The Miami Heat haven’t been able to get an awful lot done in free agency, being held at a gate while, hopefully, doing what they can to acquire Kevin Durant without giving up too much. However, they did manage to bring back a couple of their own so far.
Re-signing Caleb Martin on a three-year deal and bringing Victor Oladipo back for a deal that seems to be two years now (initially reported as one year deal), they weren’t the only two Miami Heat guys from last season that are set to return.
While P.J. Tucker has, of course, moved on to Philadelphia at this point, hard-working big man, Dewayne Dedmon, is back in the mix. The Mechanic has been a welcomed addition to this Miami Heat team over the last season and a half or so that he has been with them.
The Miami Heat got Dewayne Dedmon back in the mix and now he must go back to work. For him, a huge part of that is adjusting to prevent fouling on screens.
Knowing his role and doing it with full intensity all of the time he is on the court, you couldn’t ask anything more of the guy from an effort perspective. He holds his own very well when it comes to defense, even giving the Heat a semblance of rim protection during his minutes, while he even shoots the three decently to go along with his good finishing at or near the rim on offense.
When it comes to the one main wart of Dedmon’s, it’s his habit of fouling on screens. Though it’s a minute issue, in the grand scheme of things, it can cost you a possession, a score, and momentum depending on when it happens in a contest.
Again, you love the reason why he has a bad habit of the illegal screens, his effort, but you would like to see his awareness balance that out a bit more moving forward. Dedmon didn’t have his best playoff showing this past season, but that was made to look much worse than it was by the Eastern Conference Finals series that saw him phased out due to playing styles.
However, he does his job well and for a Miami Heat team that has often been categorized as undersized in the last few seasons, you can’t afford to give away a seven-foot guy with the right mindset and that shares in your mentality. That would be Dewayne Dedmon and you should love that they have him back, however, he does need to adjust to fix the screen-foul issue.