Can Dewayne Dedmon solve the Sixers’ dilemma behind Joel Embiid?
The Sixers won't ask Dedmon for much, but taking advantage of the moments with Embiid on the court remains the best option.
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Like relief pitchers, every backup center is a failed starter. That’s an important thing to remember as you digest the news that the 76ers are auditioning yet another candidate for their long-running improv show behind Joel Embiid. In a league where there aren’t enough quality starting centers to go around, Daryl Morey’s struggle to find a suitable backup more or less logically follows.
Enter Dewayne Dedmon, whom the Sixers signed on Tuesday after he was waived by the Spurs. The addition of the 10th-year big man is a last-ditch effort to plug the long-running defensive leak on the Sixers’ bench. This season, opponents are exploiting Embiid’s absence more successfully than they have at any point in his career. The Sixers are allowing an average of 116.8 points per 100 possessions when Embiid is on the bench, the highest mark since he arrived in Philly. That’s nearly three points higher than the mark they allowed last regular season.
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Sixers’ defensive rating without Embiid
2022-23: 116.8
2021-22: 114.1
2020-21: 109.2
2019-20: 112.8
2018-19: 112.7
Can Dedmon make a difference? He certainly can’t hurt. At 6-foot-10 and 240-plus pounds, Dedmon gives Doc Rivers a much more traditional option than he currently has in Montrezl Harrell and Paul Reed. A decent rim protector and solid rebounder throughout his career, Dedmon spent the last three seasons backing up Bam Adebayo for a Miami team that last year knocked off the Sixers in the second round of the playoffs to advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
The biggest reason for skepticism is the fact that Dedmon was available in the first place. He lost his spot in the rotation this year to two-way player Orlando Robinson before Miami dealt him to the Spurs. The Heat were a better defensive team with Dedmon off the court and a dramatically worse offensive team with him on it.
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That said, the Sixers won’t be asking much from their new arrival. The goal is to simply survive any minutes when Embiid is not out there, particularly in the postseason. Dedmon is the latest in a long line of late-stage veterans who will get his chance to give them some non-disastrous minutes. DeAndre Jordan, Andre Drummond, Dwight Howard, Kyle O’Quinn — the list goes on.
At the end of the day, the Sixers’ best chance at nullifying their minutes without Embiid will probably remain the same: Run up the score with him.