In Defense of Zac Edey
Are the Dinosaurs returning?
Basketball was once a game dominated by Giants. Just like this planet was once dominated by the Reptilian Giants of the past. There seems to be a consistent message, the days of the big man are over in the NBA. Draymond Green was the meteor that killed all big men. I’m pushing back on that theory. Firstly, Draymond didn’t run every big man off the floor. Secondly this draft class has one who was incredible at the college level, one whose size has made him an offensive juggernaut and who has the ability to prove that the day of the big man isn’t completely over. Zachry Cheyne Edey is a Canadian Pivot who is extremely polarizing, but only because some seem to think the NBA is a parody of the elite warriors runs and not what the league actually is at the moment.
Graduating from IMG Academy Edey, the grandson of Chinese Immigrants to Canada, was 3 Star recruit. He spent 4 years at Perdue where he racked up 2 Player of the Year awards, 2 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar awards, 2 Pete Newell awards, a Lute Olson, was a 2x All American, 2x Big Ten Player of the Year, 3x member of the Big Ten conference teams, 2x Big Ten all defense, Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year, Big Ten Tournament MVP, and an NCAA scoring title. Needless to say Zac Edey was a special college player.
In international play he’s gotten u19 FIBA bronze medal and was named to the FIBA u19 all tournament team and just last summer won a FIBA Bronze for Canada’s senior team, their first ever FIBA medal and their first in a major global tournament since 1936.
As far as physical tools go this is one way to put it.
https://x.com/draftexpress/status/1790727856491798925?s=46&t=BV1qqYWQJZ98T5qpyU7dfA
Yes, Edey dwarfs Shaq. For comparison Yao Ming was listed at 7’5 in shoes. Edey is listed the same. Edey is that height but has an insane +7” wingspan (Yao’s was reportedly only +1”). He has a monstrous 9’7” standing reach that lead to him being in the 90th percentile among draft prospects in blocked shots (per the Athletic).
While many of the critics of Drop only bigs will tell you they are a dying breed, 20 of the 30 starting centers in the NBA— including all 4 Starters in the Conference Finals— are drop only or drop majority bigs, Jusuf Nurkic, Brooke Lopez, Mitchell Robinson, Clint Capela, Jarrett Allen, Myles Turner, Joel Embiid, Nikola Vucevic, Kristaps Porzingis, Jakob Poeltl, Mark Williams, Nikola Jokic, Rudy Gobert, Ivica Zubac, Daniel Gafford, Jonas Valanciunas, Domantas Sabonis, Alperen Sengun, and Walker Kessler. This leads me to think that Edey has more starter upside than many are saying.
Edey is an effective rim protector as long as you can keep him there. At a certain point in the draft it becomes worth it to deal with his defensive shortcomings for what he brings on offense.
Speaking of offense, Edey is an absolute monster. 32 points per 40. 3 assists is also not bad but it comes at the cost of more turn overs than assists. Edey is an excellent offensive rebounder and shoots 62% from the field, yes he only has one move, a hook shot, but it’s a deadly hook. He also won’t be giving up shots on the line being a 71% shooter for his college career. While I don’t think he will be a major threat from outside (1-2 from 3 for his whole college career) there is some evidence he might have a 3 pt stroke from his individual workouts.
I think we should think of Edey as more of a 6th man big. Something we haven’t really seen since the 80s when Bill Walton, Bob McAdoo and Roy Tarpley were all impacting teams as bench bigs.
In conclusion I really like Edey. Hes currently 19th on my big board and the 4th big overall. I would really like to see him succeed at the next level and I think there is still a spot for offensive weapons like him in a league trending to more size.