The Miscalculation of Zach Edey

The basketball world was quite skeptical of 7-4 giant Zach Edey's potential translation to the NBA, even when he dominated at the college level.

But all of a sudden, Edey finally started to rise up draft boards, ultimately landing of course with the Memphis Grizzlies at pick 9.

How good do you think Zach Edey will be in the NBA? Or do you still have concerns?

Let us know what YOU think down in the comments.

[Yessirski]

He’s already made more career 3-pointers than Ben Simmons 😂

[Diddelicious]

7'4 hockey player wouldve been crazy

[achlieber]

It never ceases to amaze me how badly the "experts" miss at times.

[danulas]

Edey's college coach, Matt Painter, confidently said in an interview that Edey would have gotten a guaranteed contract if he stayed in the draft after his junior season, despite those "late 2nd round" draft projections. Painter is one of the most honest and straight shooting college coaches out there. He wouldn't have just said that if he didn't have a legitimate reason to believe it.

[Baruch.Goldstein]

I doubted Edey at first but I'm a grizzlies fan and they drafted him so now I'm a huge Edey believer.

[newerafrican]

Purdue fan here... Zach is a nice young man, smart and a hard worker. He has improved every year while at Purdue and I wish him the very best in the NBA.

[ThePryzedOne]

I’m a Grizzlies fan and I was pretty stoked when they drafted him. I felt we had a good team to develop him. I wish we still had Adams there to help mentor him but he’s doing well!

[camillaquelladegliaggettiv]

Just watch Boban running and then watch Zach running

Boban looks like he's being electrocuted. Zach is incredibly coordinated for being huge on top of being tall

[whywhy]

NBA scouts were so used to 18/19 year old prodigies getting all the attention that they were still grading him like he was the player he was at 19

[georgepaulthagoat]

The man also knows his role. And got drafted to a decent team. If he was a top 3 pick we might not be seeing the same player

[tylermcnair]

I miss a lot of the big man play 20 years ago.

[ilanrosenbaum]

Wait a minute is this a new venture that involves Kenny and Clayton???? Literally my two favorite basketball creators. Hell yeah

[gregmitchell]

Purdue Fans knew somethings the "experts" overlooked. Edey was WAY more athletic than the experts gave credit for. Edey started playing basketball about 6 years ago. Most NBA players are in the third grade when they are playing their 6th year of basketball. Edey was overlooked coming into college as well, and came in behind an all Big Ten center, yet earned immediate playing time and took over from the All Star as starter because of his work ethic. Not many players work as hard. Because Edey didn't grow up as a pampered super star, he's super humble and willing to do whatever the organization asks. He's not going to demand anything, minutes, points, starting, nothing. He will start, he will come off the bench. He will learn new skills. He missed ZERO hours to injury in college, so these ankle things are probably a fluke. He played 40 minutes during Purdue run to the National Championship game, his cardio is amazing. He's already shown he'll be able to be a competent three point shooter, despite shooting a grand total of 2 three point attempts in college ( finishing with an AMAZING 50 % from 3😂). Although he isn't as quick as some of the flashes in the NBA, he is MUCH faster than most people realized but ONE "Edey Stride " is worth about 3 normal NBA player steps. This guy makes 7 footers look tiny, I hope everyone gets to see him in person someday. His game absolutely positively will translate. The question is, how high is his ceiling? IMHO the ceiling is All Star and Olympian. The fabulous players surrounding Edey on the Grizzlies only make his successful transition to the big time much easier than it could have been. I say, sit back and enjoy the ride, and maybe put in a small futures bet on the Grizzlies winning it all.

[davidfosterd]

Edy is a victim of the NBA's over shift to the 3 offensively. that combined with scouts not giving him credit for being relatively new to basketball and thus having a higher ceiling than other Bigs that had been playing. Edy wasn't a one and done type because he didn't start playing until like his sophomore year of high school, so he had to develop more in college as a basketball player. Kind of like Tim Duncan switching from swimming to basketball as a teenager then doing 4 years of increasing his statistical output in college. and when you play 4 years of college ball you tend to fall out of the lottery, because teams feel like you're basically done developing...him and Knecht had a similar fall in the draft, and I thought both would be good because Knecht is new to his 6'5 size and Edy is new to basketball. If Knecht is a 6'5 freshman in college instead of 6'3, he's 1 and done. If Edy had played basketball his whole life coming into college, he would have been 1 and done too.

[CSLucasEpic]

Rik Smits. The man started playing basketball as late as possible. He is now basically the best center in Indiana Pacers history. Why? Because you can teach a tall person how to play baskteball, and the less he knows, the more you can teach him. But you can't teach a short person to be tall.

[tylerbogaard]

I feel like I remember Edey seeming like he had the potential to be a player like this while he was in college but the system Purdue was running basically didn't need him to utilize more of his mobility. I feel like you could tell that Edey had more than just a big man post game but he was just rarely ever put in a situation to further develop or showcase that.

[MarquisdeSuave]

Hes got great hands and very good footwork.

At his size, he can pull down a rebound every 3 to 4 minutes without trying.

He needs to learn how to defend NBA level talent night in and night out, but he's having some good nights out there, even if he is committing a lot of fouls.

[EDTheOneable]

He's definitely a game changer. Not without his weaknesses but a true game changer.

[Dale-pe]

I lose track of players when they get into the nba. Can’t stand to watch it. I will remember Zach taking his turn cutting down the nets. He promptly took his piece of net and gave it to Gene Keady. What a classy move

[delroynathan]

A lot of fans and even coaches just forgot that basketball is simply about size. Guard heavy era of basketball warped the scouting reports heavily on Edey. As long as he can shoot up the court in 5 seconds he’s more than fit for the NBA.