He looked much better than he did in preseason. So, he can play with LeBron, but unless they make THT the lead guard for the bench unit, I would rather Schroder be first man off the bench.
HE was good: need to clear the paint for him though. I think when they move AD to the 5 and Lebron to the 4, he'll be awesome
Got a little unhinged at the end of the 3rd, but he did a lot of stuff that was encouraging. He's a fantastic fit, this game got me excited for the potential ceiling of this team. I see him being productive with the starters as well as the bench. Schroder is gonna have a big year.
we looked better on the break. and schroder does a good job getting all the way to the basket and getting the ball up on the glass--his teammates should learn to follow for putbacks. i wonder if gasol gets moved to the bench, seeing as basically two teams have offenses set up around low post behemoths that would require a big center to match up. harrell or even morris at c to start won't get us killed against 70% of the league, and we can quick sub against the phillys and denvers of the world.
If Schroder comes off the bench, he'd have more opportunities to run. A bench lineup of Schroder, Caruso, TNT, Kuz, and montrezL could get up and down the court and run.
Exactly my thoughts. Great to see Dennis already developing a nice chemistry with Harrell last night. Those two were really good together. I just wonder how long and to what point we are going to see the Schroder in the starting lineup experiment. I feel like we are working against ourselves in this. I don't know if it's to try and accommodate Schroder's desire to be a starter or if Vogel is just testing it out to see what it looks like or what. But basically it's not working as far as I can see. We won a championship last year with a starting lineup of KCP, Green, Lebron, AD and McGee. We have improved that with the additions of Wes Jr and Marc Gasol who are better than Green and McGee. We have enough playmaking if we utilize Gasol in that role along with Lebron. With Schroder at PG we are taking the ball out of Gasol and Lebron's hands and it isn't working offensively. Defensively that means we are going smaller with KCP at 2 and Schroder at 1 than if we had Wes. In the meantime Schroder wants to run and uptempo. He could do that superbly well with the bench. I feel like we are trying to fit things around Schroder rather than fit him in to what was already working on a championship team. This shouldn't be difficult. Use the guys for what they are good for. Schroder was runner up 6th man, Harrell was the 6MOY. Fortify the bench and let them run. Utilize Gasol as a playmaker in the first unit with Lebron along with AD and let KCP and Wes destroy folks from the corner threes. It just seems counter intuitive and counter productive to be trying to do something so different.
Vogel has said straight up that he talks to guys about what they feel their role should be and he already said having Schröder out there with Lebron was a huge part of the plan. Thing I like about Vogel is I really don't think he has any hesitation to move someone to the bench (or to DNP them. See: Howard and McGee) if it is better for the team. The Schröder/Harrell tandem's benefit may outweigh the need to have Schröder playing off the ball and also taking pressure off Lebron playing distributer. Maybe he comes out after a short period in the 1st periods then back out with the bench.
Exactly why I want Schroder off the bench. Start AC/Wes/Lebron/AD/Marc. They play a slower game and you preserve the Lebron/AD/AC chemistry that was one of our best combinations from last year. Take Lebron and Marc out at the usual time for Schroeder and Trez, slide AD up to the 5. Do what you will with the wing rotation. Bench should be Schroder/KCP/Kuz/Trez with Morris and THT sprinkled in here and there. Look at that speed coming off the bench, that'll tear the game apart. Push our 8 point lead to double digit lead. That energy sparks us back from a deficit. If I remember correctly from last game, when we took Lebron out after he turned his ankle the energy really picked up. We scored a couple quick baskets but then a couple mistakes ended the game for us.
i trust vogel on this, too. he managed this kind of stuff well last year, and it took a while to settle on the right rotations (which i think were right). then he shifted in the playoffs as the matchups dictated. but we lost to the clippers on paul george's greatest ever shooting night, so we're doomed and small and stuff.
You gotta make sure to be ready against Opening Night P, and Vogel failed to plan his counters in advance and we got eviscerated
