it to opposing fans.


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