Edey @ #32?

[Randle McMurphy]

All of the draft rating opinions I've seen in the past 24 hours suggest he is going to be long gone by the second round, and is going to have a long NBA career if he lands in the right spot. As one pundit said, if you doubt his chances, even in today's NBA, you would have believed that Yao Ming would fail in the NBA.

It isn't the mid-2000s anymore, the league is hugely different now than it was two decades ago with a dramatically faster pace and speed, even back in the 2000s Yao played limited minutes and struggled to stay on the court, I can't imagine what his career would have been like if he had to play in the modern NBA.

These days even stars rarely play heavy minutes, this year there are only 19 players in the NBA averaging 35MPG or more, travel back in time to 2004 and there were a whopping 55 players who did, many of those were even playing 80+ games per season or at least close to it. In spite of that reduction in playing time injuries are now everywhere, players can't stay on the court and many stars aren't even playing the 65 games required to qualify for post season awards.

The difference now is that success in the 2020s NBA requires players to run up and down the floor at a breakneck pace and sprint out from under the basket or across the court to contest 3 pointers in a way that wasn't necessary or even conceivable back in the 2000s. Switch defences and the need for floor spacing have teams prioritizing big men with foot speed and guard skills over the lumbering behemoths of old.

Exactly. And for those that don’t watch it regularly, the college game is also basically like taking a step 30 years into the past. A much slower pace, no fluidity of movement, no spacing and very little outside shooting. For all intents and purposes, it’s a completely different sport where back to the basket scoring bigs can still have a massive impact on the game even with defensive limitations.

[LBJKB24MJ23]

Edey playing amazing will help his NBA Draft stock for sure. he won't be there in 2nd round. i'm not even sure he will be there at the Pacer's pick either.

[MEDIC]

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I actually like this take & I agree with it. If a player like Edey can't make the NBA, there is some.issues with the NBA game. Part of the allure of the NBA game historically was to not only see elite arhletes, but it was also to see Giants like Mutumbo, Yao Ming, etc. These guys were very famous players for a reason. Yao was an international star & made a ton of money for the NBA. There should be a place for players like this in the NBA. I miss the highlight plays of the elite shot blockers like Mutumbo. It's something that is missing from todays game.

I wonder if it's possible for a team to have success with slowing the game down & running half court sets, much like Purdue does. You never know.....trends change in the NBA constantly.

[tecumseh18]

All of the draft rating opinions I've seen in the past 24 hours suggest he is going to be long gone by the second round, and is going to have a long NBA career if he lands in the right spot. As one pundit said, if you doubt his chances, even in today's NBA, you would have believed that Yao Ming would fail in the NBA.

It isn't the mid-2000s anymore, the league is hugely different now than it was two decades ago with a dramatically faster pace and speed, even back in the 2000s Yao played limited minutes and struggled to stay on the court, I can't imagine what his career would have been like if he had to play in the modern NBA.

These days even stars rarely play heavy minutes, this year there are only 19 players in the NBA averaging 35MPG or more, travel back in time to 2004 and there were a whopping 55 players who did, many of those were even playing 80+ games per season or at least close to it. In spite of that reduction in playing time injuries are now everywhere, players can't stay on the court and many stars aren't even playing the 65 games required to qualify for post season awards.

The difference now is that success in the 2020s NBA requires players to run up and down the floor at a breakneck pace and sprint out from under the basket or across the court to contest 3 pointers in a way that wasn't necessary or even conceivable back in the 2000s. Switch defences and the need for floor spacing have teams prioritizing big men with foot speed and guard skills over the lumbering behemoths of old.

Exactly. And for those that don’t watch it regularly, the college game is also basically like taking a step 30 years into the past. A much slower pace, no fluidity of movement, no spacing and very little outside shooting. For all intents and purposes, it’s a completely different sport where back to the basket scoring bigs can still have a massive impact on the game even with defensive limitations.

To be fair, those perimeter guys on Perdue normally shoot the lights out. And that spacing has to be a huge help to Edey. Now, can that offence (basically what Stan was doing with Orlando back in the Dwight Howard days) work in today's NBA? Maybe, but the quick transitions still are a problem. The only solution would be if Edey could lumber his way to the top of the arc as the trailer on a fast break, and be able to hit a catch and shoot 3 ball from there (or at least make a creative pass).

Evolving into Brook Lopez is the dream scenario, but Brook shot ~76% from the line in his second year at Stanford. He's been shooting ~80% for his whole career in the league. Edey has been a consistent 70% for all four years of college, and was slightly less that that in his 22 FTs against Tennessee. Is that suggestive of someone who can be taught to shoot 3s?

But I suspect it's Edey's lack of a passing game that would cause Darko to veto the Raptors drafting him. As much as I dislike KO's overall game, he can pass the rock, and that's undoubtedly why the Raps acquired and re-signed him. Right now, the emphasis is on offence, and getting the guys like Gradey, Ochai and IQ accustomed to giving up the ball and getting it back.

[Randle McMurphy]

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I actually like this take & I agree with it. If a player like Edey can't make the NBA, there is some.issues with the NBA game. Part of the allure of the NBA game historically was to not only see elite arhletes, but it was also to see Giants like Mutumbo, Yao Ming, etc. These guys were very famous players for a reason. Yao was an international star & made a ton of money for the NBA. There should be a place for players like this in the NBA. I miss the highlight plays of the elite shot blockers like Mutumbo. It's something that is missing from todays game.

I wonder if it's possible for a team to have success with slowing the game down & running half court sets, much like Purdue does. You never know.....trends change in the NBA constantly.

NBA teams have realized since those days that playing fast and generating open 3s is far more efficient than feeding the ball in the post for contested 2s, so it won’t be returning to that any time soon (unless they change the scoring rules).

Blame Steve Nash’s Suns and Steph Curry’s Warriors for “ruining” the game.

[ciueli]

All of the draft rating opinions I've seen in the past 24 hours suggest he is going to be long gone by the second round, and is going to have a long NBA career if he lands in the right spot. As one pundit said, if you doubt his chances, even in today's NBA, you would have believed that Yao Ming would fail in the NBA.

It isn't the mid-2000s anymore, the league is hugely different now than it was two decades ago with a dramatically faster pace and speed, even back in the 2000s Yao played limited minutes and struggled to stay on the court, I can't imagine what his career would have been like if he had to play in the modern NBA.

These days even stars rarely play heavy minutes, this year there are only 19 players in the NBA averaging 35MPG or more, travel back in time to 2004 and there were a whopping 55 players who did, many of those were even playing 80+ games per season or at least close to it. In spite of that reduction in playing time injuries are now everywhere, players can't stay on the court and many stars aren't even playing the 65 games required to qualify for post season awards.

The difference now is that success in the 2020s NBA requires players to run up and down the floor at a breakneck pace and sprint out from under the basket or across the court to contest 3 pointers in a way that wasn't necessary or even conceivable back in the 2000s. Switch defences and the need for floor spacing have teams prioritizing big men with foot speed and guard skills over the lumbering behemoths of old.

How does Jokic dominate and win titles requiring deep runs in a difficult Western conference? How does Embiid win an MVP being 7 feet? These guys are not sprinting down the court by any means. The key for Edey will be adding other skills like passing and shooting to extend his impact beyond post-ups. Kid is 21 and throwing 40-20 type games at teams. There is room for growth.

Dan Hurley said he should be lotto, and a high level NBA guy without hesitation. I just think people get stuck in a way of thinking about players when we overlook the fact that he is a special player who is likely not done growing as a player. He has only played bball for 6 years - four at Purdue. He is just getting started.

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Edey is not remotely close to Jokic or Embiid, he's more like Boban Marjanović or Shawn Bradley. Bradley in particular was a dominant big in college for one season before moving to the NBA where he was nothing special, and he was much better than Edey was in his college rookie season averaging over 5 blocks per game as a freshman back in an era when most of the good players still played multiple seasons in college before moving on to the NBA (so against much tougher competition).

I've been watching him throughout the tournament and he won't be able to play the way he does in college at the NBA level, NBA centres have get out and guard the perimeter, they can't stand under the basket 100% of the time guarding no one. And he won't be going up against 6'9" or even shorter centres in the NBA, every night he'll be fighting 7ft+ centres who are strong and fast, many even having a 3 point shot he'll have to respect.

Realistically, this is the guy who couldn't even get playing time on a Canadian international team desperate for size, instead they played small the whole World Cup using Kelly Olynyk (career backup C who is an average defender at best) and Dwight Powell (currently averaging under 4PPG in 13.7MPG for Dallas) as their centres. If he can't see playing time under an international rule set that is more favourable to his size and skills, how does he have any chance making it work in the NBA?

[MEDIC]

Exactly. And for those that don’t watch it regularly, the college game is also basically like taking a step 30 years into the past. A much slower pace, no fluidity of movement, no spacing and very little outside shooting. For all intents and purposes, it’s a completely different sport where back to the basket scoring bigs can still have a massive impact on the game even with defensive limitations.

The NBA isn't a very pure form of basketball. It's pretty much the only league in the world that manages it's games in a sensationalist WWE style. It allows travelling, carrying the ball, etc.

If you have kids in Rep basketball, you'll notice that none of the games are being officiated like an NBA game. Youth basketball follows FIBA rules for the most part. NCAA & FIBA are very similar.

I agree with you that NCAA & NBA are completely different sports, but should they be? I think the NBA has strayed too far from what basketball is supposed to be..

[And1Skip]

There's no denying that Edey at that size isn't as mobile and quick as someone like Wemby. What he does well is that he understands his current limitations well. Though he has improved his lateral quickness every year, watching the recent games, you also see he's never in foul trouble. I don't believe he has fouled out once this season - he's not a crazy shot blocker and just uses his size and length vertically only. He contests, but only up to a point to avoid the obvious foul. Of course, he could improve a little bit by taking some more chances at the rim, but I think that's by design because he's way more important on offence for this team than defence. Thus, at first when I was watching him on defence I see some easy baskets at the rim by the other team, but realize later that its by design especially earlier in the game, which gives him the ability to more chances later such as blocking Knecht's layup attempt at the end of the game. Still lots of room to improve, but I don't doubt that won't judging by his development over last 4 years in college.

[Randle McMurphy]

It isn't the mid-2000s anymore, the league is hugely different now than it was two decades ago with a dramatically faster pace and speed, even back in the 2000s Yao played limited minutes and struggled to stay on the court, I can't imagine what his career would have been like if he had to play in the modern NBA.

These days even stars rarely play heavy minutes, this year there are only 19 players in the NBA averaging 35MPG or more, travel back in time to 2004 and there were a whopping 55 players who did, many of those were even playing 80+ games per season or at least close to it. In spite of that reduction in playing time injuries are now everywhere, players can't stay on the court and many stars aren't even playing the 65 games required to qualify for post season awards.

The difference now is that success in the 2020s NBA requires players to run up and down the floor at a breakneck pace and sprint out from under the basket or across the court to contest 3 pointers in a way that wasn't necessary or even conceivable back in the 2000s. Switch defences and the need for floor spacing have teams prioritizing big men with foot speed and guard skills over the lumbering behemoths of old.

Exactly. And for those that don’t watch it regularly, the college game is also basically like taking a step 30 years into the past. A much slower pace, no fluidity of movement, no spacing and very little outside shooting. For all intents and purposes, it’s a completely different sport where back to the basket scoring bigs can still have a massive impact on the game even with defensive limitations.

To be fair, those perimeter guys on Perdue normally shoot the lights out. And that spacing has to be a huge help to Edey. Now, can that offence (basically what Stan was doing with Orlando back in the Dwight Howard days) work in today's NBA? Maybe, but the quick transitions still are a problem. The only solution would be if Edey could lumber his way to the top of the arc as the trailer on a fast break, and be able to hit a catch and shoot 3 ball from there (or at least make a creative pass).

Evolving into Brook Lopez is the dream scenario, but Brook shot ~76% from the line in his second year at Stanford. He's been shooting ~80% for his whole career in the league. Edey has been a consistent 70% for all four years of college, and was slightly less that that in his 22 FTs against Tennessee. Is that suggestive of someone who can be taught to shoot 3s?

But I suspect it's Edey's lack of a passing game that would cause Darko to veto the Raptors drafting him. As much as I dislike KO's overall game, he can pass the rock, and that's undoubtedly why the Raps acquired and re-signed him. Right now, the emphasis is on offence, and getting the guys like Gradey, Ochai and IQ accustomed to giving up the ball and getting it back.

Purdue is the best 3PT shooting team in the entire nation (and largely because the only way college teams can defend Edey is sending doubles at him on every possession leading to completely open shots for all of them). They are far from the norm if we are talking college basketball. It’s a very congested and much more physical game in general to the point that it’s quite jarring.

And I too think Edey could probably score efficiently in the post in the NBA (although it would definitely be a lot harder for him against NBA size). The problem for him though is just about everything else in today’s modern game.

[ciueli]

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I actually like this take & I agree with it. If a player like Edey can't make the NBA, there is some.issues with the NBA game. Part of the allure of the NBA game historically was to not only see elite arhletes, but it was also to see Giants like Mutumbo, Yao Ming, etc. These guys were very famous players for a reason. Yao was an international star & made a ton of money for the NBA. There should be a place for players like this in the NBA. I miss the highlight plays of the elite shot blockers like Mutumbo. It's something that is missing from todays game.

I wonder if it's possible for a team to have success with slowing the game down & running half court sets, much like Purdue does. You never know.....trends change in the NBA constantly.

NBA teams have realized since those days that playing fast and generating open 3s is far more efficient than feeding the ball in the post for contested 2s, so it won’t be returning to that any time soon (unless they change the scoring rules).

Blame Steve Nash’s Suns and Steph Curry’s Warriors for “ruining” the game.

The team I blame is the 2010-11 Dallas Mavericks. Before they won the title no one believed you could win shooting a lot of threes, everyone thought teams like the Lakers (built around size and rebounding with Gasol and Bynum) would always win. The Mavs came along and utterly destroyed them, then followed it up by beating the heavily favoured Heat "superteam" (a team with exactly zero stars that were decent 3 point shooters at the time) and the NBA was never the same.

[Randle McMurphy]

Exactly. And for those that don’t watch it regularly, the college game is also basically like taking a step 30 years into the past. A much slower pace, no fluidity of movement, no spacing and very little outside shooting. For all intents and purposes, it’s a completely different sport where back to the basket scoring bigs can still have a massive impact on the game even with defensive limitations.

The NBA isn't a very pure form of basketball. It's pretty much the only league in the world that manages it's games in a sensationalist WWE style. It allows travelling, carrying the ball, etc.

If you have kids in Rep basketball, you'll notice that none of the games are being officiated like an NBA game. Youth basketball follows FIBA rules for the most part. NCAA & FIBA are very similar.

I agree with you that NCAA & NBA are completely different sports, but should they be? I think the NBA has strayed too far from what basketball is supposed to be..

Well that’s one way to look at it. I probably watch more NCAA than NBA when both those seasons are on and in my view the NBA is a far superior product from an entertainment perspective (particularly come playoff time when everyone actually gives as ****). The NCAA can be a very difficult watch at times due to the lack of skill and just how physical some of these teams make the games to make up for that. Teams like UConn are the exception to the norm.

[Randle McMurphy]

It isn't the mid-2000s anymore, the league is hugely different now than it was two decades ago with a dramatically faster pace and speed, even back in the 2000s Yao played limited minutes and struggled to stay on the court, I can't imagine what his career would have been like if he had to play in the modern NBA.

These days even stars rarely play heavy minutes, this year there are only 19 players in the NBA averaging 35MPG or more, travel back in time to 2004 and there were a whopping 55 players who did, many of those were even playing 80+ games per season or at least close to it. In spite of that reduction in playing time injuries are now everywhere, players can't stay on the court and many stars aren't even playing the 65 games required to qualify for post season awards.

The difference now is that success in the 2020s NBA requires players to run up and down the floor at a breakneck pace and sprint out from under the basket or across the court to contest 3 pointers in a way that wasn't necessary or even conceivable back in the 2000s. Switch defences and the need for floor spacing have teams prioritizing big men with foot speed and guard skills over the lumbering behemoths of old.

How does Jokic dominate and win titles requiring deep runs in a difficult Western conference? How does Embiid win an MVP being 7 feet? These guys are not sprinting down the court by any means. The key for Edey will be adding other skills like passing and shooting to extend his impact beyond post-ups. Kid is 21 and throwing 40-20 type games at teams. There is room for growth.

Dan Hurley said he should be lotto, and a high level NBA guy without hesitation. I just think people get stuck in a way of thinking about players when we overlook the fact that he is a special player who is likely not done growing as a player. He has only played bball for 6 years - four at Purdue. He is just getting started.

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?s=20

Edey is not remotely close to Jokic or Embiid, he's more like Boban Marjanović or Shawn Bradley. Bradley in particular was a dominant big in college for one season before moving to the NBA where he was nothing special, and he was much better than Edey was in his college rookie season averaging over 5 blocks per game as a freshman back in an era when most of the good players still played multiple seasons in college before moving on to the NBA (so against much tougher competition).

I've been watching him throughout the tournament and he won't be able to play the way he does in college at the NBA level, NBA centres have get out and guard the perimeter, they can't stand under the basket 100% of the time guarding no one. And he won't be going up against 6'9" or even shorter centres in the NBA, every night he'll be fighting 7ft+ centres who are strong and fast, many even having a 3 point shot he'll have to respect.

Realistically, this is the guy who couldn't even get playing time on a Canadian international team desperate for size, instead they played small the whole World Cup using Kelly Olynyk (career backup C who is an average defender at best) and Dwight Powell (currently averaging under 4PPG in 13.7MPG for Dallas) as their centres. If he can't see playing time under an international rule set that is more favourable to his size and skills, how does he have any chance making it work in the NBA?

He doesn’t and I think everyone that understands what the NBA has become and/or is being honest about what Edey is gets that.

Playing Edey major minutes in the NBA will certainly just lead to a barrage of open 3s against you.

[Randle McMurphy]

I actually like this take & I agree with it. If a player like Edey can't make the NBA, there is some.issues with the NBA game. Part of the allure of the NBA game historically was to not only see elite arhletes, but it was also to see Giants like Mutumbo, Yao Ming, etc. These guys were very famous players for a reason. Yao was an international star & made a ton of money for the NBA. There should be a place for players like this in the NBA. I miss the highlight plays of the elite shot blockers like Mutumbo. It's something that is missing from todays game.

I wonder if it's possible for a team to have success with slowing the game down & running half court sets, much like Purdue does. You never know.....trends change in the NBA constantly.

NBA teams have realized since those days that playing fast and generating open 3s is far more efficient than feeding the ball in the post for contested 2s, so it won’t be returning to that any time soon (unless they change the scoring rules).

Blame Steve Nash’s Suns and Steph Curry’s Warriors for “ruining” the game.

The team I blame is the 2010-11 Dallas Mavericks. Before they won the title no one believed you could win shooting a lot of threes, everyone thought teams like the Lakers (built around size and rebounding with Gasol and Bynum) would always win. The Mavs came along and utterly destroyed them, then followed it up by beating the heavily favoured Heat "superteam" (a team with exactly zero stars that were decent 3 point shooters at the time) and the NBA was never the same.

That Mavs team certainly helped shift things, but I’d say teams trying to replicate the Warriors had the biggest impact of all.

[Dalek]

Edey is not remotely close to Jokic or Embiid, he's more like Boban Marjanović or Shawn Bradley. Bradley in particular was a dominant big in college for one season before moving to the NBA where he was nothing special, and he was much better than Edey was in his college rookie season averaging over 5 blocks per game as a freshman back in an era when most of the good players still played multiple seasons in college before moving on to the NBA (so against much tougher competition).

I've been watching him throughout the tournament and he won't be able to play the way he does in college at the NBA level, NBA centres have get out and guard the perimeter, they can't stand under the basket 100% of the time guarding no one. And he won't be going up against 6'9" or even shorter centres in the NBA, every night he'll be fighting 7ft+ centres who are strong and fast, many even having a 3 point shot he'll have to respect.

Realistically, this is the guy who couldn't even get playing time on a Canadian international team desperate for size, instead they played small the whole World Cup using Kelly Olynyk (career backup C who is an average defender at best) and Dwight Powell (currently averaging under 4PPG in 13.7MPG for Dallas) as their centres. If he can't see playing time under an international rule set that is more favourable to his size and skills, how does he have any chance making it work in the NBA?

I think the Team Canada perspective is interesting because Edey was coming into that program with established NBA players who were also veteran FIBA players. He was 21 and in a process of learning the game there. I do think, since last summer's event he took a step confidence-wise. It is like he is realizing how dominant he is.

The DR game he got quite a bit of run with KAT on the floor and he didn't look out of place, but you can tell it was eye opening to see a seven foot guy like KAT shoot stepbacks. But, from the 3Q on, Edey helped Canada on a number of their runs and had 6 and 5 and was a +8:

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=FreeDawkins

Side note: I do remember Edey being cut a few years ago in 2021 and then Canada lost to Czech Rep. in Victoria because they were dominated by 7 ft. journeyman Ondrej Balvin. This year in Paris for the Olympics, I expect Edey to get more run as they face a team with Rudy Gobert or Jokic.

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Edey is not remotely close to Jokic or Embiid, he's more like Boban Marjanović or Shawn Bradley. Bradley in particular was a dominant big in college for one season before moving to the NBA where he was nothing special, and he was much better than Edey was in his college rookie season averaging over 5 blocks per game as a freshman back in an era when most of the good players still played multiple seasons in college before moving on to the NBA (so against much tougher competition).

I've been watching him throughout the tournament and he won't be able to play the way he does in college at the NBA level, NBA centres have get out and guard the perimeter, they can't stand under the basket 100% of the time guarding no one. And he won't be going up against 6'9" or even shorter centres in the NBA, every night he'll be fighting 7ft+ centres who are strong and fast, many even having a 3 point shot he'll have to respect.

Realistically, this is the guy who couldn't even get playing time on a Canadian international team desperate for size, instead they played small the whole World Cup using Kelly Olynyk (career backup C who is an average defender at best) and Dwight Powell (currently averaging under 4PPG in 13.7MPG for Dallas) as their centres. If he can't see playing time under an international rule set that is more favourable to his size and skills, how does he have any chance making it work in the NBA?

I think the Team Canada perspective is interesting because Edey was coming into that program with established NBA players who were also veteran FIBA players. He was 21 and in a process of learning the game there. I do think, since last summer's event he took a step confidence-wise. It is like he is realizing how dominant he is.

The DR game he got quite a bit of run with KAT on the floor and he didn't look out of place, but you can tell it was eye opening to see a seven foot guy like KAT shoot stepbacks. But, from the 3Q on, Edey helped Canada on a number of their runs and had 6 and 5 and was a +8:

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=FreeDawkins

Side note: I do remember Edey being cut a few years ago in 2021 and then Canada lost to Czech Rep. in Victoria because they were dominated by 7 ft. journeyman Ondrej Balvin. This year in Paris for the Olympics, I expect Edey to get more run as they face a team with Rudy Gobert or Jokic.

It's the minutes, if he's playing a back-up role with limited time. The production's going to look bad. Give him north of 28 minutes however, the production will follow.

[Dalek]

There's no denying that Edey at that size isn't as mobile and quick as someone like Wemby. What he does well is that he understands his current limitations well. Though he has improved his lateral quickness every year, watching the recent games, you also see he's never in foul trouble. I don't believe he has fouled out once this season - he's not a crazy shot blocker and just uses his size and length vertically only. He contests, but only up to a point to avoid the obvious foul. Of course, he could improve a little bit by taking some more chances at the rim, but I think that's by design because he's way more important on offence for this team than defence. Thus, at first when I was watching him on defence I see some easy baskets at the rim by the other team, but realize later that its by design especially earlier in the game, which gives him the ability to more chances later such as blocking Knecht's layup attempt at the end of the game. Still lots of room to improve, but I don't doubt that won't judging by his development over last 4 years in college.

I also think it is definitely calculated when Edey does hard contests at the rim. Overall, he cannot afford to be on the bench with foul trouble during these games. In the NBA, he likely has more freedom to defend and the team that drafts him will likely want more rim protection. His issue will be guarding pick and rolls in the NBA - even in drop coverage there is a science to that.

Brook Lopez is awesome at using drop coverage as a weapon and is a similar speed as Edey. Just think of Edey in a couple years becoming like Brook Lopez (Brook has a 7'6 WS compared to Zach's 7'10.5 WS).

Watch on YouTube

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I do think if you draft Edey and want him to be effective you need a strong defensive guard. The Bucks had a top defense with Brook, Giannis and Holiday. Toronto could have Edey and Barnes, but they need a strong perimeter defender. A guy like Castle or Devin Carter seems intriguing as a secondary draft.

[MEDIC]

There's no denying that Edey at that size isn't as mobile and quick as someone like Wemby. What he does well is that he understands his current limitations well. Though he has improved his lateral quickness every year, watching the recent games, you also see he's never in foul trouble. I don't believe he has fouled out once this season - he's not a crazy shot blocker and just uses his size and length vertically only. He contests, but only up to a point to avoid the obvious foul. Of course, he could improve a little bit by taking some more chances at the rim, but I think that's by design because he's way more important on offence for this team than defence. Thus, at first when I was watching him on defence I see some easy baskets at the rim by the other team, but realize later that its by design especially earlier in the game, which gives him the ability to more chances later such as blocking Knecht's layup attempt at the end of the game. Still lots of room to improve, but I don't doubt that won't judging by his development over last 4 years in college.

I was saying the exact same thing to a friend yesterday.

1. Edey is playing 95% of the minutes at C during this tourney. In the NBA it would probably be 20-25 minutes a game. Maybe 30 some games. He could expend maximum effort on Defense in the NBA.

2. Their offense doesn't work without him on the floor. Coach can't afford to have him in foul trouble or his 3 point shooters won't have the open looks. Sometimes it looks like his reaction speed ia slow, but as you said, this may be by design. Once NBA teams start working him out, they will be able to figure this out.

3. Right now he is the # 1 option on the team by a mile. They heavily rely on his scoring to win games. A big guy like that would foul out quickly if overly aggressive on defense.

There are some things about the NBA game that would hinder him (#1 is 3 in the key). There are also some things that would help him (more foul calls in his favour & more spacing in the post due to the extended 3)

His game would have to change pretty drastically in the NBA. Adjust to 3 in the key. Be a more aggressive rim protector. Improve his passing. Develop a reliable 3 point shot. It just depends on whether teams believe he can make these adjustments.

It would be interesting if San Antonio took him. Wemby is the elite big man help defender in the league. They might be winning multiple championships with that size.

Raps drop to 7th. SA takes Edey with Raps pick. SA goes on to have a dynasty (Tim Duncan/ David Robinson 2.0). Sounds like a very Raptor thing to happen.

[mtcan]

There's no denying that Edey at that size isn't as mobile and quick as someone like Wemby. What he does well is that he understands his current limitations well. Though he has improved his lateral quickness every year, watching the recent games, you also see he's never in foul trouble. I don't believe he has fouled out once this season - he's not a crazy shot blocker and just uses his size and length vertically only. He contests, but only up to a point to avoid the obvious foul. Of course, he could improve a little bit by taking some more chances at the rim, but I think that's by design because he's way more important on offence for this team than defence. Thus, at first when I was watching him on defence I see some easy baskets at the rim by the other team, but realize later that its by design especially earlier in the game, which gives him the ability to more chances later such as blocking Knecht's layup attempt at the end of the game. Still lots of room to improve, but I don't doubt that won't judging by his development over last 4 years in college.

I was saying the exact same thing to a friend yesterday.

1. Edey is playing 95% of the minutes at C during this tourney. In the NBA it would probably be 20-25 minutes a game. Maybe 30 some games. He could expend maximum effort on Defense in the NBA.

2. Their offense doesn't work without him on the floor. Coach can't afford to have him in foul trouble or his 3 point shooters won't have the open looks. Sometimes it looks like his reaction speed ia slow, but as you said, this may be by design. Once NBA teams start working him out, they will be able to figure this out.

3. Right now he is the # 1 option on the team by a mile. They heavily rely on his scoring to win games. A big guy like that would foul out quickly if overly aggressive on defense.

There are some things about the NBA game that would hinder him (#1 is 3 in the key). There are also some things that would help him (more foul calls in his favour & more spacing in the post due to the extended 3)

His game would have to change pretty drastically in the NBA. Adjust to 3 in the key. Be a more aggressive rim protector. Improve his passing. Develop a reliable 3 point shot. It just depends on whether teams believe he can make these adjustments.

It would be interesting if San Antonio took him. Wemby is the elite big man help defender in the league. They might be winning multiple championships with that size.

Raps drop to 7th. SA takes Edey with Raps pick. SA goes on to have a dynasty (Tim Duncan/ David Robinson 2.0). Sounds like a very Raptor thing to happen.

Wouldn't be the first time in recent years that San Antonio reaches for a guy way too early. Josh Primo hasn't yet or may never pan out as a player.

[DreamTeam09]

I actually like this take & I agree with it. If a player like Edey can't make the NBA, there is some.issues with the NBA game. Part of the allure of the NBA game historically was to not only see elite arhletes, but it was also to see Giants like Mutumbo, Yao Ming, etc. These guys were very famous players for a reason. Yao was an international star & made a ton of money for the NBA. There should be a place for players like this in the NBA. I miss the highlight plays of the elite shot blockers like Mutumbo. It's something that is missing from todays game.

I wonder if it's possible for a team to have success with slowing the game down & running half court sets, much like Purdue does. You never know.....trends change in the NBA constantly.

NBA teams have realized since those days that playing fast and generating open 3s is far more efficient than feeding the ball in the post for contested 2s, so it won’t be returning to that any time soon (unless they change the scoring rules).

Blame Steve Nash’s Suns and Steph Curry’s Warriors for “ruining” the game.

The team I blame is the 2010-11 Dallas Mavericks. Before they won the title no one believed you could win shooting a lot of threes, everyone thought teams like the Lakers (built around size and rebounding with Gasol and Bynum) would always win. The Mavs came along and utterly destroyed them, then followed it up by beating the heavily favoured Heat "superteam" (a team with exactly zero stars that were decent 3 point shooters at the time) and the NBA was never the same.

Mavs had gunners, but I wouldn't call that team a 3pt shooting team. They were probably just as equal in the midrange with Dirk n Terry. That Mavs team also had a lot of size with Dirk Tyson Brandon Haywood and Marion at the 4. Dirk should've taken more 3s his throughout his career

[Dalek]

There's no denying that Edey at that size isn't as mobile and quick as someone like Wemby. What he does well is that he understands his current limitations well. Though he has improved his lateral quickness every year, watching the recent games, you also see he's never in foul trouble. I don't believe he has fouled out once this season - he's not a crazy shot blocker and just uses his size and length vertically only. He contests, but only up to a point to avoid the obvious foul. Of course, he could improve a little bit by taking some more chances at the rim, but I think that's by design because he's way more important on offence for this team than defence. Thus, at first when I was watching him on defence I see some easy baskets at the rim by the other team, but realize later that its by design especially earlier in the game, which gives him the ability to more chances later such as blocking Knecht's layup attempt at the end of the game. Still lots of room to improve, but I don't doubt that won't judging by his development over last 4 years in college.

I was saying the exact same thing to a friend yesterday.

1. Edey is playing 95% of the minutes at C during this tourney. In the NBA it would probably be 20-25 minutes a game. Maybe 30 some games. He could expend maximum effort on Defense in the NBA.

2. Their offense doesn't work without him on the floor. Coach can't afford to have him in foul trouble or his 3 point shooters won't have the open looks. Sometimes it looks like his reaction speed ia slow, but as you said, this may be by design. Once NBA teams start working him out, they will be able to figure this out.

3. Right now he is the # 1 option on the team by a mile. They heavily rely on his scoring to win games. A big guy like that would foul out quickly if overly aggressive on defense.

There are some things about the NBA game that would hinder him (#1 is 3 in the key). There are also some things that would help him (more foul calls in his favour & more spacing in the post due to the extended 3)

His game would have to change pretty drastically in the NBA. Adjust to 3 in the key. Be a more aggressive rim protector. Improve his passing. Develop a reliable 3 point shot. It just depends on whether teams believe he can make these adjustments.

It would be interesting if San Antonio took him. Wemby is the elite big man help defender in the league. They might be winning multiple championships with that size.

Raps drop to 7th. SA takes Edey with Raps pick. SA goes on to have a dynasty (Tim Duncan/ David Robinson 2.0). Sounds like a very Raptor thing to happen.

I'd argue that Scottie Barnes as a help defender is just as intriguing an option with Edey being the defensive anchor at the 5. I like Barnes as a guy that switches and helps and has more freedom as opposed to what Darko often did which was assign Barnes to guard the best player while also having a huge offensive burden.

To me, Toronto not investing in one of the best-ever college players from Canada seems like a huge miss. Not only would Toronto be good landing spot on paper for a team missing size and having only a mid-career non-shooting C as its only size, but as an organization I cannot think of a better more supportive place for his development.

He is a high character guy, with confidence and motor about him that shows that he has a high floor as a prospect and being only about 6 years into playing basketball, there is room to grow in many areas.

The Spurs seem like a great franchise, but they want to play a faster pace and likely their biggest need is a guard in the draft, not another big which could mess up their spacing. I think they tried with Collins and it hasn't worked out.

OKC seems like the biggest threat because they have multiple picks and are not afraid to take chances like the Poku and Dieng picks.

Both the Spurs and OKC already have their franchise Cs and it seems weird that they would even want to move Wemby or Chet to be PFs. Edey as a back-up C for a playoff team sounds okay, but after dominating college, is it aiming too low for him? Knicks have multiple picks and Thibs could work with Edey in his slow paced offense.

Ultimately, Toronto gives him a chance at being a star player much like RJ Barrett. This team is a bit starved for hope and taking a big gamble is what is needed.

The path is obvious with Edey. He can play off the bench the first couple years with Kelly who he has already played with on Team Canada. When we are ready to move on from Poeltl, Edey can become the full time C with Barnes.