Dewayne Dedmon a legitimate NBA starting forward
Rob Hennigan picked up undrafted rookie Dewayne Dedmon and has allowed the hard working bruiser to establish himself as an NBA starter, despite having begun the season as one of the least regarded on the roster.
Dewayne Dedmon is a tough-nosed player whose best value right now lies in his immense energy. Much in the same manner Bo Outlaw influenced the Heart and Hustle era of Magic basketball, Dedmon is bringing relentless and imposing energy to the Magic, and now he is doing it from a starting role.
Here at OMD, we speculated that this would be the case, since Dedmon was outplaying every frontcourt Magic player, including Nikola Vucevic at times.
Now, the Magic have gone with a twin-tower starting lineup featuring Dedmon and Vucevic starting with Wednesday’s loss to the Suns.
And in many senses, it just seems like the right thing to do. Dedmon has consistently been a hard worker in every Magic contest, and when the season has already been deemed a lost cause in terms of postseason aspirations, reward the guys who play hard.
“His ability to change the game or doing the little things, getting deflections, blocking shots, being in the passing lanes and just being tough, we need that,” Victor Oladipo said earlier this season as Dedmon was picking up playing time. “We need guys like that so when he plays like that, he gives us a juice and makes us play even harder.”
The clear fact here, however, is that hard play is good play. His hustle plays earned the Magic extra possessions in the 105-100 loss to the Phoenix Suns and it is how he fought his way into a lackluster starting lineup.
At the 8:49 mark of the first quarter, Dedmon disrupted an Eric Bledsoe drive and then ran the court hard to finish a Victor Oladipo lob pass. It gave the Magic a 10-7 edge and forced a Phoenix timeout. Dedmon had both prevented a basket and scored one of his own, essentially a four-point swing due to his hard play.
He then cleaned up an Elfrid Payton brick and drew a foul to score his 5th point in four minutes of play.
While it is easy to criticize Dedmon for not having many skills around the basket, the hard work factor alone earns his buckets.
He also got the team out in transition. In the second quarter, he pinned an Alex Len dunk and made a nice outlet pass which led to a Tobias Harris three in transition. Victor Oladipo followed it up with a steal, and the Magic had amassed an 11-point lead with four minutes to go in the half.
The team was at its best with Dedmon, Payton and Oladipo playing suffocating defense, and the Suns turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter alone.
Phoenix would settle down in the second half and work away at the Magic lead, but in stretches the Magic can be a devastating team.
Dedmon cleaned up another Payton miss in transition to put the Magic within six point, and he was consistently in the right place at the right time. While a good bit of that can be chalked up to instinct, the more impressive part is a result of a guy simply always working to keep himself in plays.
In the third quarter, following a blown lob with Payton, he rushed back to grab the defensive rebound in transition and prevent Phoenix from feasting on the boards. Again, effort trumped the shortcomings of not capitalizing on a difficult pass from Elfrid.
“I thought the defense was productive with him in there,” coach James Borrego said assessing Dedmon’s first career start. “I think it’s tough for teams to score against us. Nik can play next to Dewayne. We’ve seen a lot of minutes, 55-60 minutes, throughout the year and i’ve liked him so far. We went with it. We’ve got to help each other offensively in our spacing. But defensively, that group is a very good defensive group and it showed when he was on the floor. To start the game, second quarter and into the fourth quarter, so we will likely stick with it and get better from here.”
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The Magic will need those efforts like Dedmon’s to keep it in close, fast paced games like tonight’s affair. It’s those quick possession-reversing plays that ends up making a difference in games with high numbers of possessions.
Unfortunately, the Suns had far more of those in the second half as the Magic started trying to get too creative. Payton and Oladipo combined for 12 turnovers. By the 7:27 mark of the fourth quarter, the Magic had allowed the Suns to score 22 points off turnovers.
Not many games are going to be won while the miscues are leading to buckets that often. It would have taken two more Dedmons to continually correct the miscues of the backcourt.
That is what could make Dedmon special. He shined in this fast-paced game, and he can also bang in the half court. Not all players are adaptable to the varied styles of NBA play, but it seems Dedmon could be one of those guys who is.
“Just being a defensive presence, that was big for me especially last year as far as being a presence on the block and playing defense,” Dedmon said earlier this season. “I wasn’t as big as I am now last year. I definitely had to put on some weight to hold my own on the block.
“I’m not trying to let somebody come and score on me. That’s just not what I do. I am trying to give my best effort to stop them from scoring to put my team in a better psoition.”
The comparison to Ben Wallace was made weeks ago, and that seems to be what this keeps coming back to, Ben Wallace, Bo Outlaw — those guys who just take over games without making huge statistical exclamatory statements.
Dedmon had eight boards and eight points, but posted a +9 while on the court, the best of any Magic player, done in a losing effort.
He battled some foul trouble, but that is to be expected when going after it defensively as he was. Two of the fouls were of the “silly” variety, a reach in and a bit fake on a leaning jumper, but overall he did a good job of staying on the court since he’s not usually called upon to play big minutes.
Both James Borrego and Dewayne Dedmon acknowledged he has to continue improving on playing without fouling — 6.4 fouls per 36 minutes this season.
Dedmon saw 21 minutes in the game and avoided that sixth foul.
Impressively, he converted on the three-point play early on which had to help build some confidence since free throw shooting has been a major woe of his. But that applied to Wallace and Outlaw too. Not always does a great skill set accompany a guy whose natural gifts just allow him to thrive around the basket.
Dedmon has already carved his identity in the NBA, and now it is just his job to build on that role and become the best at what he does.
That impact he makes with his grit is what is going to keep him in the Association for a long time to come, and the Magic will hope to be the recipients of most of those seasons. He is on his way quickly to becoming a double-double glue guy type of forward, and if he can work this offseason on adding a short-range jumper, he will be even more valuable.
“He makes a big difference just being out there and being active, really just defending the paint, blocking shots and protecting the rim.” –Nikola Vucevic
“He makes a big difference just being out there and being active, really just defending the paint, blocking shots and protecting the rim,” Nikola Vucevic said earlier this season. “He was great for us. He blocked shots when a couple of guys were going to the rim and he was able to block those kinds of shots. Those are big plays that kind of get you going. He’s been doing it for us all year long and we need him to keep on doing that.”
With how hard Dedmon has asserted himself thus far, it is difficult to fathom that he will not make the very concerted effort to add some offensive skills. He is not entirely deficient as it is — his cuts to the basket are timely and he is good at finishing lobs.
It is not really of the utmost importance right now to predict where Dedmon will fall offensively when he has begun to peak as a player. He is 25 years old and could still make some considerable improvements before reaching his prime, and it just so happens the Magic were fortunate enough to make the right signing.
Here’s to hoping Dedmon remains in blue and white for a good while.