What’s happened since, though, is nothing anyone could have foretold. The blueprint was there for him to succeed, because the opportunity was, too. He did not enter San Antonio’s clutches unequipped or unsuited, just unknown. The 27-year-old broke their mold-a hyper-athletic, off-the-ground, rim-running high-riser unlike anyone the Spurs have ever truly relied upon.ĭedmon beamed glimpses of good rebounding, shot-blocking and rim-rocking with the Orlando Magic. Dedmon joined newcomers Pau Gasol and David Lee, two plodding finesse bigs heavy on guile, light on youth and, so we thought, mobility. The frontcourt, by their standards, underwent an overhaul. The Spurs were not only transitioning into the post-Tim Duncan era, but the post-Boris Diaw and post-Boban Marjanovic eras. So had someone said that, after signing with San Antonio over the summer, Dewayne Dedmon would play more minutes than ever, registering career per-game highs in pretty much every category, the notion wouldn’t have been met with immense skepticism. It negates them, reverses them, often wholly, always fractionally. The brilliance of head coach Gregg Popovich and his staff, the surety of everything black and silver, doesn’t just transcend preconceptions. Plop any NBA player onto the San Antonio Spurs, and the assumption is he’ll reveal value previously unknown.
