Raptors move Dennis Schroder to bench, fall one assist shy of franchise record

This isn’t an indictment of Raptors point guard Dennis Schroder. It’s actually more to sign the praises of coach Darko Rajakovic.

After all, it was Rajakovic who decided to move Schroder to a bench role and instead start guard/forward Gary Trent Jr., leaving the ball-handling duties mostly to forward Scottie Barnes.

The result? Toronto passed for 43 assists in Wednesday’s road win over the Wizards — falling just one short of the franchise record.

Schroder certainly did his part, though. He finished with 10 points and nine of those assists in a reserve role.

“It was a change that we were looking for for some time,” Rajakovic told reporters. “We decided that it was a good opportunity today to put Scottie Barnes more as a ball-handler and also we wanted to have Dennis to help with the second unit.”

Granted, the win came over the Wizards, who are serving as just about everyone’s Homecoming opponent. Still, the Raptors (12-18) had to try something. They had lost three straight entering the game and are looking a lot like a lottery team.

Schroder won MVP of the FIBA World Cup this past summer, leading Germany to the title. In Toronto, he’s been good. Maybe Rajakovic has found a way to make both Schroder and the Raptors better than they’ve been.