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Los Angeles (AP) - After his barely concealed starting place request to welcome the Los Angeles Lakers, Dennis Schröder emphasized the team player in himself before the start of the season in the NBA.
«LeBron has had the ball in his hands for 17 years and makes decisions for his teammates.
At the end of the day, I'm not here to take anything from him.
I'm trying to help him get more victories, ”said the best German basketball player, explaining his understanding of the role at the side of superstar LeBron James.
“If he needs help and tells me: Dennis, take the ball - then I'll do it.
(...) But at the end of the day, when he's on the pitch, he'll sort it out. "
Schröder knows that he will only be happy in Los Angeles if the league superstar is happy himself.
Humility and restraint are appropriate for all the ambition and self-confidence of the 27-year-old.
Schröder already knows that he has many advocates before his first season with the record champions, who like the Boston Celtics have won 17 titles in the world's strongest basketball league since their victory in the summer.
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"Offensive we get an elite playmaker", manager Rob Pelinka praised the access and said a few days later: "Schröder is a pit bull defender".
Anthony Davis, who is the most important and most powerful professional in the squad after James, also seems satisfied with the newcomer in the locker room: “We got some great players.
Dennis is a plague against the ball. "
The speed and aggressiveness in the fight for the ball are the main things that have washed Schröder from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Lakers - although he himself didn't want that too much, for all that is known.
However, the laws of the NBA only take into account the wishes of the players in exceptional cases.
And so Schröder now has time in his last year of contract to look around Los Angeles and decide whether he can also envision this in the long term in southern California.
Even before the first competitive game of the season, it is pretty obvious that that would be exactly what coach Frank Vogel would like.
“I'm thrilled that he's on our squad.
There are probably only a few coaches in the league who are a bigger fan of his game than I am, ”said the 47-year-old last.
«I love the sharpness with which he plays.
That mean, competitive side of him.
You hate that as an opponent and you love it when he's on your team.
I'm excited."
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It is likely that Schröder will be on the grid against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night (4:00 a.m.CET), despite his slight ankle sprain, which cost him the last test against the Phoenix Suns on Friday.
Vogel persistently refused to give an appropriate promise, but everything points to it.
Schröder would have achieved this goal straight away.
Another topic, on the other hand, will probably still cost him a lot of time.
“I'm still trying to find a house in the perfect place so that we don't have to worry about anything - how to get into the hall, that it's safe for the children, a big garden.
We're still looking, ”said Schröder.
“At the end of the day, the team helped me a lot to find my way around the team.
The chemistry is top level, it's going very well.
But I need a few more days or weeks in Los Angeles. "
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201221-99-769481 / 2
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