Dennis Schroder's disastrous start as a Warrior continues

Veteran guard Dennis Schroder was supposed to solve many of the Warriors' issues, especially on defense, and give the team another reliable ball-handler and scoring threat. 

However, in his first five starts as a Warrior, Schroder has been an unmitigated disaster. During Friday's 102-92 loss to the Clippers, Schroder shot 3-of-11 and was a team-worst -16 on the floor. Known for his elite perimeter defense, he was equally ineffectual in trying to stop Clippers guards James Harden and Norman Powell, both of whom feasted on mismatches and defensive lapses. 

While Harden shot 3-of-4 in the 4:50 he was matched up with Schroder, Powell and Kris Dunn got to their spots easily, especially in the first three quarters when L.A. outscored Golden State 82-61. The Warriors would outscore the Clippers 30-21 in the fourth quarter, riding on Jonathan Kuminga's career-high 34 points. However, it was too little, too late, as the Warriors suffered their 12th loss in the last 15 games.

Despite Schroder's sluggish start, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr expects the German guard to regain the form that made him such a coveted player in the trade market.

"It's always difficult to go to a new team in the middle of the season and not know your teammates very well. He's still basically in training camp with our team," Kerr said of Schroder, via NBC Sports Bay Area. "Just going to take some time. But what you do is you trust who the player has been for 10 or 12 years, and you trust that he’ll get comfortable and settle in because it's a tiny sample size we're talking about."

In five starts as a Warrior, Schroder is averaging 8.2 points and 4.2 assists while shooting 28 percent from the field and 17.4 percent from three. In contrast, he averaged 18.4 points and 6.6 assists with the Nets while making a career-high 2.5 threes per game. 

The Warriors' season has been a tale of two halves thus far. After starting 12-3, they've gone 3-12 over their last 15 games. The recent struggles triggered a player-only meeting led by Stephen Curry ahead of the team's Christmas Day loss to the Lakers. 

Many insiders believe the Warriors are on the verge of reshaping the roster ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline, with the likes of Andrew Wiggins, Kuminga and Brandin Podziemski being shopped around for a superstar-level player.