Last night, Atlanta Hawks young guard Dennis Schroder got into a heated conversation with teammate Dwight Howard on the court. That argument started after a bad pass on the previous possession. The spat between the two lead to a wide open Steph Curry three and Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer was not happy about it.
He was sent to the bench with a little over 8 minutes left in the game, and the 23 year old was nothing more than a spectator as the Hawks fell to their sixth loss in eight games. Malcolm Delaney and Tim Hardaway Jr. received the extra playing time due to the benching.
Coach Budenholzer made it very clear that the young point guard was benched on purpose, referred to it as a coaching decision. He had this to say.
“Just us staying together is the bigger point” “We’ve got to stay together and find a way to move on to the next play. Those things are important.” via Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
When asked why he thought he was benched, Schroder had this to say.
“I don’t really know,” “I know the 3 from Steph Curry when me and Dwight was arguing was part of it. That can’t happen. I don’t understand coach’s decision. I want to be on the court. Maybe I’m too competitive. I’m just trying to be competitive and win games.”
Schroder also made it clear that he would like to meet with Budenholzer to discuss the action.
Howard had this to say when asked about the benching.
“I’m not the coach,” “My job is to play, rebound, block shots and run the floor. That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to let coach coach the team. If he decides to sit any of us, that’s on coach. That’s why we have a team. It’s not one player on a team. It’s 15 of us. We have to trust each other. If one man goes down, someone has to step up. It’s just like if one man gets in foul trouble. If I get in foul trouble, I’ve got to trust the next guy to come in. If Dennis gets in foul trouble, it’s the same thing. That’s how it has to be.” via the AJC
The Atlanta Hawks are 3-7 in their last 10 games and with 19 games remaining on the season, they would benefit from a situation like this not happening again.
