Detroit Pistons Assistant Steve Scalzi Breaks Down Dennis Schroder’s Basketball IQ

Shortly after the 2026 NBA Draft, the Detroit Pistons traveled to Las Vegas for a five-game stint in the Summer League with Steve Scalzi calling the shots on the sidelines. Scalzi, who is also the head coach of the Motor City Cruise in the G-League, has long been involved in the player development aspect of the game, so his inclusion on the bench seemed like a no-brainer. 

Spending over a decade as a professional coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns before joining the Pistons, Scalzi has a wealth of experience when it comes to working with some of the game’s top players. Scalzi worked closely with (and picked up a few drills from) Kevin Durant in the past, and he’s reapplying those sets during his time in Motown. 

But when reflecting on all of the players that he’s spent time with, Scalzi has fond memories of the two separate stints that he had working with point guard Dennis Schroder, first in OKC then once again with the Pistons. 

“What comes to mind, and I hope he doesn’t mind me using his name, but Dennis Schroder comes to mind,” Scalzi began. “To me, I’ve always joked with him that he’s the best point guard in the world because he’s lowkey a pure point guard in that sense, and then he’s obviously successful in world championship and Olympic settings and in the NBA and so forth. He’s learned from a lot of unique environments and coaches and situations.”

During the 2018-19 season, Schroder joined the Thunder for the first of two years spent in Oklahoma City, and that’s when Scalzi first began to realize how intelligent the crafty German floor general was as a player. In fact, Schroder helped Scalzi coin a term that he used this year during the Summer League while working with the Pistons.

“He would do things naturally that I’d name later,” Scalzi said. “I think I might have gotten hand-to-rim or rimless protection from him if that makes sense. And then when I’d ask him who taught him and he’d be like, ‘No one because my coaches were so traditional’ or ‘I just had to because that’s how you guarded me,’ and he was explaining back to me a philosophy that you and I now own and hold and can label and explain better.”

Scalzi was only able to work with Schroder for the second half of the 2024-25 campaign in Detroit, but the two were able to lead the Pistons back to the playoffs for the first time in five years. After that, Schroder spent last season with the Sacramento Kings at first before facing Detroit in the postseason as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he’s now a member of the Charlotte Hornets as the 12th team of his career. 

Scalzi, on the other hand, is working with the Pistons to give the organization a strong foundation that starts in the G-League. Detroit was only able to muster a 1-4 record during Summer League out in Vegas, so Scalzi is looking to establish a more victorious style of player for the Cruise when their season starts in November. Last season, the Cruise qualified for the G-League playoffs in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference, and Scalzi is hoping to lead the team to a repeat postseason appearance.