Warriors' Kerr Backs Dennis Schröder amid Struggles After Trade: 'Tiny Sample Size'
Dennis Schröder has struggled in his first five games with the Golden State Warriors following his trade from the Brooklyn Nets.
Despite the slow start, head coach Steve Kerr trusts that Schröder will find his footing and noted the Warriors' struggles as a whole as a cause for Schröder's individual struggles.
"What you do is you trust who the player has been for the last 10 or 12 years," Kerr said. "You trust that he'll get comfortable and settle in. It's a tiny sample size we're looking at. He also came to us at a time when we were ice cold. He needs shooting around him. He's a pick-and-roll player. We were 7-for-38 tonight from three."
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Schröder, who is in his 12th season in the NBA, averaged 18.4 points and 6.6 assists per game through 23 contests with the Nets. He was on pace for one of the best seasons of his career and had Brooklyn looking like a dark horse to make the playoffs.
Since arriving in Golden State, Schröder's numbers have taken a dip. He's putting up just 8.2 points and 4.2 assists per game through five games. He's shot 28 percent from the field and 17.4 percent from deep after shooting 45.2 percent and 38.7 percent, respectively, in Brooklyn.
Schröder's stats were bound to take a hit with the Warriors given that he'd no longer be one of the top scoring options, but Kerr was likely hoping to get a little more from him than he's gotten so far.
As Kerr mentioned, Schröder's struggles are not entirely on him. After starting the year 12-3, Golden State has won just three of its last 15 games and just one of five since Schröder arrived.
The Warriors' struggles were on full display on Friday as they shot 18.4 percent from deep with no Stephen Curry, who sat out of the contest due to injury management.
Schröder, a journeyman who is on his eighth different team, is used to packing things up and joining a new team midseason. Once he gets acclimated to his new squad, he could help turn the Warriors into a Finals contender like they hoped.
