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1 After Atlanta traded for Clint Capela late Tuesday night, Dewayne Dedmon didn’t know what was going to happen with his own situation before the trade deadline. He was resigned to thinking he would have to finish the season with Sacramento. His agent told him in the weeks leading up to the trade deadline that the Hawks were trying to acquire him from the Kings, but that’s all he knew. Atlanta’s need for a center was obvious and a way out of Sacramento seemed possible with the Hawks’ pursuit, but then they landed Capela and the thought of returning seemed dead.
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3The Hawks appeared to be set at center with Capela, but general manager Travis Schlenk decided to trade Alex Len, who was sitting on Atlanta’s bench during the game against Minnesota on Wednesday night while the trade was reported, and Jabari Parker to Sacramento for Dedmon and two second-round picks. Dedmon, who signed a three-year, $40 million deal with the Kings in the offseason after leaving the Hawks, was relieved.
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5“Travis got it done, so I appreciate it,” Dedmon said Friday morning.
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7Dedmon publicly requested a trade in late December after he had fallen out of the Kings’ rotation and Richaun Holmes emerged as the starting center. The Kings signed Dedmon, thinking he would be perfect to stretch defenses with his perimeter shooting in a lineup with De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Harrison Barnes and Marvin Bagley III. Stretch defenses, he did not. Dedmon is shooting less than 20 percent from 3-point range and turned into a turnover machine with a 3-to-1 turnover-to-assist ratio this season.
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9Dedmon wouldn’t get into specifics for why he felt like his season has been so bad, but it was clear he was so unhappy with everything in Sacramento and needed to leave.
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11“Not everything works,” Dedmon said. “You have an outlet with a different kind of plug, it’s not going to fit all of the time. Sometimes, you just have differences. I’m back, so it’s all right.”
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13Dedmon wanted to re-sign with Atlanta in the summer, but Sacramento’s offer was for more money and more years than the Hawks were willing to give him. There was no animosity on Dedmon’s end with Atlanta not at least matching Sacramento’s offer.
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15He’s happy to be back because his wife wanted to return to Atlanta, where she has lots of friends and family members living. The Hawks will be happy to have him back if he can look like the player who made 38 percent of his 3-point attempts last season and was a key reason why the Hawks’ offense was so dynamic.
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17“If he can make some shots,” head coach Lloyd Pierce jokingly answered when asked how happy he was that Dedmon was back. “If he comes in and misses a whole lot of shots, then in about a week, you can ask me some questions, and it might not be so good. No, but just instantly he comes in and is asking questions in the film session, and the guys who were here were excited to see him back. We just like that energy. We know what he’s capable of doing on the court. He was a (38)-percent 3-point shooter for us last year. He rebounds it well and is a defensive voice.”
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19That voice is what the Hawks have missed this season. Pierce thinks the lineup of Dedmon, Cam Reddish and De’Andre Hunter at the 3 will be good defensively and should help the rookies grow even more because he’s going to talk on the floor. Dedmon will be able to call out where they, and the others on the floor, should be on defense. That was one of the first orders Pierce gave Dedmon when talking to him about expectations.
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21It remains to be seen if Dedmon’s performance this season was an anomaly after his two with Atlanta and if he was just so unhappy in Sacramento that it got to a point where it was affecting his performance.
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23There hasn’t been much difference between Len and Dedmon this season. Len is shooting 25 percent from 3 and provided decent-to-good rim protection for the Hawks compared to Dedmon’s 19.7 percent from 3 and slightly better rim protection. Pierce said he called Len on Wednesday night and told him Len was one of the best professionals he has ever coached in terms of being a no-maintenance player and accepting whatever role he was given.
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25Len is on an expiring contract while Dedmon is owed $13.3 million next season and $1 million guaranteed in 2021. If Dedmon can revert to what he did in Atlanta, his contract next season could be enticing to move at next year’s deadline. If he continues to play the way he did in Sacramento, it still gives the Hawks flexibility in summer 2021, when there will be several max-level free agents. But the main difference between Dedmon and Len is what Dedmon can provide in the locker room.
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27“We know what we have in Dewayne, and that was the intrigue was getting a guy who will help us in the locker room and gives us some opportunities on the court like stretching the floor,” Pierce said.
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29There’s now a logjam at center with Dedmon, Capela, Damian Jones, Skal Labissiere and Bruno Fernando all on the team, but Capela, Labissiere and Fernando are hurt. Capela is dealing with a heel injury that likely will keep him out past the All-Star Game. Labissiere hasn’t played since late December with a knee injury. He was expected to be reevaluated by Portland this week, so it’s possible he could return soon. Fernando has dealt with a calf injury, but it’s possible he’s cleared to return Sunday.
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31When everyone is healthy, Pierce said Fernando likely will get few minutes while the Hawks continue to work on his development. John Collins, who has played significant minutes at center this season, will play the four, his more natural position. Pierce said there will still be small-ball opportunities at center for Collins depending on the matchup.
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33Collins acknowledged that when Capela gets on the court, it’ll be “very important” to show the pairing can work together. Collins is eligible for a rookie extension this summer, but the Hawks don’t have to pay him then. They could wait until the following summer, but getting it done soon gives Collins peace of mind as he is hoping he gets an extension this summer.
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35With Capela and Collins having overlapping skills, the question is how Capela’s addition affects Collins’ future in Atlanta because Capela is locked in through 2022-23. The point guard in charge of trying to make it work doesn’t think it’s going to be that big of a challenge.
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37“I don’t necessarily think (Collins is) going to have to adjust his game too much,” Trae Young said. “I think it’s going to open up his game even more. When you have a guy who’s going to cause that much attention, it’s going to free him up more. Now, it’s not necessarily when he gets the ball down low, you can’t double team him as much. If we’re in a pick-and-roll, Clint could be the dunker or on the ball-side block while John’s rolling on the opposite side. I really don’t think it’s going to affect him as much as people think it is. But we’ll see when we play with each other, but right now, I think it’s fine.”
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39He thinks it’ll be fine for both of them because the Hawks’ offense is based on the pick-and-roll. The big men who are going to thrive in the offense are the ones who can set hard screens, roll to the rim and have good hands. Capela and Collins fit that role.
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41Collins’ defense has been downplayed since the acquisition of Capela, but Collins has taken a significant leap forward on that end of the floor and has provided good rim protection. He might have to take another step forward for the Hawks to commit more than $20 million per year to him, but he has shown he’s not a bad defender.
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43Young’s opinion matters to what the Hawks are doing; he is the player Atlanta has chosen to build its team around. He believes the Hawks accomplished what they wanted to at the deadline and they have a solidified group of young players at every position. But just how good they can be is something he’s not ready to firmly answer yet.
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45“It’s hard to tell because we haven’t played with each other,” Young said. “I think once we play with each other well really be able to feel if it’s going good. Everyone wants instant gratification and instantly knowing what’s going to happen and what we should expect, but we really don’t know until we play with each other. I feel like it’s going to be great for us but I don’t really know until we play together.
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47“I definitely feel like a lot of teams made some good moves, but we are up there with making some of the biggest moves. We got some really good guys and I definitely think we are one of the winners of the trade deadline.”
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49Capela’s addition is one of the reasons why he feels like Atlanta is one of the deadline winners. The Hawks have answers at center instead of the revolving door of Len, Jones and Fernando. It’s not a secret in the locker room that center has been the weakest position and it needed to be addressed.
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51“He’s one of the best big men in our league,” Young said. “I think he’s underrated because of who he’s been playing with like Russ (Westbrook) and James (Harden). He doesn’t necessarily get the recognition I felt like he deserves. Once he got traded, everyone started showing him love. I know that’s something that he likes is being underrated and not being talked about much. But being his point guard, I want to make sure people start talking about him more. That’s what I’m going to do.”
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53The Hawks now have a center in Capela, a point guard in Young, three wings in Reddish, Hunter and Kevin Huerter and a power forward in Collins. If Schlenk surrounds the young core with better talent this offseason than he did last offseason, the Hawks should take a step forward next season and enter the next stage of their team-building process.
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55“I think we’re right there,” Young said. “I think we’re ready to make that jump.”