Dewayne Dedmon: Stretch Five
Aug 27, 2019, 8:00 AM
(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
The 30 year-old center will look to provide Sacramento with plenty of floor spacing this season
Much like last season, this year’s Sacramento Kings team will heavily rely on the long-ball.
While Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Harrison Barnes will in all likelihood lead the Kings in three-point attempts, there’s a solid chance that newly-signed center Dewayne Dedmon could be the fourth-best three-point option this season.
Sacramento signed the 30 year-old veteran to a three-year, $40 million deal in July with visions of pairing the shot-blocking, floor-spacing big to compliment De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley III.
After holding down the starting-center spot over the past two and-a-half seasons, Willie Cauley-Stein departed Sacramento for Golden State when free agency opened up in July. Last season, Cauley-Stein shot 31-percent from three-to-ten feet from the basket, while Dedmon shot 38-percent from the same range. Demon will also be an upgrade when it comes to scoring 10-16 feet from the basket, shooting 37-percent versus Cauley-Stein’s 35-percent.
Free-throw shooting is another massive upgrade for Sacramento, as Dedmon shot 81.4 percent from the charity stripe in 2018-19. That would have placed him among the top-six in free-thow shooting on last year’s team.
Stretch…five?
The Kings will surely benefit from Dedmon’s inside-outside scoring ability, but his floor spacing is where he is most valuable.
Sacramento ranked fourth in the league in three-point field goal percentage in 2018-19, which could further improve with the addition of Dedmon. The seven-footer surprised many around the league last season as he shot 38-percent from downtown. That number isn’t inflated by a small sample size either. Dedmon took 217 three-pointers last year and drilled 83, which would have been the fifth-most on last year’s Kings squad.
83 three-pointers is a lot of threes from a starting center, and placed him among the top-40 in all of the NBA in made three-point field goals (38th).
Dedmon’s three-point field goal percentage of 38-percent was placed himself among elite-level big men. For comparison, newly crowned NBA champion Marc Gasol, who is known for his range, shot 36-percent from three-point land on 273 attempts. While Dedmon isn’t considered in the same tier as Gasol, the numbers don’t lie when it comes to their three-point prowess. Dedmon ranked third out of all centers in three-point percentage, only trailing Minnesota’s Karl Anthony-Towns and Indiana’s Myles Turner.
With De’Aaron Fox running the point, Dedmon can expect to get his fair share of action both at the rim and on the perimeter. When Buddy Hield and Harrison Barnes are waiting beyond the arc, look for Dedmon to clean up around the rim for second chance opportunities. In transition, Dedmon can slide out to the corner for open looks:
In a set offense, Dedmon can spot up and wait for swing passes on the permiter:
The Kings will have plenty of options when it comes to spacing the floor in 2019-20. The secret weapon for Sacramento could very well be Dewayne Dedmon, or in other words, their stretch-five.
