Dewayne Dedmon has begun to take more and more notice from Orlando Magic fans. He is still a bit raw, but there is a precedent set for players like Dedmon, and the ultimate upside he possesses may surprise all of us still.
Often here at OMD, we seek to compare current Orlando Magic players with former players. It is the most relevant way to relate to Magic fans exactly how these current prospects may figure into a much longer-term picture.
While the historical comparison features here at OMD have focused on singular comparisons, this one ranges deeper into a type of NBA player whose value often goes under appreciated early in the developmental process.
So, again, let us turn back the clock: In the 1999-2000 season, the Magic traded bust supreme Isaac Austin (who was signed after a standout half-season that was a flash in the pan) for Ben Wallace and three reserves whose impacts in the NBA were minimal (ESPN analyst Tim Legler, Terry Davis and Jeff McInnis).
At the time, Wallace was little more than a defensive-minded big who influenced the game with energy. There was nearly zero indication that he would be a three-time Defensive Player of the Year, nor a player who could anchor a championship team in the paint.
And that is precisely what young Big Ben became.
Donning corn rows one night and a prodigious afro the next, Wallace made his mark quickly in Orlando. He averaged 12.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per-36 in his first season with Orlando and there was no second season.
Following Wallace’s display of immense promise, the team dealt him in the sign and trade that would bring Grant Hill to The City Beautiful. It was a deal that was so no-brainer at the time, and yet the Detroit Pistons would be the ones hosting a banner on the shoulders of Wallace’s rim suffocating defense.
To see that mistake happen again with Dewayne Dedmon would be brutal. And maybe it never happens. Dedmon is a not at all the same form of energetic havoc wreaking of Wallace. But the style of play and work ethic is replicated a night by night basis.
Dedmon is averaging 12.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per-36. Numbers nearly identical to a 25-year-old Ben Wallace.
Neither player offered much offensively, and continuing that theme, both are horrible free throw shooters. But Dedmon comes up with 5.3 offensive rebounds per-36 and also shoots 53.8 percent from the floor, mostly the result of put-backs and flushes around the basket.
Dedmon is not a poor finisher, but does not handle contact well to get the automatic two points that precede a (often) missed free throw. Even so, this is not what Dedmon is in the game for, and it was not what made Big Ben successful either.
Neither player was drafted. Hopes were minimal for the free agent Ben Wallace when he signed with the Washington Wizards as a rookie, and there were not teams vying for Dedmon’s services prior to coming to Orlando.
The numbers, the game, the effort — all are similar. And while it may be punctuated optimism that leads to any hopes of Dedmon becoming a defensive terror, it is not unfounded.
Magic fans are very reticent to see the best bargain on the roster depart, and by all accounts there is no indication that will happen.
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The Magic have made the mistake once of undervaluing a defensive big, and it would have to be hoped that franchises learn from such mistakes.
While the circumstances surrounding Wallace’s departure were hinging on the signing of a future Hall of Famer in Grant Hill (as to whether he is or not he still is one is a huge digression for a distant day), it did nto really cushion the blow as that Pistons team popped bubbly and celebrated a title won with no franchise talents on the team.
The Magic may or may not ever ascend to that height, but if the team does not it should not be because it parted ways with a defensive prospect whose value is likely considerably lower to other GMs around the league than it is to his actual on-court production.
Orlando currently possesses a player whose ceiling is to be one of the league’s best interior defenders and glass cleaners. The fact that Dedmon’s work ethic is high enough to achieve any lofty goals makes him entirely invaluable to this squad.
Next: Should the Magic make a move for another rim protector?