Orlando Magic Mid-Season Player Grades
Dewayne Dedmon has fallen out of the rotation, and it is fairly clear that his lack of offense is to blame. He received the lowest score of all players offensively, and Dedmon lacks a lot of the tools that could make him an effective scorer.
It is still painfully obvious when he catches the ball he is not comfortable with it in his hands. Defenses know this, too.
The result has been Dedmon struggling even to do what he does do well: finish at the rim.
Dedmon is shooting just 49.2 percent from the floor this season after finishing last year at 56 percent. He is averaging 3.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and a block per game. If he could gain some semblance of an offensive repertoire, his defensive acumen would keep him in games.
But even as defensively minded as Skiles is, it has proven hard to get Dedmon quality minutes. He has appeared in just 24 games and is averaging 12 minutes per contest. Ideally, that figure had been doubled in pre-season expectations of him improving. He just has not.
Next: No Napier?