Joe Mazzulla only spent a brief period of time with Dennis Schröder last season, but the veteran point guard sure left an impression on the Boston Celtics interim head coach.
Mazzulla had high praise for Schröder, who the Celtics faced Tuesday night in their thrilling 122-118 overtime win over the Los Angeles Angeles at Crypto.com Arena.
“He’s great. I really enjoyed our time together and his experience, he played for so many great coaches,” Mazzulla told reporters prior to the game, per CLNS Media’s Bobby Manning. “He thinks the game and understands the game. He made me a better coach just talking to him. His ability to just be a point guard, understand how the game is going and get the ball where it needs to get to and his competitive fire. I think he’s bringing that to this team as well.”
Schröder suited up in 49 games for the Celtics last season and averaged 14.4 points, 4.2 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game before getting traded to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Daniel Theis.
Schröder, now in his second stint with the Lakers, earned the start against the Celtics, but was largely ineffective as he tallied only two points, one rebound and one assist in 19 minutes. Lakers coach Darvin Ham basically elected to play Russell Westbrook and second-year shooting guard Austin Reaves over Schröder.
Maybe Ham just doesn’t see the same things in Schröder that Mazzulla did, and it would be hard to blame him. The lanky 6-foot-3 point guard is well past his prime and certainly hasn’t enhanced the Lakers’ ability to win, with Los Angeles sitting at 11-16 and in 12th place in the Western Conference.
Schröder’s his skill set doesn’t exactly fit the modern game. A pass-first facilitator who has recorded 3.5 assists per game on the season — the lowest amount since his rookie season — Schröder is also shooting just 25.8% from beyond the arc, meaning defenses barely have to pay attention to him on the offensive end.
There’s still time left in the season though for Schröder to resemble the player Mazzulla thinks so highly of.
