Zach Edey, 7-4

[CptCrunch]

I think this guy may have late bloom potential given that he has only played basketball since sophmore year in high school.

The rapid improvement in college stats is a potential indicator of this.Embiid started at 15. This guy started 15 also.

[big-shot-ROB]

I mean, at the second round what is wrong with picking a bigger Enes Kanter? Kanter was a good 10-15 MPG guy for the RS

[TheSuzerain]

The idea that any team might be able to get away with giving up wide open pull-up jumpers in the modern NBA is asinine. There's a reason why certain types of players consistently get played off the court and certain archetypes have all but vanished over the years.

That doesn't mean that Edey cannot be a useful NBA player. But if your idea is to just live with a barrage of open jumpers by main ball handlers in today's NBA because you hope to be able to one-up the other team on the other end, you're absolutely doomed to fail.

"The idea that teams might be able to shoot over 40 3's per game is asinine" - The-Power in 2015

If these recent efficiency trends are legit, I do think we'll see a "correction" in how defenses behave.

It very much looks like teams over-corrected in terms of defending the 3-point line and are now getting slaughtered at the rim and at the FT line. That's a league-wide matter independent of Edey, but I'd say it does potentially work in his favor.

Noteable that several of the top defenses go with the 2-big look (Cavs, Bucks, TWolves) or at least have a large, relatively immobile center (Grizz, Bulls, 76ers).

[165bows]

What I think is weird with whatever "hype" Edey is getting is that his stats are literally unchanged from last season except he's getting more minutes (which obviously translates to more PPG yay points). He has not materially changed as a player. Kind of tells me the Edey fans are fake because they weren't out in force until this season.

There were def people talking about him last year. Goes without saying a successful college season will garner more attention.

That said agree that it’s not really that accurate to say he’s somehow way more productive this year based on court time.

I think the real noteworthy thing not getting mentioned is the team defense has improved substantially replacing T. Williams for him. Of course Williams looked good as a passing big in summer league but was also the definition of unplayable defensively. I don’t think Edey is that, at least to the degree Williams was. How he dares there remains to be seen.

[JMAC3]

He is great in college, where his ability to protect the rim is elite and teams can't really space the floor effectively. Also, he is playing against smaller players in college. Some NCAA teams centers are 6-8. Going against bigger stronger players in NBA is going to really hurt his game because he isn't really all that skilled or athletically gifted.

Offensively Purdue posts him up in the middle of the paint 5 feet away and you can't stop it. NBA teams will let him take that low percentage shot all day.

[JMAC3]

But even lately we have seen teams figure out Purdue and Edey more as a result they have lost 4 of last 7 after starting year 23-1

[Klomp]

I mean, at the second round what is wrong with picking a bigger Enes Kanter? Kanter was a good 10-15 MPG guy for the RS

Kanter is an interesting comp. As a Wolves fan, I was actually thinking Nikola Pekovic.

[Klomp]

He is great in college, where his ability to protect the rim is elite and teams can't really space the floor effectively. Also, he is playing against smaller players in college. Some NCAA teams centers are 6-8. Going against bigger stronger players in NBA is going to really hurt his game because he isn't really all that skilled or athletically gifted.

Against 7-foot-1 Derrick Lively (a projected 1st round pick), he put up 21 and 12.

What bigger, stronger players is he going to face? Do people realize he's roughly 290 lbs?! He will have a strength advantage against almost anyone he faces.

[SeattleJazzFan]

But even lately we have seen teams figure out Purdue and Edey more as a result they have lost 4 of last 7 after starting year 23-1

they have figured out purdue - not necessarily edey.

in those four losses, he's averaging 25 and 13 on typical elite efficiency.

i'm not a fan of drafting edey in the first round, so don't take this as me defending him as a prospect, just in the interest of accuracy, i thought i'd throw that out there.

[treefi]

I think this guy may have late bloom potential given that he has only played basketball since sophmore year in high school.

The rapid improvement in college stats is a potential indicator of this.Embiid started at 15. This guy started 15 also.

This.

More context:

"Edey is a 16-year-old multi-sport athlete who has excelled in hockey, baseball, and now, basketball. He was, in fact, scouted by the University of Alabama for his pitching and all-round skills in baseball.
https://leasidelife.com/its-been-quite-a-ride-for-athlete-zach-edey/

[clyde21]

I mean, at the second round what is wrong with picking a bigger Enes Kanter? Kanter was a good 10-15 MPG guy for the RS

i don't know if anyone is saying that, i think most people have him as draftable, I know I do, 30-45 range makes sense for him, maybe even end of the first for a team looking for a size advantage off the bench for a PO push.

don't see how u can realistically pick him higher than that tho at this point.

[The-Power]

The idea that any team might be able to get away with giving up wide open pull-up jumpers in the modern NBA is asinine. There's a reason why certain types of players consistently get played off the court and certain archetypes have all but vanished over the years.

That doesn't mean that Edey cannot be a useful NBA player. But if your idea is to just live with a barrage of open jumpers by main ball handlers in today's NBA because you hope to be able to one-up the other team on the other end, you're absolutely doomed to fail.

"The idea that teams might be able to shoot over 40 3's per game is asinine" - The-Power in 2015

If these recent efficiency trends are legit, I do think we'll see a "correction" in how defenses behave.

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, though. We do know that good on-ball players will absolutely destroy teams if given open pull-up Js on every switch or in every PnR. These players already exist, and there's no reason to believe that shooting skills will get worse from here on out.

I'm not saying that it's impossible to come up with a defense that features Zach Edey that isn't getting destroyed. So I'm not ruling out any strategic developments. It's just a bad argument to essentially say ‘who cares about wide open pull-up 3s’ as if that's a bad shot and could easily be overcome. You'll get torched. There's a reason why slower bigs get played off the court in the playoffs consistently, and a big one is that you just can't overcome it when you give good pull-up shooters (of which there are many) open looks whenever they want. Above-the-break 3s may not be one of the most efficient shots overall but we must add context because an open pull-up 3 taken by good shooter is an incredibly efficient shot and that's what we're talking about here.

Any team that wants to feature Edey as a key rotation player needs to figure out how to prevent teams from getting lay-ups and open 3s whenever they attack him. That really shouldn't be a controversial statement.

[Big J]

The idea that any team might be able to get away with giving up wide open pull-up jumpers in the modern NBA is asinine. There's a reason why certain types of players consistently get played off the court and certain archetypes have all but vanished over the years.

That doesn't mean that Edey cannot be a useful NBA player. But if your idea is to just live with a barrage of open jumpers by main ball handlers in today's NBA because you hope to be able to one-up the other team on the other end, you're absolutely doomed to fail.

"The idea that teams might be able to shoot over 40 3's per game is asinine" - The-Power in 2015

If these recent efficiency trends are legit, I do think we'll see a "correction" in how defenses behave.

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, though. We do know that good on-ball players will absolutely destroy teams if given open pull-up Js on every switch or in every PnR. These players already exist, and there's no reason to believe that shooting skills will get worse from here on out.

I'm not saying that it's impossible to come up with a defense that features Zach Edey that isn't getting destroyed. So I'm not ruling out any strategic developments. It's just a bad argument to essentially say ‘who cares about wide open pull-up 3s’ as if that's a bad shot and could easily be overcome. You'll get torched. There's a reason why slower bigs get played off the court in the playoffs consistently, and a big one is that you just can't overcome it when you give good pull-up shooters (of which there are many) open looks whenever they want. Above-the-break 3s may not be one of the most efficient shots overall but we must add context because an open pull-up 3 taken by good shooter is an incredibly efficient shot and that's what we're talking about here.

Any team that wants to feature Edey as a key rotation player needs to figure out how to prevent teams from getting lay-ups and open 3s whenever they attack him. That really shouldn't be a controversial statement.

Play a 2-3 zone every time he’s on the floor. Like what Dallas did in the playoffs with Boban against the Clippers.

[Big J]

Anyone know if he's got a sense of humor? Helped Muresan & Boban get some bit parts in films & commercials.

[ItsDanger]

1 on 1, he's going to be hard to defend. Many teams don't have someone to stop him in the post, hence why he's doubled and tripled often in college. Help defense is much better in NBA though.

Purdue's team has little to no shot creation and erratic 3 pt shooting. In NBA, that won't be the case. In ballscreen and roll actions with more spacing, he's just going to shrug defenders off. He's 100 percentile as roll man scorer currently.

All C's have flaw(s), it's the tactics and roster around them that matters. The risk reward is worth it, not like you're spending high draft capital on him.

[Big J]

1 on 1, he's going to be hard to defend. Many teams don't have someone to stop him in the post, hence why he's doubled and tripled often in college. Help defense is much better in NBA though.

Purdue's team has little to no shot creation and erratic 3 pt shooting. In NBA, that won't be the case. In ballscreen and roll actions with more spacing, he's just going to shrug defenders off. He's 100 percentile as roll man scorer currently.

All C's have flaw(s), it's the tactics and roster around them that matters. The risk reward is worth it, not like you're spending high draft capital on him.

It doesn't matter how hard he is to defend. If he can't stay in front of guys on defense he's never seeing the floor. I don't know why people keep falling for this archetype. These guys are dinosaurs in the modern NBA.

[ItsDanger]

Read on Twitter

stat refers to conference play, which is what most prospects should be measured on.

[mattg]

1 on 1, he's going to be hard to defend. Many teams don't have someone to stop him in the post, hence why he's doubled and tripled often in college. Help defense is much better in NBA though.

Purdue's team has little to no shot creation and erratic 3 pt shooting. In NBA, that won't be the case. In ballscreen and roll actions with more spacing, he's just going to shrug defenders off. He's 100 percentile as roll man scorer currently.

All C's have flaw(s), it's the tactics and roster around them that matters. The risk reward is worth it, not like you're spending high draft capital on him.

It doesn't matter how hard he is to defend. If he can't stay in front of guys on defense he's never seeing the floor. I don't know why people keep falling for this archetype. These guys are dinosaurs in the modern NBA.

Like 4 years ago Brook Lopez was on his way out of the league and being looked at as one of those dinosaurs. An all offense, immobile 7'1'' center who never had a reputation as even an average defender.

Since getting into the right situation in Milwaukee with the right scheme around him, he's helped anchor elite defenses as a shot blocker and deterrent while contesting more shots per game than any other NBA player and is a legitimate DPOY candidate.

Now I'm not saying that Edey is coming in and playing to that level for sure or anything. But as a 2nd round flyer? He's a great value because he could be developed into a nice impact guy especially in the regular season, even if he does get played off the floor in some matchups.

[TheSuzerain]

His defense is definitely scheme dependent as he has obvious limitations.

But offensively he has a big time ceiling it seems to me. And on the strength of that alone he's a lotto guy for sure.

[sisibilio]

I mean, at the second round what is wrong with picking a bigger Enes Kanter? Kanter was a good 10-15 MPG guy for the RS

Kanter is an interesting comp. As a Wolves fan, I was actually thinking Nikola Pekovic.

Yep, taller Pekovic is arguably the most accurate.