October 21, 2024 • 14 mins
Dennis Schröder's last 18 months have been a whirlwind. From winning a world cup with Germany to a trade to Brooklyn to competing in the Olympics this summer. Chris Carrino and the veteran guard discuss representing his home country and how he can help impact a young Nets team.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
So when you came to the league, it was always
everybody thought it was Schroeder. And then we were told
it was Shrewder Slew. There's a yeah, it's just when
you say it. When you say it, it sounds right.
If I say it, it sounds funny. But if I say
shrewd is that.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I'm good with that.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You're good with that.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm good with that.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
That was a big when you first got here. That
was like, hey, I want to let you know it's Schroeder.
Like wait a minute, We've been saying it for twelve
years or whatever the other.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Way people say Schroeder. And it got to a point
where my mom came to me and she was like,
why they always say it wrong? And then I was like, okay,
I got to say something.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So screw it is it's always the mom, Yes it is.
You have the umla on your name too, right, yep.
And we said we were the first net with an
umlat really, yes, never been an umlat before.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
That's special.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I remember years ago when I first started, UH, we
had a guy named Todd McCullough. He was a big man.
He played for the Sixers and then he played for
the Nets on the finals team and O two. But
I was doing this kind of thing where I gave
you the reeds to do where you know, you read
for radio, and he all of a sudden, you know,
he'd been in the league a while. We were saying McCullough,
and then when he went to say his name, he
(01:21):
said McCulloch, and we all went, wait a minute, how
do you say your name? He goes, well, the men
in my family say McCullough, the women say McCullough. And
I went to Iron Eagle and he goes, we have
to we can't change it now everybody's gonna think we're wrong.
So but we go to dinner in the finals and
his dad is with us, who are a small group
of people. We go out to dinner and his dad
(01:42):
is there. Were in la and Iron Eagle is there
with me and a couple other people, and his dad
goes from across the room and he goes, hey, Iron,
you're saying our name wrong. It's McCullough. So okay, let
me ask you. So you mentioned your your mom would
question whether people are saying your name right. Whoever, But
I remember when you first came in the league. You
(02:03):
had that little blonde spot in your hair, and we
always thought it was a birthmark, and then I read
that it was your mom. Tell me the story behind that.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I was like fourteen fifteen, got into basketball. People in
my hometown kind of knew that I'm, you know, taking
it seriously in basketball, and my mom was like, oh,
it's a good time now to dye your whole hair blonde.
I came from school and went to her shop and
(02:33):
then I was like, what are you talking about.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Usually the kid is the one who wants to do
that and the mom's like no.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
And then I was like, oh, the whole hair, I
don't know. And she was like, okay, just do a
golden patch, okay, And I was like, okay, I'm good
with that. And then I started it and from there
on I didn't. I didn't. I mean, I had it
for the longest, but then one summer you're not getting younger,
you know, So I lost a lot of hair because
(03:01):
of that. But I had to like take time off
from bleaching it. And we played the World Cup and
we won the World Cup.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And now you can't.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yes, it's tough for me now to switch back to
golden patch, But when you're young, you do stuff, you know,
same as Kobe Bryant from eight to twenty four. Western
Peace to Kobe. But I think it's a it's a
switch now, you know. I got three wonderful kids, my wife,
(03:35):
and I'm you know, a team owner back home, and
I'm doing a lot of business.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So now I gotta have to in the Bundesliga.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yes, they're playing at two pm two so I wanted
to be there, but I couldn't because we got media.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Dare which team is that?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Bronchwike basketball loving So I used to play for them
before I got to the league.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Tell me about that, because you you tell me your
origin story, right, Well, how did how did basketball become
part of your life?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Great question, because I mean it used to be skateboard.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
No, he was just giving me a signal.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
We used to white skateboards every single day, you know,
and we had a skate park and right next to
we had a basketball court, and I played a little
basketball when I didn't try to, you know, when I
had enough of skating, went to the basketball court shot
a little bit, and that the first summer. Then the
(04:45):
second summer I did it again. And then one of
my coaches leave your Colleen found me and it was like,
you should play basketball. And I never took it really seriously.
I was like, Okay, I got you. And then the
next I seen him was white under the parking garage
under a gym, and he took me white with him
(05:06):
and I said, Yo, you're gonna come to basketball. And
that's how it started. And yeah, I know, I'm here
and he changed your life. He changed my life. That's
the reason why I bought the club as well, because
they wanted to fire him.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
He's the coach.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
He yeah, he's assistant coach. He just turned seventy one
last week, and he do a lot of individual stuff.
That's where he's best at. And yeah, bought the team,
made sure he gets what he deserves.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And yeah, now you he was he a father figure
in life. I know you lost your dad when you
were young.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Right, Yeah, he was there. He was the only one
who really made sure that or he how can I say,
he really respected me. He knew that I wanted to
get better and that I'm a good person, and there
wasn't a lot of people out there who believe the
same thing. So really honored to have him. Without him,
(06:10):
I wouldn't I wouldn't be here and uh having these talks.
So yeah, we appreciate him.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
At least you could do was buy a team and
make sure he had a job.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
At least.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
That's great, that's a great story. And wow, wow, what
an impact one person can have on somebody's life. And
now you've had an impact on so many other people
h teammates. Not to mention your national team. I mean
you mentioned, you know, going and winning the World Cup. Uh,
you guys have become a force on the international stage
(06:42):
right now, full circle for you as an individual.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yes, it's ten years I played there, had really five
to six and one few years with the national team,
but we never quit it, you know, we always stayed together.
And yeah, I mean winning the World Cup was I
think the biggest thing what Germany has seen, you know,
(07:10):
and everybody who wasn't at locker room, even the federation,
even the coaching staff, everybody, you know, it's really honored
to be in that spot.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Did you feel your influence on the young German players
that are coming up now, maybe young players that might
pick up a basketball in Germany? I mean, I know
Dirk Novisky is a guy who had a lot of
influence in Germany. Probably can't overstate that.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Doak is one of the best foremans who ever played
the game. So he changed basketball for the foreman having
a shot, you know, stretching the floor. So he is
the goat in basketball in general, internationally in the NBA
(08:00):
and winning the NBA Champion, being the MVP, having over
thirty thousand points speaks for itself. But I mean, I'm
I'm me personally. I just try to be the best,
you know, human being, being the best teammate, you know,
(08:21):
best dad and all the all the other stuff. And
I have my own legacy, you know, and I try
to help basketball and Germany Negro. In the last ten years,
what I've seen, what we did so far has been great.
Germany is on the map, and we have a lot
(08:43):
of young guys who are coming up, and a lot
of people in my city who are playing basketball now
because they want to become the next you know, Franz Vakna,
Isaac Bonger and all the other guys in the locker room.
So it's great to be such a like a role model,
you know, for for a whole country and even for
(09:06):
other countries as well.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
So you've you've now grown too, to where you're an
NBA veteran and you've got a family, like you mentioned.
I know, last year the trade happened, they were still
up in Toronto.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Coming back and forth.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Are they going to be here?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yep, they came yesterday at two pm. Everybody's together now
and we try to get the house situation going right
now everything.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Did they spend time? Did did they? You know your
wife comedy? Far as where to live and things like that.
I mean we didn't.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
We've seen it over FaceTime, to be honest, we didn't
fly over, but I mean now we we settling in
slowly but surely. And yeah we're looking forward, you know,
to see Brooklyn and all the restaurants, all the indoor
playgrounds for the kids, and yeah we were ready.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Well as I get to make a snarky comment about well,
you've got a lot of young kids on this team too,
but you do when you're one of the veterans. So
when you with your approach, I mean, you want to
win games and you want to play well, of course,
out the ball really well when you came, and but
you're also going to be looked on to kind of
be a mentor, and that might be as important a
(10:24):
role with this team as as anything else you're going
to do.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, I mean I just like I said, I want
to be the best human being I can be every
single day. And I have great veterans. I had great
veterans back in the day, and I want to be
the same with all these young guys in the locker room.
Of course, win games, but we can't win games if
we're not connected and we're not a team. And that's
(10:50):
what we try to bring here. Jordi as well. I
like what he did so far, and I think everybody
you know is listening, willing to listen, and yeah, we
just tried to, you know, make it a great environment.
Having fun. That's the most important, because I mean, we're
playing in the best league in the world, so we
(11:10):
can't take it for granted. We've got to be grateful
and yeah, we're gonna We're gonna be great.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
One last thing I want to ask you about a
couple of important young players. Your first game last year,
I think it was your first game with the Nets. Uh,
you threw this lob from out of bounds to Nick
Klaston dunk there. Right, he's he gets a big contract,
He's gonna be, you know, stepping it up this year.
His you you play with guys like Clink Capella, Rollman, Like,
(11:37):
where do you see Nick as far as the next
level for him?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Nick is the defensive anchor off this team. When he
has a defensive presence and he is locked in on
the defensive end, it's so so tough to score against us.
I want him all challenging him being for eighty two
(12:01):
games to do the eighty two games. It don't matter
if you lose games, win games. But I want him
to stay positive and do what he can control. And
I think when everybody just do what they can control,
we're going to be in a good spot. And I
mean Nick is even on the offensive end so important
for us with the lap threats, rebounding. You know, he
(12:25):
does so many things and of course his contract is earned.
He did great things in this league and he's going
to be even greater moving forward.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Cam Thomas, where do you see him as far as
where he can grow being?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
When I first got traded, I heard a lot of
things about him and seeing of course a lot of
things about him in social media and he's such a
great kid though, like he is, Yeah, I talked with him.
I challenged him right away. I was like, listen, I'm
here to just help you. You know, I'm I don't
(13:04):
have no egos, you know, I just try to be
the best team possible. And helped him and he adopted
in that well, really quickly, making the White decisions, finding
Nick Claxon on Lobs, you know, when they stepped up
and really looking forward for him to take the next
step in every single category, scoring, passing, being a great leader.
(13:30):
And if he does that, then he's going to be,
you know, a real problem in this league. He's already,
but he's going to be a real problem in this league.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
It's a different impression from the outside than when you
got inside, Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Of him, of course, I mean it's yeah. I mean
now seeing him now every single day, how hard he
works and what he does, you appreciate. You always gotta
get to know a person first. You know what he
is about and what he's doing, and really respect what
he's bringing to the table.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Well that is respect your career and what you've done
off the court on the court. Congratulations on that. Good
luck this season. We look to see me.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Thank you.
So when you came to the league, it was always
everybody thought it was Schroeder. And then we were told
it was Shrewder Slew. There's a yeah, it's just when
you say it. When you say it, it sounds right.
If I say it, it sounds funny. But if I say
shrewd is that.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I'm good with that.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You're good with that.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm good with that.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
That was a big when you first got here. That
was like, hey, I want to let you know it's Schroeder.
Like wait a minute, We've been saying it for twelve
years or whatever the other.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Way people say Schroeder. And it got to a point
where my mom came to me and she was like,
why they always say it wrong? And then I was like, okay,
I got to say something.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So screw it is it's always the mom, Yes it is.
You have the umla on your name too, right, yep.
And we said we were the first net with an
umlat really, yes, never been an umlat before.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
That's special.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I remember years ago when I first started, UH, we
had a guy named Todd McCullough. He was a big man.
He played for the Sixers and then he played for
the Nets on the finals team and O two. But
I was doing this kind of thing where I gave
you the reeds to do where you know, you read
for radio, and he all of a sudden, you know,
he'd been in the league a while. We were saying McCullough,
and then when he went to say his name, he
(01:21):
said McCulloch, and we all went, wait a minute, how
do you say your name? He goes, well, the men
in my family say McCullough, the women say McCullough. And
I went to Iron Eagle and he goes, we have
to we can't change it now everybody's gonna think we're wrong.
So but we go to dinner in the finals and
his dad is with us, who are a small group
of people. We go out to dinner and his dad
(01:42):
is there. Were in la and Iron Eagle is there
with me and a couple other people, and his dad
goes from across the room and he goes, hey, Iron,
you're saying our name wrong. It's McCullough. So okay, let
me ask you. So you mentioned your your mom would
question whether people are saying your name right. Whoever, But
I remember when you first came in the league. You
(02:03):
had that little blonde spot in your hair, and we
always thought it was a birthmark, and then I read
that it was your mom. Tell me the story behind that.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
I was like fourteen fifteen, got into basketball. People in
my hometown kind of knew that I'm, you know, taking
it seriously in basketball, and my mom was like, oh,
it's a good time now to dye your whole hair blonde.
I came from school and went to her shop and
(02:33):
then I was like, what are you talking about.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Usually the kid is the one who wants to do
that and the mom's like no.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
And then I was like, oh, the whole hair, I
don't know. And she was like, okay, just do a
golden patch, okay, And I was like, okay, I'm good
with that. And then I started it and from there
on I didn't. I didn't. I mean, I had it
for the longest, but then one summer you're not getting younger,
you know, So I lost a lot of hair because
(03:01):
of that. But I had to like take time off
from bleaching it. And we played the World Cup and
we won the World Cup.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And now you can't.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Yes, it's tough for me now to switch back to
golden patch, But when you're young, you do stuff, you know,
same as Kobe Bryant from eight to twenty four. Western
Peace to Kobe. But I think it's a it's a
switch now, you know. I got three wonderful kids, my wife,
(03:35):
and I'm you know, a team owner back home, and
I'm doing a lot of business.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
So now I gotta have to in the Bundesliga.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yes, they're playing at two pm two so I wanted
to be there, but I couldn't because we got media.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Dare which team is that?
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Bronchwike basketball loving So I used to play for them
before I got to the league.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Tell me about that, because you you tell me your
origin story, right, Well, how did how did basketball become
part of your life?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Great question, because I mean it used to be skateboard.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
No, he was just giving me a signal.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
We used to white skateboards every single day, you know,
and we had a skate park and right next to
we had a basketball court, and I played a little
basketball when I didn't try to, you know, when I
had enough of skating, went to the basketball court shot
a little bit, and that the first summer. Then the
(04:45):
second summer I did it again. And then one of
my coaches leave your Colleen found me and it was like,
you should play basketball. And I never took it really seriously.
I was like, Okay, I got you. And then the
next I seen him was white under the parking garage
under a gym, and he took me white with him
(05:06):
and I said, Yo, you're gonna come to basketball. And
that's how it started. And yeah, I know, I'm here
and he changed your life. He changed my life. That's
the reason why I bought the club as well, because
they wanted to fire him.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
He's the coach.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
He yeah, he's assistant coach. He just turned seventy one
last week, and he do a lot of individual stuff.
That's where he's best at. And yeah, bought the team,
made sure he gets what he deserves.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
And yeah, now you he was he a father figure
in life. I know you lost your dad when you
were young.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Right, Yeah, he was there. He was the only one
who really made sure that or he how can I say,
he really respected me. He knew that I wanted to
get better and that I'm a good person, and there
wasn't a lot of people out there who believe the
same thing. So really honored to have him. Without him,
(06:10):
I wouldn't I wouldn't be here and uh having these talks.
So yeah, we appreciate him.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
At least you could do was buy a team and
make sure he had a job.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
At least.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
That's great, that's a great story. And wow, wow, what
an impact one person can have on somebody's life. And
now you've had an impact on so many other people
h teammates. Not to mention your national team. I mean
you mentioned, you know, going and winning the World Cup. Uh,
you guys have become a force on the international stage
(06:42):
right now, full circle for you as an individual.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Yes, it's ten years I played there, had really five
to six and one few years with the national team,
but we never quit it, you know, we always stayed together.
And yeah, I mean winning the World Cup was I
think the biggest thing what Germany has seen, you know,
(07:10):
and everybody who wasn't at locker room, even the federation,
even the coaching staff, everybody, you know, it's really honored
to be in that spot.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Did you feel your influence on the young German players
that are coming up now, maybe young players that might
pick up a basketball in Germany? I mean, I know
Dirk Novisky is a guy who had a lot of
influence in Germany. Probably can't overstate that.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Doak is one of the best foremans who ever played
the game. So he changed basketball for the foreman having
a shot, you know, stretching the floor. So he is
the goat in basketball in general, internationally in the NBA
(08:00):
and winning the NBA Champion, being the MVP, having over
thirty thousand points speaks for itself. But I mean, I'm
I'm me personally. I just try to be the best,
you know, human being, being the best teammate, you know,
(08:21):
best dad and all the all the other stuff. And
I have my own legacy, you know, and I try
to help basketball and Germany Negro. In the last ten years,
what I've seen, what we did so far has been great.
Germany is on the map, and we have a lot
(08:43):
of young guys who are coming up, and a lot
of people in my city who are playing basketball now
because they want to become the next you know, Franz Vakna,
Isaac Bonger and all the other guys in the locker room.
So it's great to be such a like a role model,
you know, for for a whole country and even for
(09:06):
other countries as well.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
So you've you've now grown too, to where you're an
NBA veteran and you've got a family, like you mentioned.
I know, last year the trade happened, they were still
up in Toronto.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Coming back and forth.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Are they going to be here?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yep, they came yesterday at two pm. Everybody's together now
and we try to get the house situation going right
now everything.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Did they spend time? Did did they? You know your
wife comedy? Far as where to live and things like that.
I mean we didn't.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
We've seen it over FaceTime, to be honest, we didn't
fly over, but I mean now we we settling in
slowly but surely. And yeah we're looking forward, you know,
to see Brooklyn and all the restaurants, all the indoor
playgrounds for the kids, and yeah we were ready.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Well as I get to make a snarky comment about well,
you've got a lot of young kids on this team too,
but you do when you're one of the veterans. So
when you with your approach, I mean, you want to
win games and you want to play well, of course,
out the ball really well when you came, and but
you're also going to be looked on to kind of
be a mentor, and that might be as important a
(10:24):
role with this team as as anything else you're going
to do.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Yeah, I mean I just like I said, I want
to be the best human being I can be every
single day. And I have great veterans. I had great
veterans back in the day, and I want to be
the same with all these young guys in the locker room.
Of course, win games, but we can't win games if
we're not connected and we're not a team. And that's
(10:50):
what we try to bring here. Jordi as well. I
like what he did so far, and I think everybody
you know is listening, willing to listen, and yeah, we
just tried to, you know, make it a great environment.
Having fun. That's the most important, because I mean, we're
playing in the best league in the world, so we
(11:10):
can't take it for granted. We've got to be grateful
and yeah, we're gonna We're gonna be great.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
One last thing I want to ask you about a
couple of important young players. Your first game last year,
I think it was your first game with the Nets. Uh,
you threw this lob from out of bounds to Nick
Klaston dunk there. Right, he's he gets a big contract,
He's gonna be, you know, stepping it up this year.
His you you play with guys like Clink Capella, Rollman, Like,
(11:37):
where do you see Nick as far as the next
level for him?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Nick is the defensive anchor off this team. When he
has a defensive presence and he is locked in on
the defensive end, it's so so tough to score against us.
I want him all challenging him being for eighty two
(12:01):
games to do the eighty two games. It don't matter
if you lose games, win games. But I want him
to stay positive and do what he can control. And
I think when everybody just do what they can control,
we're going to be in a good spot. And I
mean Nick is even on the offensive end so important
for us with the lap threats, rebounding. You know, he
(12:25):
does so many things and of course his contract is earned.
He did great things in this league and he's going
to be even greater moving forward.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Cam Thomas, where do you see him as far as
where he can grow being?
Speaker 2 (12:44):
When I first got traded, I heard a lot of
things about him and seeing of course a lot of
things about him in social media and he's such a
great kid though, like he is, Yeah, I talked with him.
I challenged him right away. I was like, listen, I'm
here to just help you. You know, I'm I don't
(13:04):
have no egos, you know, I just try to be
the best team possible. And helped him and he adopted
in that well, really quickly, making the White decisions, finding
Nick Claxon on Lobs, you know, when they stepped up
and really looking forward for him to take the next
step in every single category, scoring, passing, being a great leader.
(13:30):
And if he does that, then he's going to be,
you know, a real problem in this league. He's already,
but he's going to be a real problem in this league.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
It's a different impression from the outside than when you
got inside, Okay.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Of him, of course, I mean it's yeah. I mean
now seeing him now every single day, how hard he
works and what he does, you appreciate. You always gotta
get to know a person first. You know what he
is about and what he's doing, and really respect what
he's bringing to the table.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
Well that is respect your career and what you've done
off the court on the court. Congratulations on that. Good
luck this season. We look to see me.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
Thank you.
Host
Chris Carrino
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