The Miami Heat lacked size in the middle… until Dewayne Dedmon arrived in South Florida.
When it comes to Dedmon, you’ve see what he can do in limited minutes. On top of that, he fits and that’s pretty obvious by now.
Looking deeper, even if you have to give a few dollars, it’s not so bad. Not playing a ton of organized basketball until later in his life, for real and only in college to be honest, he doesn’t have a lot of wear and tear on his body, which means he still has a ton left to give.
If what he’s given, thus far, is any indication of things to come, the Miami Heat should be more than happy to sign up for that. When you think about Ariza, it’s not quite the same, though he still appears to have quite a bit of tread on the tires as well.
Looking at Ariza, you see Jae Crowder 2.0 and that’s just being honest. What Crowder gave to this Miami Heat team last season couldn’t be quantified, which is part of the reason he was able to secure a really nice deal from Phoenix.
However, Ariza is capable of a bit more. Ariza has more wiggle, off the dribble ability, and when he’s right, is a much better finisher at the rim than Jae Crowder.
Although his shooting isn’t as prolific as the nearly 40 percent that Crowder shot for the Heat last season and is approaching for Phoenix this season, Ariza still shoots a very respectable 35.2 percent, which also just so happens to be his career average.
That means that he won’t ever get much worse than that. You also take into account that defenses tend to respect Ariza more as an offensive player, because of said wiggle that Crowder doesn’t necessarily have.