Dennis Schroder finds his shooting rhythm for Thunder
When Dennis Schroder joined the Thunder in the offseason, his statistics didn’t paint the picture of a prolific 3-point shooter. He’s averaging 32.2 percent in his career but shot just 29 percent from beyond the arc last season.
That’s not the type of player OKC coach Billy Donovan sees on film, however.
“When he gets shots when he’s got his legs under him, he has a clean look and he’s balanced, I think he’s a very good shooter,” Donovan said. “I think probably because of Russell (Westbrook) being out there, because of Paul (George) being out there, some of those situations have been created more for him.”
The combination of those three playmakers began to show its potential before Westbrook suffered a left ankle sprain that sidelined him for two weeks. Since he returned from injury last week, rotations that put Schroder, Westbrook and George on the floor at the same time have become an offensive weapon for the Thunder,
while drawing out Schroder’s shooting ability.
“In Atlanta I just handled it, probably every possession,” Schroder said of his time with the Hawks, who come to Oklahoma City on Friday. “And now it’s great to have two, three guys who can create with me at the same time on the court.”
Even after an 0-of-3 night from beyond the arc in the Thunder’s win over the Cavaliers on Wednesday, Schroder has been one of the Thunder’s best 3-point shooters in the five games since Westbrook’s return. Among Thunder players who took five or more 3-pointers in that span, Schroder had the second-best 3-point percentage (11-of-30, 36.7 percent), behind Jerami Grant (6-of-16, 37.5 percent).
Schroder is shooting even better on catchand-shoot 3-pointers this season (41.8 percent).
“There’s a lot more opportunity to have some error or mistake (off the dribble) than there is on catch and shoots,” Donovan said.
Most of that has to do with footwork, which remains consistent with a catch-and-shoot but can vary off the dribble.
When Schroder has the ball in his hands, there simply aren’t as many opportunities for him to take catch-and shoot 3-pointers. That changes when his rotations overlap with the starters. A majority of Schroder's 3-point attempts have come off passes from Westbrook and George.
Said George: “I think with this team — myself, Russ, Dennis, Steve (Adams) — I think there’s such a big emphasis of keeping us out of the paint that we’re getting a lot of catch-and-shoot, we’re getting a lot of those opportunities, and Dennis is coming through on those.”
Against the Warriors, Schroder splashed a career-high five shots from 3-point range. Schroder won’t be that efficient from beyond the arc every game, but the Thunder wants him to keep taking those shots.
“The threat of him shooting it opens up the threat of what he does great,” Donovan said, “which is get in the lane and penetrate.”