Zach Edey is Perfect for the Grizzlies

Zach Edey is Perfect for the Grizzlies

in the past I’ve talked about how Elite screen setting can be one of the greatest enhancers for lead guard ball handlers because it creates so much space for these guys and nobody in the league is better at setting screens than Stephen Adams look at him Stonewall Defenders just stop him right in their tracks and he opened up so many driving Lanes so many pull-up opportunities for johnar there’s a reason Mor’s on and off numbers his his numbers when Adams was on the court were so much better than when he was off the court and it’s also the rle man stuff too because johnar he Garners so much attention when he’s going to the rim he’s one of the best Rim pressure guys in the league draws so much gravity and he has the passing versatility to capitalize on it not only by spraying out the shooters on the perimeter but he’s a really nice interior passer look at that behind the back pass there so you need a reliable rle man that can finish those looks and Stephen Adams was all that right but now he’s gone Memphis traded him back in January and it’s because they knew it was going to be very easy in this year’s Market to find a replacement find a big that can screen roll rebound and rim protect for an even better price look at it Jared Allen and Walker Kessler are both rumored to be available for trade Isaiah hartenstein is out in free agency um and in this year’s draft you had Donovan kingan and Zack Edy who they ultimately took at number nine in this year’s draft so they decided not even to wait for free agency not even make a trade Edy is their guy and I want to talk about why it’s not only a great fit but I actually think Ed’s is a great value pick at number nine here I had him top eight on my big board so I’m kind of making a case for Edy and not only as a prospect but why he fits here with the Grizzlies and I’ll start with the screen setting stuff look at him just swallowing up this guard here he’s so big he’s willing to stick in with these screens and he’s very smart when setting them he understands angles and all that jazz how to reset screens very nuanced with it uh which is dangerous very dangerous combined with his size and he was underutilized as a rle man at Purdue but here you’re going to see some of his upside he catches this thing manages to hang on despite getting bumped as he makes this catch he keeps the ball high uh which he does a great job with like when catching post UPS here on the roll um so Defenders really can’t poke the ball away he’s keeping it out of Harm’s Way it’s why his turnover percentage is so low and he manages through contact to finish this thing great touch the strength is just super super impressive um and he’s going to the free throw line where he was very efficient over 70% and here’s more of the screen setting stuff this is why John Morant was also a much better three-point shooter when Stephen Adams was on the court because when he’s setting screens akin to this you get wide open pull-up opportunities and look at Yi can just roll to the rim just take the defender right with him wide open pullup opportunity for his guard the screen setting is he’s going to be one of the best screen Setters in the league from day one that’s something that John Morant has really benefited from it’s something Desmond Bane has really benefited from it is really like the primary reason or one of the primary reasons they’re so much better when Steven Adams was on the court and that’s something Edie definitely checks off um but on top of that it’s like what can he do as a rle man I’ll talk a little bit more about this you obviously saw that first clip where he’s great on the catch he’s keeping the ball high and he’s he’s finishing through contact catching through contact really good stuff but here on the rooll Donovan kingan one of the best Rim protectors in all of college basketball obviously he’s not the ideal position to contest Ed here but as a lob threat despite not being crazy explosive vertically Ed really doesn’t have to be because he is so big that he has such a large radius and can still finish Above the Rim so the lob threat stuff the catch radius it is absolutely all there and he can absolutely clean up on the glass too which is so key because Steven Adams was one of the best offensive rebounders in the league and Memphis without him was like the worst rebounding team in all of the NBA last year look at Edy here just fighting for positioning he clears this Defender out of the way he’s in a terrible position to get this thing Ed’s always keeping his eyes locked on the ball tracking that thing and you can see he’s just got the wingspan this thing takes a couple bounces a weird hop and Ed still just cuz he’s so big can Corral that thing in and he’s so strong that even under some duress some pressure he sticks with it bodies this guy out of the way easy put back and here’s another example of of Ed’s putback game and the offensive rebounding just cleaning up on the glass he’s going to be one of the best offensive rebounders along with the screen setting stuff truly from day one just again with his size with his Nuance with it all with his strength these are NBA ready to go skills at an elite level from Year One and this is some of his postup stuff I didn’t add any post-ups where he was just sheerly dominating his Defender because we’ve already all seen that I want to showcase his touch so these next two clips are both like hook shots where Ed’s touched I mean that’s just ridiculous looking back and down again this is on Donovan kingan one of the best Rim protecting bigs in the nation just backing him down I like his footwork a lot and nothing nothing crazy on this instance I wish I added another postup clip or two so I can show like his footwork um as well but like the touch is so impressive with Ed this is such a big separator between him and a lot of other big postup bigs whatever you want to say like seveno Footers his touch is like really special um not only on these hook shots but just what he does at the free throw line like you you see it all over his tape the touch is really really encouraging and it’s not only with his right hand look at him with his left as well this is to start off the their final four game against NC State backing down DJ Burns gets right into a lefty hook this is something he’s recently added to his game and overall just like a dominant interior scorer the post-ups he was excellent despite crazy usage he had over a 30% usage rate Purdue offense was solely based off getting him the ball in the post and he was still amazing he was great on the offensive glass he was underutilized as a role man but clearly very efficient this is something he’s going to do a lot more often in the NBA which I’m very excited about um and overall just look at the numbers okay look at these numbers I tweeted this out the other day he he’s a special interior scoring Prospect one of the best we’ve seen so far over the past like five years um like dating back to the Zion johnar class 85% on the rim on like a 32% usage rate he was constantly getting doubled and he was still shooting 85% at The Rim at some point that’s more than sheer size that’s also Elite Bag of post moves great footwork great touch some of these things that have all displayed um with Edy already the post-ups too I want to talk more about this at the end but it’s really just a bonus like I know teams don’t run post-ups very often in the NBA like we’re not running an offense through postup bigs unless you’re like Joel embiid however it’s all a bonus with Ed like he’ll make most of his money on the offensive class screening and being a play finisher off the role anything he brings you as a postup big which will be something is going to be bonus stuff like if the matchups there you can get him some some post-ups if he’s running on the second unit it could be kind of effective source of offense he’ll run like a few post-ups a game like Jonas Valen chunis runs like three to six post-ups a game I think Ed could have a similar diet and it’s going to be effici offense and defensively he is far from lumbering this is why I hate when people compare him to like Luca Garza and some of these other big some of these other bigs that produce for four years and then do nothing in the NBA like first of all Ed is just way bigger than all those guys way stronger better screener better rebounder but he’s also a far better Rim deterrent look at him on this play Let’s back this up a little bit here he’s playing the drive and the dunker spot the rle man in Donovan kingan so he plays this drive gets him to pick up his dribble now he’s retreating back to Donovan kingan in case there’s some sort of lob here and he still manages then to get back when the shot gets up and block this shot and it’s not over yet again this isn’t the national championship game against Yukon by the way so he’s going to deny Donovan Kling in any sort of Entry pass any sort of good positioning sees the drive coming gets over in help and just swallows up the shot Edy is awesome like I know he’s not the best mover in space I know he’s never going to shoot threes but he is still a fine enough passer he’s a good free throw shooter he’s a awesome offensive rebounder he’s a great Rim deterrent amazing screener he checks off all the boxes that Steven Adams left behind that really needed to be filled because you need a guy that can screen and roll with johnar it just it’s a perfect fit you need that with his skill set um they could use an extra body an extra more Rim protection besides jiren Jackson Jr and rebounding wise they were the worst in the League last year and Ed is going to be huge in getting them out of that gutter but again like the postup stuff it’s going to be a bonus boost of offense he’s still going to be plenty positive impact player without being super super post up Reliant granted again it will still be there um so again he checks all the boxes that stepen Adams leaves behind plus there’s like a little bit of star Equity there I mean the interior scoring is special if that translates to the league I think he’s going to be a very good interior score an interior finisher but if it somehow reaches like a 95th 100th percentile outcome Ed is going to be easily a top like three player in this class and again that’s like his ceiling I’m not necessarily saying he’s going to be a star I think I project him to be more of like a very good again screen roll rebound drop coverage big he’s going to be very good in that role he’s going to return value here on this ninth overall pick and it’s exactly what the Memphis Grizzlies need

Zach Edey’s more than just a college guy. Why Zach Edey will be a great pro + fit with the Memphis Grizzlies