So the New York Knicks came out this season and completely blew everyone away. I honestly had them grabbing the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference and never expected Julius Randle to make the strides he did as a player. I had high hopes for Julius myself when I saw him get drafted 7th overall years ago but never would have expected him to put a team on his back and play at a MVP level for a full season. On to Dennis Schroder who could’ve received $84 million from the Lakers but he rejected that offer in hopes of a $100 million dollar contract which if I am the New York Knicks I will give him. Anything more I move on from Dennis but I give the man his money, he seems motivated for a bounce back season and his best basketball will be over the next 3-4 seasons.
I am of the thinking that Dennis Schroder’s game regressed offensively this season due to making adjustments having to cater to LeBron James’s ball dominant ways and although LeBron has improved as a shooter off the post and shooting more jumpers than ever before he still remains a ball dominant basketball player. Dennis Schroder was never able to play fully run the Lakers’s offense once LeBron James returned from injury and I feel with the makeup onf the Knicks’s team he would fit right in simply because the Knicks lack a starting level point guard and I just don’t see Chris Paul coming on over to the Knicks this coming off-season. Most would say Dennis Schroder under performed in the Lakers-Suns first round match-up but all I saw the final couple games of that series was LeBron lose his desire to win once Anthony Davis went out with injury.
Dennis did a fantastic job carrying the Lakers offense in LeBron’s absence he only became a problem once LeBron took the ball away from him in the playoffs. Not sure what other additions the Knicks will make, assuming they re-sign Julius Randle adding Dennis Schroder to go with an ever improving RJ Barrett and the Knicks could become a legitimate force in the East next season. The other big plus to Dennis Schroder joining the Knicks would be having a defensive minded coach like Tom Thibodeau coach him up and we all know Tom will give Dennis all the minutes possible as Tom as notoriously known for having preference for veterans over young players. The one thing about Dennis is he has the heart of a lion and I’m sure he would embrace playing in the bright lights of New York.
The Knicks employed a rugged defense this season which had a lot of Knicks fans reminiscing to when the Garden crowd was roaring defense in the early 90’s in their battles against Jordan’s Bulls and Reggie’s Pacers. Dennis Schroder will bring more attitude and grit to the New York Knicks and add on to what was the NBA’s #1 ranked defense. The Lakers remained a top defense without LeBron James and Anthony Davis for most of the season and Dennis Schroder was a big reason why so Dennis would only make the Knicks even better. The Knicks finished 41-31 this season in a 72 game schedule with a full 82-game schedule I don’t see why the Knicks can’t win 55-65 games next season and finish at the top of the East, and it’s not just Dennis’s addition it would be RJ Barrett having a legitimate breakout.
To conclude a back-court of RJ Barrett and Dennis Schroder packs a ton of potential of both ends of the floor, both can play defense,play-make,score at the rim, and provide Randle with 2 reliable go to scoring options. And no I don’t believe Julius Randle’s output this season was a fluke, legend Kobe Bryant’s wisdom rubbed off on him and I see him performing at a all-star level for at least another 3-4 seasons. Dennis has always been underrated,drafted late in the first round and played behind Jeff Teague in Atlanta. Played behind Chris Paul in OKC, played behind LeBron James in Los Angeles, but now it’s for him to play behind no one in New York. Leon Rose make a splash in New York because you struck-out the moment you labeled Julius Randle trade-bait before this season started and he proved himself to be untouchable. Hopefully the Knicks sign Schroder, I got a good feeling he’s ready to take names next season and he would add to the Knicks-Nets rivalry after Dennis and Kyrie’s back and forth during a game this year, anyways till next time.
D-NBA 