National Basketball Association

San Antonio Spurs: Dewayne Dedmon's Fresh Start

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Much of the focus for the San Antonio Spurs has been on what they had lost during the offseason. While he won’t fill every hole for them, Dewayne Dedmon could be what the Spurs have been without for some time.

This year’s NBA season is not even a week old, but the shock of seeing the Tim Duncan-less San Antonio Spurs is still hard to fully shake.

Even at his advanced age, losing a constant like the legendary Tim Duncan is a tough pill to swallow for the Spurs. His retirement was obviously inevitable, but it can’t be understated how much his impact was felt on the team, beyond how well he played on the court.

Of course, Duncan hanging it up meant the Spurs had to fill the void he left behind.

Although the signing of Pau Gasol attracted plenty of attention, the much more intriguing addition the Spurs made during the offseason lies on the shoulders of a rather unknown for many followers of the NBA.

At 27 years old, Dewayne Dedmon‘s NBA journey has been far from the ideal dream.

After going undrafted in the 2013 NBA Draft, Dedmon bounced around the league for much of his rookie season, signing 10-day contracts with teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and the Golden State Warriors.

When he wasn’t fighting for a fringe roster spot, Dedmon excelled playing in the D-League and even earned All-Star honors despite playing a grand total of 15 games with the Santa Cruz Warriors (Dedmon averaged 15.2 points, 13.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game).

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Eventually, that was enough for Dedmon to secure a roster spot on the Orlando Magic late in the 2013-14 season.

From there, Dedmon was slowly able to carve out a role by playing backup big man minutes for the Magic, even to the point where he’d occasionally close out games as his tenure wore on.

Despite how much of a moderate success story he became, the Magic cut ties with Dedmon by rescinding his qualifying offer shortly after the start of free agency last offseason.

That decision was the Spurs’ gain as they signed him for a modest two-year deal worth $6 million not long after.

Now with the season finally here, Dedmon is already showing why he may become more important for the Spurs than many would have thought at the time of his signing.

Yes, it’s only the first few games, but Dedmon has gotten off to a hot start, averaging 7.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game.

But Dedmon’s initial impact lies far behind traditional box score numbers. For instance, in his 73 minutes of action, Dedmon holds the highest net rating on the Spurs (44.7 points per 100 possessions), per NBA.com/stats.

By contrast, in the 119 minutes he’s been off the floor, the Spurs are 35.9 points per 100 possessions worse, which ranks as the second worst drop off for the Spurs (Patty Mills ranks first).

Again, it’s an incredible small sample size and Dedmon does get the benefit of primarily facing second units.

Nevertheless, for a journeyman center like Dedmon who’s just four games into his tenure with his new team, his impact is incredibly bigger than anyone could have imagined at this point.

That gives the Spurs an excellent problem to have on their hands, that is if things should continue for Dedmon.

He’s a great counter to the aging Pau Gasol with his unique athleticism and shot blocking ability on the defensive end. While he remains limited offensively, Dedmon’s improved as a rim roller and is surprisingly efficient from the free-throw line as he’s a career 65 percent free-throw shooter.

It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Dedmon eventually supplants Gasol’s spot within the starting lineup, but it could become a case by case basis depending on the matchup.

This is probably getting way ahead of ourselves at this point, but Dedmon’s already been a wonderful surprise for the Spurs. Even with many more months to go in the season, it’s hard to see any of this changing anytime soon.

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