Zach Edey

[cupcakesnake]

You get it. People get caught up on college averages and think it translates to the nba. Luka Garza was a monster his junior and senior years but rarely gets minutes in the nba

Luka Garza didn’t translate to the NBA because he’s undersized. At 6’10 235 lb he’s too small to be a stretch 5. If he were Brook Lopez’s size he’d be in the NBA.

I dont disagree with you about Garza at all (he was damn good in college as well)...i do find it funny when we call him "too small" considering in 2024 the average height and weight of a Center in the NBA is 6'10" 247 for 2024...last year 6'11" 251...he's basically the average ordinary center....

It's just when guys like him were in College they were not the average...but when your taking the top 1-5% of college players into the NBA thats what you get...

https://www.casino.org/blog/average-nba-player-height/
https://hortonbarbell.com/average-height-and-weight-of-nba-centers/

It's more Garza's lack of length. He's 6'10" barefoot and has a 7'1.5" wingspan. It's not horrible, but it's not good when you combine it with his lack of athleticism and lateral quicks. Big parts of his game require a size advantage and he doesn't have one most of the time in the NBA.

I'm not sure what Garza has to do with Edey though. Edey is 7'3.25" barefoot with a 7'10.5" wingspan and he's an entirely different style of player. Garza attacked in the post but was mostly a shooter and driver. Edey is so big in college you can post him against any defense. When he isn't posting, Purdue finally added some pick & roll offense for him and he's looked pretty good doing it.

I want Edey to succeed and I think there's a chance he'll be able to play NBA defense (offensively he's always going to be fine with that size and touch), but it's hard to project. He's definitely more mobile looking than recent giants like Tacko Fall and even Boban, but i'm still unclear on whether it will be enough.

[Laimbeer]

Random observation - on every pick I've seen Edey try to set, the defender has went over with little problem.

[Profound23]

I don't think he will be much in the NBA but comparing him to Ming is just off.

[JustBuzzin]

Thankfully MJ is no longer making decisions.

We would draft #1 overall if he was still in charge.


Adam Morrison still haunts me till this day.

[FrodoBaggins]

Say what you want but the man just had a legendary game. One of the best tournament runs ever.

[Frank Dux]

I think the NBA game will be too fast for him. He looks pretty slow out there.

[JustBuzzin]

I think the NBA game will be too fast for him. He looks pretty slow out there.

We all see it.

The fanboys just choose to ignore it. Like I said great college player, but he's not going to be able to play like this at the NBA level. Guards are much more athletic and the doubles will be much more effective. A guy like that you have to build your entire offense around him with 4 shooters.

[LockoutSeason]

I think the NBA game will be too fast for him. He looks pretty slow out there.

It’s not too fast for Jokic. Or Embiid. Or Gobert. Or Vucevic. Or Lopez.

[jkvonny]

I think the NBA game will be too fast for him. He looks pretty slow out there.

It’s not too fast for Jokic. Or Embiid. Or Gobert. Or Vucevic. Or Lopez.

Throw Boban in there as well. lol

[Roscoe Sheed]

A more mobile Boban. He can get 20 minutes in the NBA.

It should be noted that Boban seems more skilled, but perhaps not as strong. Boban has hook and jump shots extending out to 15 feet.

[MrGoat]

If teams really let him fall to the 2nd round I hope the Mavs buy a 2nd rounder just to quadruple and quintuple down on dominating the paint

[FrodoBaggins]

Zach is undeniably more mobile than Brook Lopez, let alone a handful of starting and backup centers in the NBA right now. I can continue to reference combine numbers but I'll just post this GIF:



Can you nitpick aspects of his defense? Sure. But you can do that for a lot of centers in the NBA. And how Zach is playing for Purdue isn't 100% indicative of how he will on an NBA team. He's being asked to shoulder an incredibly large offensive burden and is more concerned with not getting fouled out or gassing out than contesting every possible shot.

[dc]

Adam Morrison still haunts me till this day.

But Cody Zeller, Frank Kaminsky, James Bouknight and MKG don't?

MJ definitely had a thing for successful college players from established NCAA programs.

[dc]

I think the NBA game will be too fast for him. He looks pretty slow out there.

Yeah the limiting factor for him is going to be P&R defense. He's likely going to get played off the floor in those situations.

I think he moves better than Boban, but that's not saying much. It's kind of a crappy draft anyways. Draft him in the latter half of the first round and he can be a 15-20 mpg "fan favorite" type of guy. I just don't know how he'd get playoff minutes, though.

[Packbuckman]

If teams really let him fall to the 2nd round I hope the Mavs buy a 2nd rounder just to quadruple and quintuple down on dominating the paint

He would look good playing next to Giannis start out as back up to Lopez work on the jump shot like Lopez did perfect replacement in another year for him.

[Harry Garris]

A lot of people have come around on Edey and have him as a first round pick at this point, but I still can't get there. His lateral movement is just not at the level where he could survive defensively versus a NBA offense. He's improved his conditioning a lot but his actual speed side to side makes someone Rudy Gobert look like a ballerina in comparison.

I know he's big, he rebounds, he can draw fouls, and he's automatic near the rim. It's not like he has zero positives. But a smart team could run a play where they get him moving on defense every time down the floor and you're just going to give up good shots because he cannot keep up.

[Tor_Raps]

You will get to see him on Team Canada this summer in the Olympics. Now he'll obviously only be used in situational lineups.

Hopefully he keeps improving his speed/lateral quickness. I think he has a good enough touch to extend his range to the 3 point line without an issue.

[Packbuckman]

A lot of people have come around on Edey and have him as a first round pick at this point, but I still can't get there. His lateral movement is just not at the level where he could survive defensively versus a NBA offense. He's improved his conditioning a lot but his actual speed side to side makes someone Rudy Gobert look like a ballerina in comparison.

I know he's big, he rebounds, he can draw fouls, and he's automatic near the rim. It's not like he has zero positives. But a smart team could run a play where they get him moving on defense every time down the floor and you're just going to give up good shots because he cannot keep up.

If he’s there when Bucks pick in 1st round don’t be surprised the bucks take him perfect replacement for Lopez in that drop coverage he’s definitely quicker than Lopez and bigger just needs to work on that jumper a Giannis Edey Portis front court when Lopez is done.

[JJ_PR]

You can't teach 7'4" with insane length. This guy has a place in the league without a doubt.

[GoBobs]

If you got a thread on the general board and a bunch of haters, you pretty much made it already