Zach Edey Conundrum - Could Edey be the next great Atlanta Hawk or is he the next Cam Reddish

[NBASupes]

2 drop mistakes is all I counted. I think KB thinks if the guards get their ass busted, that's on Edey. He's going the route of dudes who hate on Gobert. 

I didn't think Purdue played well. Edey did fine for what the gameplan was. I was very impressed by Grambling. Very impressed. They are very well coached.

[NBASupes]

Rough night for @KB21

[NBASupes]

I notice Edey has the Shaq effect where he weighs his opponent down with his positioning as well. Grambling looked fried. 

[Sothron]

It really boggles my mind how many NBA draft guys are so completely negative on Edey. This kid is just a dominant player. There's no way I can see a NBA coach not wanting to feed him in the post with how elite his scoring in the paint is.

[NBASupes]

6 hours ago, Sothron said:

It really boggles my mind how many NBA draft guys are so completely negative on Edey. This kid is just a dominant player. There's no way I can see a NBA coach not wanting to feed him in the post with how elite his scoring in the paint is.

The struggle for 99% is the poor fluidity. When they see these numbers, they expect Shaq or better since his numbers are better. What they get in their mind is a slightly worse Boban so in their mind, they just can't see how he would work in the NBA. In their mind, there is no way right?

https://tankathon.com/players/zach-edey

What they don't understand is he's essentially the big man's verison of Klay Thompson. 90% of the damage Klay does is before he even gets the ball. That's the same for Edey. What makes Klay special is he's mastered the art of both perimeter movement skills. The short movement and the long movement. Both he and Korver mastered it. Duncan Robinson came in later and master it too. My belief is this requires solid athleticism, strength both core and physical, size, and mental acuity. 

What Edey has this year is he has big man movement skills. This is what you see from JC, Capela, Amare, Kemp, Sabonis, Gobert, D. Jordan, D. West, Kessler, M. Williams, Duren, etc. Many bigs in today MUST have this with so much screen actions for Centers and teams looking to the roll. Quality screens matter too and while most on this list is bad at it, some excel like Prime Capela, Gobert, Sabonis, etc. Even some youngins like Duren and Kessler are pretty darn good at screening. 

My belief is Edey and all of the Purdue bigs are trained to mimick LA's Shaquille O'Neal. Edey is not the only big on Purdue with the low post movement skill. Trey Kaufman-Renn also has it too but he's on average at it. Whereas Edey is elite at it. My belief is this requires mental acuity in particular, feel for the game, strength, motor, coordination, strength, and size. This is probably one of the reasons we haven't seen anyone do this since Shaq of before like Shaq. This is ultimately what makes Edey a special offensive player and he might be better at it than the Diesel himself. Make no mistakes, it's clear he's not where near as good as Diesel once the ball is in his hands. That's obvious but before the ball is in his hands due to the fact that he has an even better motor than Shaq, he's relentless and that's even harder in my opinion to deal with in the NBA than college. Just due how the game is being played. 

 

 

Then when you explain this to them. They just can't see it because they don't think he moves well. How can you be a movement big if I don't think you can even move. This is where the @KB21 and Barlowe of the world get stuck at. My response he's moving a lot better than you think. He just looks clunky but he's not moving poorly like someone like Pitt's Aaron Gray. He's moving very well for someone that's his size. Very Well! 

For me, he just barely qualifies like Haliburton in terms of being just athletic enough to do what you do on the next level. Of course, it was clear day 1 he was going to translate and it was a steal of a pick for the Kings. This is highly difficult.

His success at the next level is exclusively based on if he athletically translates. If he does. He's an all star candidate and if he's with Luka or Harden, he's a MVP candidate and with Trae, he's a perennial MVP candidate and likely a MVP once or twice. If he doesn't, he's a career backup playing 15-18 minutes a game as a key reserve. I don't see the bust potential. I think he's solidify the backup floor even if he doesn't translate. The thing is all about if you like drop coverage 5s or not. If you do, you will see him as a 10-24 range guy. If you don't, he's not even a top 40 guy. It's just that simple. 

Edey isn't like Clarke or Cam Johnson where they just didn't have a prototype previous to them. He's also like Haliburton where they wasn't a previous prototype and he was such on the margins that the idea is, he's likely never going to be a starter in the NBA if he doesn't translate but if he does, he should be a star. 

I saw enough from both to say they will translate. Some here, have not. There is nothing Edey can do in the rest of these games to change their minds or my mind. I've watched 27 games now in full. 5 international games from the past 3 years. I've done my homework and throughly. 

I hope we make the obvious decision and draft Edey. 

Edited March 23 by NBASupes

[NBASupes]

The reason why I think Trae and Edey are the most perfect fit is its basically like putting a honey budget with a damn Polar Bear. Them the two most relentless mofos you will ever encounter in your life. Trae is the most relentless offensive player I've ever seen in the NBA. He does not stop in his attack of you and going into the heart of your defense and doing what he pleases. 

 

Then you have Edey. The most relentless big I've ever seen in Basketball. He doesn't take an offensive possession off ever. He's relentless and his attack is calculated. He knows what he's doing, you have no clue what he's doing till he strikes. To me, this is our get out of jail card. The Hawks should do everything to make sure this is a pairing and this tandem includes Jalen Johnson who will benefit from this as Smoove did with Al Horford. He also is an elite Helper, man, JJ and Trae will adore Edey once they play with him. I think this pairing could have more success than

 

 

Edited March 23 by NBASupes

[Gray Mule]

Hawks:  Don't piddle around and let this one get away!  He's the big we need.  Tired of watching big old boys push our players around.  Time to bulk up the roster.  I'll betcha that Trae can hit him with a lob!  And, he's big enough that, when he sets a pick it will stay set.  He will not get bowled over by an opponent...

[RedDawg#8]

We probably just going to draft (2) 6’5 guys and sign and center 6’10 or under who is wiry strong albeit undersized lol

[Spud2nique]

6 hours ago, NBASupes said:

The most relentless big I've ever seen in Basketball.

Huh? Yo I don’t know about all that but I just pretended I was that big freak and just took my nephew to school in the nerf game. 
 

My inner Edey came out.

 

Yo Supes this fool body gonna break down in a couple years. 
 

What does he have that Big Country Bryant Reeves didn’t? Granted that fool was a lottery pick but just wondering?  

[NBASupes]

30 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Huh? Yo I don’t know about all that but I just pretended I was that big freak and just took my nephew to school in the nerf game. 
 

My inner Edey came out.

 

Yo Supes this fool body gonna break down in a couple years. 
 

What does he have that Big Country Bryant Reeves didn’t? Granted that fool was a lottery pick but just wondering?  

A lot actually. I'll break it down for you in full detail. I am glad you asked. Believe it or not, you aren't the first person to ask me this in the last 24 hours so I'll gladly break it down. Let me get my hands on Big Country full game tapes. That way I can go deep into it because anything else would be surface level and that's not fair to you or anyone who has mentioned Big Country in the past. 

[Spud2nique]

1 minute ago, NBASupes said:

you aren't the first person

Who was?  

[Spud2nique]

For all y’all that are old school and we have a ton here, Mark Eaton comes to mind based on size alone. But if this Edey kid can remain in shape and focus on a couple things he does well and doesn’t get exposed in today’s style of non OG bigs playing outside then he would be a great pairing with Trae, the best point guard in the league. Those are a lot of IFS! Here’s an Eaton YouTube video I found which kinda went over his life. I hadn’t seen his mechanic highlights?  

 

 

[NBASupes]

40 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

Who was?  

Someone on another site last night. He had the same question as you did. 

[Spud2nique]

The last time we had a 7’4” dude… 
 

Just the height comparison Supes don’t throw anything at me. 
 

 

[Spud2nique]

2 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Someone on another site last night. He had the same question as you did. 

Oh cool I thought it was a squawker. All I do is squawk .. I don’t go to other sites.. well I did but they kicked me out for some reasons that remain undisclosed. 
 

#squawkman

[NBASupes]

15 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

For all y’all that are old school and we have a ton here, Mark Eaton comes to mind based on size alone. But if this Edey kid can remain in shape and focus on a couple things he does well and doesn’t get exposed in today’s style of non OG bigs playing outside then he would be a great pairing with Trae, the best point guard in the league. Those are a lot of IFS! Here’s an Eaton YouTube video I found which kinda went over his life. I hadn’t seen his mechanic highlights?  

 

 

This one is super easy. One had no offensive ability and wasn't athletic for even his massive size, the other is a freak athlete for his size and has tremendous movement ability. I know Mark's game quite well because of the studying of Karl Malone when I started the comp to Al Horford and saying Horford is even better as an overall player. I watched a lot of full Jazz games from the 80s. Sadly, they removed many of those games from YouTube. 

Mark's style of defense would be kinda difficult to do in today's NBA. He wasn't exactly a drop defender in that era so his role would be a lot harder in today's NBA and he might not, most likely not athletic enough for today's NBA in my opinion. That said, he was a mountain of a defender in his era. 

  

5 minutes ago, Spud2nique said:

The last time we had a 7’4” dude… 
 

Just the height comparison Supes don’t throw anything at me. 
 

 

One of the other poor fluidity guys aside from Edy and Edey. Obviously, Preist was by far the worst at Basketball of the 3. He was just good overseas. He wasn't anywhere close to the athlete of Edy and obviously not close to Edey who's a superior athlete to Edy. I believe we draft each of the last two poor fluidity guys to have enter in NBA draft. We owe it to ourselves to draft the GOAT of poor fluidity players and close the chapter on top. 

Edited March 23 by NBASupes

[Spud2nique]

2 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

not athletic enough for today's NBA in my opinion.

Ok so I’m raw on Edey  but looking at him a bit now, how much more athletic is he that Mark? I mean, the mountain man was a lot of muscle , starting out scrawny but Edey got that Kevin Arnold Wonder Years baby fat on him, which will evaporate if he’s as dedicated and determined as you vouch?

It’s hard to tell the big dudes with muscle %’s. They are usually deceiving.

 

 

[Spud2nique]

6 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

He wasn't exactly a drop defender in that era

He wouldn’t be able to handle the pick and pops which is what they do now before they mostly rolled and he would end up having a chance at blocking the shot with that wingspan. 

[hylndr11]

'He will be a polarizing prospect': What is Zach Edey's ceiling in the NBA? | FOX Sports

 

this is as decent pro and con as ive come across.  

Edited March 23 by hylndr11

[NBASupes]

Supes comp post. Reaves (Squd) v. Edey - Profile and Pro - Profile 

Big Country tidbit- 

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/bryant-reeves-1.html

The first thing that stands out is 34.8MPG for a 7ft is impressive. His size is massive. 275 in college, wow! He was always someone I was wowed by as a kid by his sheer size. 

He translated as a scorer in the NBA as well. I always say, bigs usually go down from college 3-5PPG a game just depending on their role. Their per36 should be similar with a slight dip compared to college unless they don't translate at all. Then the dip is massive. Most guys who were good or better in college translate but some don't like Jarrett Culver for example or Hasheem Thabeet which was moreso his own fault based on what his teammates stated which also happens. 

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/reevebr01.html

I am watching his soph game against Missouri. First thing I notice is his movement is limited. That said, that's mostly every big in this era. The game for true 5s just didn't expand yet. Fairly fluid. Not quick at all. He's fluid for his size. Moving his body quickly isn't a problem for Big Country. He got slow heavy feet which isn't a shock. He kinda gives Jokic vibes although mentally, I have seen him late twice in the first 4 possessions defensively. That's not a good sign defensively. He's a tad reactive as well. 

The development of perimeter skills needs to be talked about a lot more. College hoopers in the 90s had limited perimeter skills and the post-game were further ahead in development than perimeter play in that era. I've seen enough, the motor is decent but not impressive. His stamina is quite impressive. I can see why Shaq struggled against him. He does move very fluidly, he's just slow like Joker. 

I am going to skip to his Senior game tape. 

Even in highlights, Big Country looks more like Joker than Edey. He's very fluid. He doesn't move a lot but he moves efficiently. He's smooth. The first basket against Iowa State would easily work in today's NBA. No question about it. The most I watch, I am trying to figure out why this comp was made. Big Country might be the closest big we've seen to Jokic. He cannot pass anywhere near the level of Jokic. He even can dribble and attack a bit. Something Edey isn't capable of. Jokic moves a lot better in terms of movement but maybe Country could if he was asked too. He has high-end stamina. Then again, Big Country doesn't play the game mentally that well, especially on D. Jokic mental acuity is off the charts. 

This is a horrendous comp. Country faces up, and puts the ball on the deck. He's fluid af for his size. Yeah. I am done at this point. There is no comparisons. I don't even believe movement bigs really existed in college in the 90s. They didn't embrace that style of play from the bigs till the 2000s. That said, the Pokes ran more big-man actions with the 5 as a screener than I expected to see. Bryant is pretty mobile although he's slow. He's like a low BBIQ Jokic.

The defense is pretty bad too even for his era. He is reactive, slow and although he's fluid which makes him a fairly decent post-defender with his size and strength, he just doesn't have the mental acuity. The feel for the game on D is bad. It is really bad. I don't see him transitioning into today's NBA as more than a key backup just due to his offensive prowess which is legit. My take is Big Country is probably a two-and-done in today's game but with NIL, maybe he's four years again. I don't see any comp with Edey for Big Country. I think he's a better post-up player, I don't even think it's close either. Big Country post-game is legit in any era. Edey's isn't in any era. 

Edited March 23 by NBASupes