News & Notes: Pierce Looks to Expand Rotation With Dedmon Out
Just as the Hawks had begun inching toward full health, down went another rotation player for the short term. Atlanta has avoided any catastrophic injuries this year (unless one counts John Collins’ 25-game drug-related suspension), but has dealt with smaller, nagging ailments since the preseason.
Today, the team announced that Dewayne Dedmon, who missed last night’s game with right elbow soreness, underwent a non-surgical procedure on the same elbow at the team’s practice facility on Thursday afternoon. He’ll miss at least the rest of the homestand against Brooklyn, Portland, and Memphis, and will be re-evaluated on Monday.
“Welcome to the 2019-20 season,” Lloyd Pierce quipped. “Just kind of beat up right now.” Meanwhile, Trae Young and Damian Jones missed practice on Thursday with illnesses as DeAndre’ Bembry continues to recover from abdominal soreness. De’Andre Hunter has been dealing with a minor foot injury since the All-Star break, and the Hawks used Thursday’s practice to simply get some shots up without over-exerting themselves.
“Today was really just a maintenance day of getting some shots up and making sure we keep the healthy guys healthy while we can until we slowly get bodies back,” Pierce said.
Dedmon has been the Hawks’ primary option at center since they acquired him from Sacramento, and his absence will leave the team perilously thin in the frontcourt. He is averaging 7.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, and two blocks per game since coming to Atlanta and the Hawks have been 21.6 points per 100 possessions better in 137 minutes with Dedmon on the floor than with him off. With Clint Capela also sidelined with plantar fasciitis in his heel, Atlanta won’t have either of the centers for whom they traded earlier this month over the next few games.
This will likely create more minutes for Bruno Fernando, who started in place of Dedmon last night and is the Hawks’ best center other than John Collins, who splits time between the two frontcourt spots. Fernando played reasonably well against the Magic, logging 10 points and nine rebounds in just 21 minutes. Jones could see more time as a backup center, though Pierce mostly used Collins as his second center last night, with Jones playing just eight minutes.
While imperfect on both ends of the floor, Fernando is a solid screener, ball-mover, and rebounder who plays hard and seems to mostly understand what’s going on around him. That’s a low bar, but the Hawks don’t have many centers who clear it right now. So long as he finishes at the rim and doesn’t stray too far from his comfort zone, he ought to fit in well enough until Atlanta’s other centers eventually return.
Pierce hinted after Wednesday’s loss that he might look to expand his rotation as a means to keep fresh legs in the game and avoid overtaxing his young players. On Thursday, he confirmed his intention to distribute minutes slightly more evenly moving forward.
“You do want to develop chemistry and you don't want to overburden anyone,” he said. “I’m gonna play a lot of guys and I’m gonna try and balance out the minutes so that we have fresh bodies, especially tomorrow where we’re going into a back-to-back. We want to win the game, but we also want to be healthy.”
Lately, Collins, Trae Young, and Kevin Huerter have consistently spent north of 35 minutes on the floor, with Hunter and Cam Reddish even venturing into the high-30s as well. At this stage of the season and of the Hawks’ long-term trajectory, it’s probably smart to take some of the load off of those young players and dial back their minutes as the mileage of the season increases. Treveon Graham has seen more minutes recently with Bembry out of the lineup, and Teague has filled most of the backup guard minutes when either Huerter or Young leaves the court.
Vince Carter and Brandon Goodwin have been playing a single stint of four or five minutes each game in the last few contests, and “playing a lot of guys” would likely involve increasing at least one of their roles. It’s also likely that Jones plays more in the coming games.
