The Miami Heat have a couple of questions to answer as they head into their training camp trip to the Bahamas before the season begins. Retaining several key pieces from last year’s roster that was able to make it all the way to a Game 7 clash in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Boston Celtics, they did lose one key piece from that team.
Losing P.J. Tucker to the Philadelphia 76ers this past offseason, a team that looks oddly familiar to Houston Rockets teams of yesteryear, the Miami Heat haven’t quite been able to solidly go about filling that void on the roster. With several guys to try at the spot, none of them are a certainty and they failed to bring in another guy that might fill the spot.
With that though, another guy on the roster that might look good in that position is Bam Adebayo. Never having played the position during his entire NBA tenure, his skill set and athletic ability seemed tailor-made for the position.
While that is an interesting topic in itself, it is only the setup for the main topic of today’s chat, which is this. If you have Adebayo at the four, then that leaves a void at the five.
And for a team that has as many guys that thrive closer to the rim than not, spacing should be key. That means that whoever they slot in as the five beside Adebayo, if he is to try to man the four spot, needs to be able to stretch the floor.
The Miami Heat don’t have a certainty at the 4-spot yet, which may mean trying Bam Adebayo there. If so, they’ll need a ‘spacing-5’, such as Dewayne Dedmon.
Enter Dewayne Dedmon.
And with him now in the building and in light of the aforementioned, here’s his most important stat for the coming 2022-23 NBA season.
Dewayne Dedmon’s Most Important Stat Heading Into 2022-23: Three Point Attempts Per Game
Projection: Three Per Game
Though it doesn’t seem like a ton, for Dewayne Dedmon to average three range attempts per game would be huge for him and his team. Shooting 38.5 percent from three across his two seasons in Miami, though at only .6 attempts per game, Dedmon has shown to be a very capable shooter from the outside.
Heck and though just on .7 attempts per game last season across 67 games, Dedmon would shoot 40.4 percent from the outside. Basically, the guy needs to take more whether he’s playing beside another big, such as Adebayo, or not.
That’s especially the case next to Adebayo, but it could help the overall spacing regardless. Dedmon could really help elevate this Heat team by being able to give them his usual rough and tumble defense and intangible stuff, but just a little more on offense by way of increasing his volume from the outside.
That would go a long way towards helping them land right back in the Eastern Conference Finals in this coming season.