3. Dewayne Dedmon
Coming off another under-the-radar productive season, center Dewayne Dedmon may attract several suitors this summer. After all, there are few things more alluring in today’s game than a big man who can protect the rim (1.1 blocks per game in 2018-19) and shoot the 3 (38.2 percent from behind the arc).
Like many of the other Hawks players, Dedmon’s primary job on offense was to keep the floor spread out to optimize Young’s skills as a shot creator and passer. Considering that Young is still on the Atlanta roster, the team will once again need players who can satisfy that supplementary role. Instead of hoping that someone like, say, Kevon Looney or Kyle O’Quinn could fill that void, why not bring Dedmon back?
Assuming another team doesn’t swoop in and offer him an exorbitant salary, a reunion with the Hawks makes the most sense. Sure, he could lose some minutes to Alex Len, who was just as effective in a smaller sample size. But for a team that doesn’t project to be very good defensively next year, they’ll need as much offense as they can get.
Last year’s Hawks had little difficulty creating open looks on offense, but their inability to cash in on those shots inhibited them on that end. Dedmon was one of the few consistent spot-up shooters they had, so unless Atlanta plans on getting someone who can drain those shots, they better have Dedmon on their shortlist of signees.