Dewayne Dedmon, who experienced ‘The Process,’ appreciates how far the Sixers have come

One of Dedmon's first 10-day contracts was with the Sixers, who now train in a different facility than when he played for the team in 2014.

Sixers Dewayne Dedmon warms up before the game with the Cavaliers at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Wednesday.Read moreSteven M. Falk / Staff Photographer

by Keith Pompey

Published Feb. 16, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

A lot has changed since Dewayne Dedmon’s first stint with the 76ers.

The team originally signed the 6-foot-10 center to a 10-day contract on Jan. 14, 2014, calling him up from the Santa Cruz Warriors of the then-NBA Development League. Dedmon secured a second 10-day contract with the Sixers before moving on to the Orlando Magic.

But if you ask Dedmon, he will tell you his return feels nothing like a homecoming.

“This is a different facility,” he said Wednesday from the team’s training complex in Camden. “We were at PCOM [Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine] or something like that.

“Yeah, this is nice. I like this. This whole thing is [really] nice in here. So this is cool.”

But the facility wasn’t the Sixers’ only upgrade.

The team improved to 38-19 after Wednesday’s 118-112 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers are in third place in the Eastern Conference, three games behind the first-place Boston Celtics with 25 remaining. They are now 1½ games ahead of the fourth-place Cavs (38-23). Dedmon, who re-signed with Sixers on Tuesday, didn’t play against the Cavs.

All of this season’s success comes after the Sixers have made five straight postseason appearances.

But playoff appearances were the furthest things from the Sixers’ minds during Dedmon’s first stint. The 2013-14 season was the first campaign of a four-season tanking effort. It was a season in which the Sixers lost 26 consecutive games, matching the record for consecutive losses by a U.S. professional team.

“It was the beginning of ‘The Process,’” Dedmon said, referring to the slogan for the Sixers’ multi-season tank. “It was processing ‘The Process.’”

At the time, Dedmon, who didn’t begin playing organized basketball until he was 18 years old, was a raw, undrafted rookie. So he fit in perfectly on a team that used that season for player development, talent evaluation, and culture building. The Sixers hoped to lose enough games to secure a top pick in the NBA draft.

“What has it been? Nine years? Something like that,” said Dedmon, 33, now a 10th-year veteran. “So I mean, it’s great growth for the organization, you know what I’m saying? Doing big things. Just the whole processing years have turned out some really good things going on here.

“And for myself, just keep working and it’s paying off. I’m back here now and I’m ready to win.”

After his stint with the Sixers, Dedmon signed a 10-day contract with the Magic on Feb. 24, 2014. The Magic later signed him for the rest of the season. He spent the following two seasons in Orlando before signing with the San Antonio Spurs on July 14, 2016. A year later, he joined the Atlanta Hawks.

“For me, my journey started as a defensive player, defensive rebounder, shot blocker,” Dedmon said. “So that’s how it started. That’s my nature, my role until I got to Atlanta. … Atlanta kind of let me do a little more on the offensive end as far as shooting threes and stuff like that.

“But like I said, I still hang my hat on defense, being in the right spots, communicating. I’m just trying to do the right thing.”

In three seasons with the Hawks, Dedmon shot 35.8% on three-pointers while attempting 2.9 per game. He later played 2½ seasons with the Miami Heat before being traded to the Spurs on Feb. 7. Dedmon shot 34.8% from three while taking 2.0 threes per game for the Heat. Last season, Dedmon shot a career-best 40.4% from deep.

But things didn’t end well for him in Miami.

He dealt with plantar fasciitis in his left foot for most of this season, causing him to lose playing time. And Miami suspended him for a game after he got into a heated verbal altercation with coach Erik Spolestra on the sideline during a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Jan. 10. He ended up getting ejected for throwing a massage gun on the court.

Dedmon said struggling with plantar fasciitis took a toll on him mentally and hindered him from staying in game shape.

“But you know, just being able to get past that now,” he said, “and having a healthy body and ready to put that on display here in Philly, I’m ready to go.”

So are the Sixers, and their outlook has definitely changed since 2014.