Zach Edey, 7-4

[TheSuzerain]

I think what potentially works in Edey's favor is that NBA defense on a macro level is kind of a disaster right now.

And I'm not necessarily convinced that anyone has a handle on optimal design of an NBA defense. So being anti-meta is just less of a concern if that meta is failing.

[clyde21]

Long, fat, slow and can't jump?

did you actually watch them play or just going by their tinder profiles? Jokic can pass+shoot from day one, that's not Edey. even if you like Edey as a prospect this is a terrible comp.

Not comparing Jokić and Edey, but Jokić wasn't a shooter or a passer when he was drafted. He was a 22% 3PT and 66% FT shooter and averaged 2.0 APG.

He started showing those things during his stash year after he was drafted. You really think he would drop all the way to the 40s if he was a shooter and passer with that size going into the draft? He got drafted at all because of his size, rebounding, and soft hands.

yes, he was, his last season at Mega MIS he averaged 19/11/3 and shot almost 30% from 3, which for 2015 and for a center, was good. he was regarded as a spacing center coming out who can can potentially be a passing hub as well. this isn''t revisionist history you can go back and read the tweets from the back then or the scouting reports.

he went in the 2nd because back in 2015 unathletic euros weren't being looked at favorably - that alone probably deboosted him 20 spots.

yall can talk about Edey's niche and merits without bringing up ridiculous comps that don't make any sense.

[OriAr]

did you actually watch them play or just going by their tinder profiles? Jokic can pass+shoot from day one, that's not Edey. even if you like Edey as a prospect this is a terrible comp.

Not comparing Jokić and Edey, but Jokić wasn't a shooter or a passer when he was drafted. He was a 22% 3PT and 66% FT shooter and averaged 2.0 APG.

He started showing those things during his stash year after he was drafted. You really think he would drop all the way to the 40s if he was a shooter and passer with that size going into the draft? He got drafted at all because of his size, rebounding, and soft hands.

yes, he was, his last season at Mega MIS he averaged 19/11/3 and shot almost 30% from 3, which for 2015 and for a center, was good. he was regarded as a spacing center coming out who can can potentially be a passing hub as well. this isn''t revisionist history you can go back and read the tweets from the back then or the scouting reports.

he went in the 2nd because back in 2015 unathletic euros weren't being looked at favorably - that alone probably deboosted him 20 spots.

yall can talk about Edey's niche and merits without bringing up ridiculous comps that don't make any sense.

He went 2nd round in 2014, after doing 10/6/2 for the season as an intriguing Euro stash guy who may or may not be good. His stash year is when he absolutely exploded and became the ABA MVP and the best player in the Balkans.
If Jokic doesn't declare in 2014 and does in 2015 instead, he goes lottery, *high* lottery, likely picked 3rd by the Sixers instead of Okafor.
Jokic and Embiid together... Now that would have been quite something wouldn't it?

[FrodoBaggins]

New ESPN mock draft out today from Givony and Woo. Zach is 14th.

[JMAC3]

Jokic was the MVP of his league as a teenager. Zach Edey is going to be 22.5 years old on draft night. Why are we even mentioning them in the same breath?

Edey has no skill, Yao Ming had skill. Edey does the same move every time or he catches the ball under the rim vs a bunch of 6-8 players and gets easy putbacks.

He plays a "big college team" in Gonzaga Friday that has a 6-10, 6-9 and 6-8 guy. Which is relatively small for an NBA team, if can't dominate them he really has no chance in the NBA.

[HadAnEffectHere]

"This guy only has physical tools, which is why he was the two time Wooden Award winner on historically great stats" Yeah, I don't know.

[Bloodbather]

did you actually watch them play or just going by their tinder profiles? Jokic can pass+shoot from day one, that's not Edey. even if you like Edey as a prospect this is a terrible comp.

Not comparing Jokić and Edey, but Jokić wasn't a shooter or a passer when he was drafted. He was a 22% 3PT and 66% FT shooter and averaged 2.0 APG.

He started showing those things during his stash year after he was drafted. You really think he would drop all the way to the 40s if he was a shooter and passer with that size going into the draft? He got drafted at all because of his size, rebounding, and soft hands.

yes, he was, his last season at Mega MIS he averaged 19/11/3 and shot almost 30% from 3, which for 2015 and for a center, was good. he was regarded as a spacing center coming out who can can potentially be a passing hub as well. this isn''t revisionist history you can go back and read the tweets from the back then or the scouting reports.

he went in the 2nd because back in 2015 unathletic euros weren't being looked at favorably - that alone probably deboosted him 20 spots.

yall can talk about Edey's niche and merits without bringing up ridiculous comps that don't make any sense.

Jokić was drafted in 2014, bud. Before that season you mentioned. My very point is that he became an entirely different prospect in that stash year. Get your facts straight. He was coming off a season where he averaged 10-6-2 with 22% 3PT and 66% FT when he declared for the draft. The season you've cited is his stash year after he was already drafted.

You're also clearly not paying attention to which user you're responding to. I never compared Edey to Jokić, that was someone else.

[SeattleJazzFan]

edey will be able to score in the nba. the question is how teams exploit him on the other end. i probably take him as early as 25.

[HadAnEffectHere]

Edey's main skills are:

1. Being able to use his weight to just overwhelm defenders while being coordinated enough to not commit offensive fouls
2. Extremely good touch through contact (as he draws a ton of contact)

And these are real skills that do matter a lot for interior scoring.

Is there a coach that would give him a ton of touches? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[JMAC3]

"This guy only has physical tools, which is why he was the two time Wooden Award winner on historically great stats" Yeah, I don't know.

The 6-3 8th grader will typically dominate middle school basketball, that doesn't mean he will be good once he moves up to Varsity.

Edey gets force fed the ball 30+ times a game vs guys who are 6'7-6'9 on most nights. It just doesn't translate on offense, which is his whole appeal. Bol Bol is 7-3 and guess what... he dominated in college basketball as a freshman, because he was wayyyyy bigger than the guys guarding him 90% of the time.

21 pts, 10 rebs, 2.7 blocks, 13/25 threes as freshman.... he is in year 5 in NBA averaging 6 ppg in 11 mpg in the NBA

Meanwhile Edey as a freshman 8.7 pts, 4.4 reb, 1.1 blocks.
Edey 4th year is more in line what Bol Bol did with 3 years less of experience.
Yet we want to toss names like Jokic instead of Bol Bol 2.0

[azcatz11]

Jokic was the MVP of his league as a teenager. Zach Edey is going to be 22.5 years old on draft night. Why are we even mentioning them in the same breath?

Edey has no skill, Yao Ming had skill. Edey does the same move every time or he catches the ball under the rim vs a bunch of 6-8 players and gets easy putbacks.

He plays a "big college team" in Gonzaga Friday that has a 6-10, 6-9 and 6-8 guy. Which is relatively small for an NBA team, if can't dominate them he really has no chance in the NBA.

Yep. The big on Utah St was like 6'8. He's play Wisconsin 3x this season and Tyler Wahl was giving him the business...put up 25 pts the second matchup.

[tester551]

Jokic was the MVP of his league as a teenager. Zach Edey is going to be 22.5 years old on draft night. Why are we even mentioning them in the same breath?

Edey has no skill, Yao Ming had skill. Edey does the same move every time or he catches the ball under the rim vs a bunch of 6-8 players and gets easy putbacks.

He plays a "big college team" in Gonzaga Friday that has a 6-10, 6-9 and 6-8 guy. Which is relatively small for an NBA team, if can't dominate them he really has no chance in the NBA.

Yeah... Because he's been playing against little pansy teams like Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana all season long.
Let's see what he can do against a 'real team' like Gonzaga.

[HadAnEffectHere]

"This guy only has physical tools, which is why he was the two time Wooden Award winner on historically great stats" Yeah, I don't know.

The 6-3 8th grader will typically dominate middle school basketball, that doesn't mean he will be good once he moves up to Varsity.

Edey gets force fed the ball 30+ times a game vs guys who are 6'7-6'9 on most nights. It just doesn't translate on offense, which is his whole appeal. Bol Bol is 7-3 and guess what... he dominated in college basketball as a freshman, because he was wayyyyy bigger than the guys guarding him 90% of the time.

21 pts, 10 rebs, 2.7 blocks, 13/25 threes as freshman.... he is in year 5 in NBA averaging 6 ppg in 11 mpg in the NBA

Meanwhile Edey as a freshman 8.7 pts, 4.4 reb, 1.1 blocks.
Edey 4th year is more in line what Bol Bol did with 3 years less of experience.
Yet we want to toss names like Jokic instead of Bol Bol 2.0

Bol Bol only sucks in the NBA because he hates basketball though, lol.

... And Bol Bol played 9 total games in college, most of them against horrible teams in non-conference play, is this a joke or something or did you not see the "games played" column on his Sports Reference page.

This is like me pulling up James Wiseman's college stats, where he dominated two D2 teams and had an OK game against Oregon statistically.

They were not "two time Wooden Award" winner guys, spoilers.

[JMAC3]

Jokic was the MVP of his league as a teenager. Zach Edey is going to be 22.5 years old on draft night. Why are we even mentioning them in the same breath?

Edey has no skill, Yao Ming had skill. Edey does the same move every time or he catches the ball under the rim vs a bunch of 6-8 players and gets easy putbacks.

He plays a "big college team" in Gonzaga Friday that has a 6-10, 6-9 and 6-8 guy. Which is relatively small for an NBA team, if can't dominate them he really has no chance in the NBA.

Yeah... Because he's been playing against little pansy teams like Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana all season long.
Let's see what he can do against a 'real team' like Gonzaga.

It is pretty clear you don't watch much college basketball.
Most teams are lucky to have 1 guy on their roster at least 6-10 who plays. NBA teams often have 4+.
The majority of college teams play 3+ guards.

Utah St starting center was 6-8
Alabama starts 1 guy over 6-5 on most nights.
Michigan won 8 games this year...
Indiana was one of the bigger teams he faced this year, they also were horrible and missed the tourney.

[JMAC3]

"This guy only has physical tools, which is why he was the two time Wooden Award winner on historically great stats" Yeah, I don't know.

The 6-3 8th grader will typically dominate middle school basketball, that doesn't mean he will be good once he moves up to Varsity.

Edey gets force fed the ball 30+ times a game vs guys who are 6'7-6'9 on most nights. It just doesn't translate on offense, which is his whole appeal. Bol Bol is 7-3 and guess what... he dominated in college basketball as a freshman, because he was wayyyyy bigger than the guys guarding him 90% of the time.

21 pts, 10 rebs, 2.7 blocks, 13/25 threes as freshman.... he is in year 5 in NBA averaging 6 ppg in 11 mpg in the NBA

Meanwhile Edey as a freshman 8.7 pts, 4.4 reb, 1.1 blocks.
Edey 4th year is more in line what Bol Bol did with 3 years less of experience.
Yet we want to toss names like Jokic instead of Bol Bol 2.0

Bol Bol only sucks in the NBA because he hates basketball though, lol.

... And Bol Bol played 9 total games in college, most of them against horrible teams in non-conference play, is this a joke or something or did you not see the "games played" column on his Sports Reference page.

This is like me pulling up James Wiseman's college stats, where he dominated two D2 teams and had an OK game against Oregon statistically.

They were not "two time Wooden Award" winner guys, spoilers.

Bol Bol had 26 vs syracuse, 23 vs Houston... are those horrible teams? As a freshman...

[King Ken]

If you understand Edey game, you will value Edey. If you don't, you won't. This argument will last for till game 1 and regardless of what he does, this discussion will have strong opinions in either direction.

[JMAC3]

If you understand Edey game, you will value Edey. If you don't, you won't. This argument will last for till game 1 and regardless of what he does, this discussion will have strong opinions in either direction.

His game isn't complex, what is there to understand lol?

He is way bigger, his team force feeds him the ball 30 times. He catches the ball inside of 5 ft with zero actual offensive moves.
College Basketball loves him, he is the wooden player so when teams try to get physical he gets calls hence all the freethrows.
NBA isn't giving him any calls playing against real superstars, nor are coaches going to throw the ball down low for him to throw up 5-10 hook shots per game.

He will be very good in the Chinese basketball association someday though.

[The Moose]

If you understand Edey game, you will value Edey. If you don't, you won't. This argument will last for till game 1 and regardless of what he does, this discussion will have strong opinions in either direction.

His game isn't complex, what is there to understand lol?

He is way bigger, his team force feeds him the ball 30 times. He catches the ball inside of 5 ft with zero actual offensive moves.
College Basketball loves him, he is the wooden player so when teams try to get physical he gets calls hence all the freethrows.
NBA isn't giving him any calls playing against real superstars, nor are coaches going to throw the ball down low for him to throw up 5-10 hook shots per game.

He will be very good in the Chinese basketball association someday though.

Just curious because you’ve used the term multiple times now, what’s the difference in your mind of a player who is being ‘force fed’ vs a player who just has a high usage

[King Ken]

If you understand Edey game, you will value Edey. If you don't, you won't. This argument will last for till game 1 and regardless of what he does, this discussion will have strong opinions in either direction.

His game isn't complex, what is there to understand lol?

He is way bigger, his team force feeds him the ball 30 times. He catches the ball inside of 5 ft with zero actual offensive moves.
College Basketball loves him, he is the wooden player so when teams try to get physical he gets calls hence all the freethrows.
NBA isn't giving him any calls playing against real superstars, nor are coaches going to throw the ball down low for him to throw up 5-10 hook shots per game.

He will be very good in the Chinese basketball association someday though.

He does 90% of his work before he ever touches the ball. We just haven't seen anyone like him as a big man. He's the first of his prototype. Likely, as Shaq, the last as well. That's why his productivity stats are off the charts.

[clyde21]

"This guy only has physical tools, which is why he was the two time Wooden Award winner on historically great stats" Yeah, I don't know.

The 6-3 8th grader will typically dominate middle school basketball, that doesn't mean he will be good once he moves up to Varsity.

Edey gets force fed the ball 30+ times a game vs guys who are 6'7-6'9 on most nights. It just doesn't translate on offense, which is his whole appeal. Bol Bol is 7-3 and guess what... he dominated in college basketball as a freshman, because he was wayyyyy bigger than the guys guarding him 90% of the time.

21 pts, 10 rebs, 2.7 blocks, 13/25 threes as freshman.... he is in year 5 in NBA averaging 6 ppg in 11 mpg in the NBA

Meanwhile Edey as a freshman 8.7 pts, 4.4 reb, 1.1 blocks.
Edey 4th year is more in line what Bol Bol did with 3 years less of experience.
Yet we want to toss names like Jokic instead of Bol Bol 2.0

Bol Bol only sucks in the NBA because he hates basketball though, lol.

... And Bol Bol played 9 total games in college, most of them against horrible teams in non-conference play, is this a joke or something or did you not see the "games played" column on his Sports Reference page.

This is like me pulling up James Wiseman's college stats, where he dominated two D2 teams and had an OK game against Oregon statistically.

They were not "two time Wooden Award" winner guys, spoilers.

Bol Bol was a small sample size yes but he we insanely good in those 9 games, and 3 of his 4 best games came against Houston, Syracuse and San Diego, all legit teams and programs

sucks that it turns out the guy is just a lazy goofball like some predraft were saying