By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
The NBA draft 2013 seems to be the one with the most “hidden secrets”, as the two top European prospects don’t have much experience in the high level. Giannis Adetokunbo has played only one season in the second Greek division and Dennis Schroeder was member of Braunschweig for longer time, but he had an important role only last season.
The 20 years old German guard whose mother comes from Gabon is a candidate to be picked even in the lottery, after some strong work outs for five teams who pick in the draft between 10-16 (Blazers, Sixers, Thunder, Mavericks, Jazz, Bucks and Celtics).
A lot of teams traveled to Germany to watch him but after the Nike Hoop Summit everything changed. He completely exploded on the scene by dominating the practices and the game and now in most of the mock drafts he is considered at least as a top 20 pick.
But which is his profile and what happened during the last season in which his game improved drastically? Eurohoops talked with his coach in Braunschweig who helped him improve himself on and off the court. Last summer Kostas Flevarakis signed with the German team and watched all the games of his team during the 2011-12 season. Schroeder gain his attention and after the first practices he told to the young player: “You have the chance to improve yourself and I believe that if you work hard, you will explode”. Flevarakis remembers: “He didn’t believe me when I told him that until then he had shown only 1% of his talent and he will go to 90% quickly! Until last summer he played only garbage time and he couldn’t even imagine being on the NBA’s radar! He played only one season of professional basketball and he needs obviously time in order to adapt. He improved himself surprisingly, though the season was very hard. He played also in the first team and in the youth team, he used to travel constantly with both teams and he was tired because of that”.
Schroeder wants too much to play in the NBA and that’s something that was recognized easily during last months. As his ex coach says: “I believe in him, but he’s not ready to play right now in a NBA team. That’s his dream. And as long as he was watching the NBA scouts visiting him again and again, his mind was always there. He has a lot of ups and downs as personality and it’s logical because he’s young and suddenly he had to compose himself in front of something huge. But in any case, his future is bright”.
And about his skills, Flevarakis explains: “His play suits the NBA because of his athletic skills. He has explosion and intensity in his game. He’s a point guard who knows to create and shoot. He can defend full press in 4/4 of the court, face the opponent’s best guard, but also needs to have more strength and improve his set game. He has a very good basketball IQ, positioning and reading very well the game. He can also change easily the rhythm of a game because of his speed in his moves”.