Atlanta Hawks

Why Hawks' Dennis Schroder should model his game after Tony Parker

Published Sep. 10, 2015 6:07 p.m. ET

foxsports

As he enters his third NBA season, Atlanta Hawks point guard Dennis Schroder is brimming with potential.

Throughout his career, Schroder has often been compared to former All-Star point guard Rajon Rondo, because both players -- despite their speed and ability to get into the paint and create for others -- struggle shooting from the perimeter.

But is there a better comparison for Schroder? Perhaps one that hits closer to home?

How about Tony Parker?

Disregarding the fact that both are foreign-born players, both are listed as 6-2, both were late first-round draft picks for budding playoff teams, both were brought up in Gregg Popovich's system (Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer is Pop's former lead assistant), and both needed to improve on their outside shooting to take their games to the next level.

According to Scott Rafferty of Sporting News, Schroder would be wise to ditch the Rondo model of never improving one's shooting, and learn from Parker -- who has improved his shooting tremendously since his first few seasons -- instead:

"As a change of pace guard off the bench who can break defenses down, having a player of Schroder's talent has tremendous value in today's NBA. Despite a dismal showing in the playoffs, he proved that last season when he got some Sixth Man of the Year Award love.

"Schroder has the potential to be more than that, though, and an improved in-between game would open up a world of possibilities. After shooting 29.3 percent on 41 midrange attempts as a rookie, he made 34.8 percent of his 155 attempts last season — the seeds for growth are present. He's already picked up a thing or two from Parker.

"Now, it's time to start piecing the rest of the puzzle together."

Improving one's shooting is easier said than done, of course, otherwise everyone would shoot as well as Stephen Curry, if not better.

But Schroder has All-Star potential if he can get to respectable levels from deep, and it'd be terrible to waste his potential following a player like Rondo, whose value has considerably dropped because of his inability to make shots.

(h/t Sporting News)