Dewayne Dedmon Revived a Dying Heat Bench

The death of the NBA’s traditional big man has been well documented for the past decade. Traditionalists have pointed to the league’s infatuation with the three-point line as the main culprit — as well as players not looking to score on the block like Tim Duncan or Hakeem Olajuwon. In reality, big men have adapted and come in so many different shapes and sizes. You have Nikola Jokic punishing guys on the inside with his lumbering post moves that feel like the world’s most violent pillow fight. But he also can step out to the three-point line and serve up a sweet jumper or dissect you with his passing on the elbows.

Then there’s Joel Embiid and his brute strength, touch, and array of moves mesmerizing from the low block in his own way. Even if you’re not in this elite class of Centers, there’s still room for you in today’s game. You can be a rim runner who provides rim protection or a stretch five coming off the bench for spacing. This is a league where there is room for Rudy Gobert, Nerlens Noel, Dwight Powell, and Kelly Olynyk.

But for the Miami Heat this season, it’s been a roller coaster of finding any semblance of a solid backup Center. The only player who that could have been, in Kelly Olynyk, was forced to start alongside Bam Adebayo due to the team’s lack of Power Forward at the time. Chris Silva and Precious Achiuwa were far too up and down (mostly down) for any semblance of a steady bench big.

After the trade that sent away the long-haired Canadian, Miami’s search would get even dicier. Nemanja Bjelica was seen as the obvious plug-in for Kelly. But the Belly Olynyk experiment failed in only a week. Precious Achiuwa was called out of the bullpen once again by Erik Spoelstra. Those minutes went as well as you would guess. Would Coach Spo and the team find that solid backup Center that seemingly every team in the league has? Where would their Nerlens Noel/Dario Saric/Marc Gasol/Naz Reid come from?

No one could have guessed that the answer would come in the form of a player who hadn’t seen an NBA court for over a year. Dewayne Dedmon arrived in Miami and secured the role with only a couple of auditions under his belt. The name wasn’t flashy like Andre Drummond, Blake Griffin, or LaMarcus Aldridge at the time. Everyone was skeptical if he would even get playing time when the team inked him for the rest of the season. It seemed to the public Miami had only done the signing to avoid being fined for not having enough players on the roster.

But as always, Erik Spoelstra and the staff knew something we didn’t. They had a plan for the 7-feet tall big man with a 7’4 wingspan. They worked him in little by little until he had earned the minutes and trust from Coach Spo. The activity on the offensive glass was akin to Brian Grant in his heyday. The ability to set such solid screens and give the guards even more room to operate despite not being a spacer. Dedmon offered legitimate vertical spacing off the bench that was reminiscent of Chris “Birdman” Andersen.

He was filling in a role the Heat and their fans had yearned for so long—a backup center allowing you to rest your star in Bam Adebayo while simultaneously giving you a boost. They’re no longer buying time with their backup big. The team is making actual runs with their bench units — which were foreign to the team for most of the year. Dedmon has allowed a much better balance all around and given roster flexibility to the team as a whole. It isn’t as important as having a healthy Victor Oladipo, but it’s still important for a team dealing within the margins like Miami is doing.

Dedmon has been malleable in terms of fitting in with so many of the Heat’s important perimeter players. The Net Ratings of lineups featuring Dedmon with the rest of the regulars include a +27.2 with Jimmy Butler, +31.1 with Trevor Ariza, +26.7 with Kendrick Nunn, and a +18 with Goran Dragic. That last number is important because Dedmon and Dragic will see many of their minutes together for the rest of the season. Goran has talked about their chemistry and how hard Dedmon plays while still being really smart in his limited minutes. It’s given him a pick and roll partner who sets punishing screens and allows him to operate in more space.

They’re still working out the kinks, as Goran admitted in a recent postgame presser. But if this is what tinkering looks like, then it’s a good sign for what it’ll look like once they seriously start gelling. While the defense hasn’t been as impressive as the other end — it is still miles ahead of where the team’s bench was not too long ago. Dedmon’s size and wingspan are more of a deterrent to players who get into the lane. Bjelica and Achiuwa weren’t providing that same juice.

Dedmon has also shown the staff that he is willing to learn different coverages and adapt to those styles, whether coming out and blitzing or dropping back. He is much better at meeting the offensive player at the screen than Bjelica was while providing the necessary time for his teammates to recover and getting back to his initial man. He’s a vet who has seen every coverage in the book and won’t hesitate to adjust to whatever the team needs from him.

Everyone wanted the big flashy name during the transaction period a couple of months back. The DeMarcus Cousins of the world were constantly brought up as if they were the saviors of the season. The Miami Heat didn’t need a savior; they needed solid. They needed what the Washington Wizards had gotten when they swiped Daniel Gafford from the Chicago Bulls. The league is filled with so many rotation-level big men that could come in and give you a solid 15-20 minutes. Players that you don’t need to sign to big contracts because they’re easier to replace, in a way that the Running Back has become in the NFL.

The Heat finally found their Dion Lewis or James White after a search that looked like it would end in more Precious Achiuwa minutes. He may not start a game this season, but the productive change of pace he gives on a nightly basis was more than I expected him to give. The big man isn’t dead; it’s still around and playing a key role all around the league, as guys like Dedmon have demonstrated. It may not be flashy, but they’re getting the work done. Work that Miami has finally found getting done after so many applicants.