dobrojim wrote:https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/03/23/zach-edey-7-foot-4-purdue-nba/Kinda interesting piece. She praises his (Edey) college dominance but predicts he won't be much in the NBA.
edit to add -Actually now that I re-red it, she's not going on any limbs with her predictions.
Can he become a passable 3 point shooter? It may come down to that.
PPS - from what I've seen, Clingan looks a bit more promising.
I agree Clingan has significant potential as a mobile giant, a defending big man who can pass a little bit and cover a large section of the court. There is a reason he is mocked in the lottery. I'd have no complaints taking him high up the draft board.
My contention on Edey is he will have serious value where he is picked. He will be better than many of the players picked before him. There are those who suggest he is unplayable. That part I disagree with.
I think the 3pt shot is irrelevant though I suspect he will add one. His free throw shot is a rainbow, incredibly high arc, which is one reason why ultrabigs like Shaq fail to develop a shot from the line, they bounce line drives off the rim because they have a poor angle and no backspin. Teammates say he hits them in practice, he says he doesn't shoot the 3pt shot because its an inefficient shot in college. Given his effectiveness up close he is absolutely right. He doesn't need to. He is unstoppable underneath and teams are forced to foul him.
That is the aspect that is in question at the NBA level. Does his size translate to efficiency at the next level and force teams to foul him? A three point shot is more valuable than a two, unless your 2 pt shot is significantly more likely to go in AND you force opponents to send you to the line.
Here's the thing about that: the NBA is cracking down on offense since the all-star break. Fouls are being called less. Every sort of foul. Essentially the rules we see in the postseason are beginning to be called the same way in the regular season. If you want to score, you better be strong enough to do so. Better be able to score through contact.
Edey does. He scores on triple teams, he scores while being absolutely mauled by defenders. He has the advantage of being huge, and also happens to have soft touch, uses the backboard, has every shot in the low post arsenal (I mean other than a dream shake fadeaway). In the NBA he is not going to get shorter. He's also not going to see triple teams. If he is scoring efficiently teams will be forced to play at least one Big. But he is still learning and improving even in college, there is no telling where that stops since he has added aspects to his game even during this season.
Sure, he may develop at 3 pt shot, he may develop a passing game from the top of the key, these are two revolutions in the game that have been reviving Bigs even at the college level. Where bigs are learning the Jokic playbook. (Revolution? Throwback. To Bill Russell's Celtics. Everything old gets new again). He already passes well out of the doubleteam. But Edey isolated in the paint will force teams to foul him, and will score through contact, and may force refs to actually call those fouls. Refs are less likely to swallow the whistle on fouls when you make them call the and-1 after an obvious hard foul.
So again it boils down to defense and whether he is too slow. Okay sure, he is too slow. I don't think he is unplayably slow. AND. Refs are calling all fouls less. Even 3 second technicals. I think the game is tilting back towards power basketball. Refs are trying to slow it down a bit. I think the new generation of skilled Bigs is forcing a paradigm shift. Where every successful team has a superbig line-up. Let the giants back into the game again.
I hope the basketball gods let us see Clingan vs Edey. That's godzilla vs mechagodzilla. That would be a hellofa final. We might see Edey vs Kalkbrenner in the next round if all goes well.
But yeah, that was a weak article. The same thing that has been written over and over with no new insight. Meanwhile Edey keeps leaving a wake of ruined hopes behind him as Purdue crushes through the tournament.
Sorry, somebody set off the Edey signal and I had to grab my cape.
