Sacramento Kings: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason
By Phil Watson
Signing Dewayne Dedmon
Dewayne Dedmon will turn 30 next month and he will bring the Sacramento Kings a 7-foot presence who can rebound and stretch the floor.
That latter piece of Dedmon’s game is relatively new, as of his 359 career attempts from 3-point range, all but one of those have come in the last two seasons, while Dedmon with with the Atlanta Hawks.
He’s been a quick study as a stretch 5, hitting 38.2 percent of his 3.4 attempts from long range last season.
Dedmon played in 64 games and made 52 starts for a rebuilding Atlanta club as he battled a lingering left ankle injury almost all of last season.
But he averaged a career-high 10.8 points to go with 7.5 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks in 25.1 minutes per game, shooting 49.2 percent overall and hitting 81.4 percent from the foul line — a good number for a big.
Dedmon signed a three-year, $40 million deal to come to the Kings, with the final season non-guaranteed, heady stuff for an former undrafted free agent that bounced around to three different teams as a rookie before settling into a backup role with the Orlando Magic in 2014.
His career arc has been one of steady improvement, even at an age where one would expect a player to have peaked.
Dedmon projects to be the starter in the middle for the Kings next season in a time-share with another free-agent acquisition, Richaun Holmes, and young Harry Giles.
Dedmon may not be the guy to take the Kings to a championship level, but for an emerging team looking to break the playoff ceiling, he can be a good fit.
Again, the money might be a bit high, but Sacramento is still in the position where they have to offer a bit extra to get quality veterans in the room.