Zach Edey Scouting Report

A giant with a variety of fits

Rich Stayman

Jun 19, 2024

Name: Zach Edey

Birth date: March 14, 2002

Height/Weight: 7’3 ¾/299

Wingspan/ standing reach: 7’10 ¾/9’7

Hand size: 10 ¾

Position: C

Pre-Draft team: Purdue

Tools: Size, rebounding, strength, interior scoring, foul-drawing

Background: One of the most decorated players in recent memory: 2 time AP Player of the Year, 2 time consensus All-American, 2 time Big Ten Player of the Year, 2 time winner of both the Wooden and Naismith Awards, and a Big Ten Tournament MVP. Started playing basketball as a sophomore in high school. Grew up playing hockey and baseball first.

Season stats: 25 PPG 12 RPG 2 APG 0.3 SPG 2.2 BPG 2.3 TOPG 2 FPG on 62% shooting and 71% from FT line on 11 FTA/G.

Pros:

Elite measurements
Adequate lateral quickness (doesn’t have heavy feet)
Good shooting touch
Sees the floor well thanks to being able to see above every defender
Has a dominant drop step
Will cause coaches to change rotations; traditional lineups will not always work against Edey and he can change gameplans
Great rebounder
Draws lots of fouls & hits his free throws
Gets off the ground quickly and can dunk through contact on the ground/through being held

Cons:

Can get thrown off-balance by hesitation moves too easily, making him vulnerable as a perimeter defender
Doesn’t have great touch at the rim
Only has okay timing as a shot-blocker, which limits how effectively he can use his size defensively
Doesn’t explode to the rim out of the P&R
Had a negative assist:turnover ratio every year at Purdue

Swing Skills:

Can his shooting touch translate into jump shooting success?
How will he translate as a perimeter defender?
Will he have P&R gravity in the NBA?

Summary:

Zach Edey is one of the most dominant players in recent college basketball history, thanks to a combination of elite size and outstanding coordination.

Offensively, Purdue let Edey win completely at the paint with minimal offense outside of 5 feet. This likely changes in the NBA, even if it is only to the short mid range. With a good free throw percentage on high volume, there is likely some realistic upside to hit free throw line jumpers to bring opposing bigs away from the rim. He will need to shoot to have any sense of unpredictability, otherwise he will need to feast on smaller players in the post. If he can become a 3 point shooter (even 1 per game), his ability to break a defense as a giant stretch big drastically changes how teams gameplan against him.

Defensively, how well he can hold up against perimeter drives, both in isolation and through screens, will determine how many minutes he can realistically play. Edey is prone to being thrown off balance on perimeter drives on change of speeds and directions, which makes him a vulnerability on switches. Additionally, he doesn’t dominate the paint like many players built with his size and strength, which brings questions about his timing on blocking shots. While, yes, he can alter shots well, wings and slashing forwards can attack him and finish around him more easily than they should be able to in college. If that issue is present in college, NBA athletes will have similar successes, especially without Edey being able to camp the paint like he could in college.

Take this query as an example: high major players 7’2 and taller sorted by block percentage, regardless of year. Edey is towards the bottom of this list, and is far below the ‘dominant’ level that around 10% would indicate. While this is still a fine block percentage, how can teams be sure that he will truly control the paint defensively when his block rate is low for his size while camping in the paint? He will have to step up as a helpside shot blocker and will have to readjust his entire individual defensive gameplan, which often was focused on avoiding switches and exploiting the absence of a defensive 3 in the key rule in college basketball.

Overall, even with some red flags surrounding how physically dominant he is but how he lacks great block numbers, Edey still projects to be able to impact opposing shots at the rim consistently. How he adapts to NBA rules and spacing (no defensive 3 in the key, faster tempo) will determine if he is a 3rd big that plays under 15 minutes per game, or if he can even inch to a starting big that plays north of 20 minutes per game. Edey’s draft night stock is all over the place, and he has some intriguing fits that could either maximize or minimize his game early on in his caterer.

Projected draft range: 13-25

Expected role: Backup center that wins at the rim.

Unplayable if: Lack of perimeter mobility and floor spacing ability limit his impact.

Exceeds expectations if: He can find a way to camp out at the rim without being called for 3 in the key. Additionally, if he adds a jump shot he can increase his offensive value.