Dewayne Dedmon expected to miss one to two weeks. Who will Heat turn to in the meantime?
Another injury to an already injury-riddled roster.
A little more than five minutes into the Miami Heat’s 115-112 win over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, center Dewayne Dedmon suffered what the team called a sprained left knee when he tried to gather a pass in the paint before going up for a layup. He immediately fell to the court in pain after the missed shot attempt, pounded the court and limped to the locker room. He did not return.
“I think I felt like everybody else felt when he went down and he slapped his hand on the floor,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said after the game. “Your heart sinks.”
The Heat is already down three big men in Bam Adebayo (right thumb surgery) P.J. Tucker (leg) and Markeiff Morris (whiplash). And that doesn’t even factor in being without star Jimmy Butler (tail bone) and Caleb Martin (health and safety protocols), but Martin is expected back soon as he tweeted Friday, “I’m Free,” to signal that he is out of protocols and expected to return Sunday when the Heat hosts the Orlando Magic at FTX Arena.
Now, Dedmon is missing time, too. An MRI revealed a Grade 1-Plus MCL sprain in his left knee. He is expected to miss one-to-two weeks.
Dedmon had been solid as the Heat’s starting center since Adebayo’s thumb injury. In 11 games leading up to Thursday, the 32-year-old averaged 9.2 points and 8.8 rebounds over 24.4 minutes while making 58.7 percent of his shots from the field.
With Dedmon set to miss time, signs point to Omer Yurtseven sliding into the starting lineup until Tucker or Morris returns. The rookie center has been a steady member of the Heat’s rotation the last 11 games, averaging 17.2 minutes per game and playing at least 18 minutes in seven of those 11 games. He has averaged 7.1 rebounds and 6.2 points per game in that span.
Yurtseven was on the court for a career-high 24:35 on Thursday, grabbing 12 rebounds and scoring eight points on 4-for-8 shooting. It was the fourth consecutive game in which Yurtseven had at least 12 rebounds.
After Yurtseven? The Heat’s primary options off the bench will be Udonis Haslem and KZ Okpala based on the situation and opponent.
After playing just five total games the last two seasons, Haslem has already been on the court in seven games this season — his 19th in the NBA. He was on the floor for 11:42 on Thursday, all in the second half. He grabbed five rebounds and scored all seven of his points in a five-minute flurry to end the third quarter.
“UD gave us some great minutes,” Spoelstra said. “We needed it. We’ve gone deep into our roster. We feel that we have the depth. I’ve been through these kinds of battles and these moments with UD forever. I don’t want it to end with him. I just love it, having him in our huddles and in this entire process and he still can produce in a big way.”
Added guard Tyler Herro: “He looked pretty good to me. He looked good. He’s obviously been in this for a while. He’s at the end of the bench for every game, but he’s ready to go every single night whether he plays or not.”
And in situations when the Heat is able to go with a smaller rotation, the 6-10, 215-pound Okpala will likely get opportunities at center. Okpala has played in 20 games this season, averaging 11.5 minutes on the floor per game
“We got to figure it out,” point guard Kyle Lowry said. “UD has done a great job, O is getting better and then we can go small with KZ. Hopefully P.J. is not out too long, but we’ll see what happens with that. It’s kind of one of those things where we will have to mix and match based on who we’re playing against and what the situation is calling for. We may have to go small, we may have to play big. Who knows. We just got to be ready. It’s a next man up type thing.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2021 at 10:53 AM.
.JPG)