How GOOD Is Zach Edey Actually?

Zach Edey has been THE FACE of college basketball for the last 2 seasons…
His sheer SIZE and PHYSICALITY have allowed him to DOMINATE at the college level…
He SHOULD be on his way to the NBA next season… but something feels a little OFF about Zach Edey’s NBA projection…

He’s NOT near the top of ANY 2024 NBA mock drafts, and scouts even say 2024 is a WEAKER draft class.

Theoretically, his high level of dominance in college SHOULD have scouts excited to draft Edey.
But… It’s NOT that simple …

While he is the most dominant force in college basketball right now, many scouts are questioning whether Edey’s game will translate well to the modern NBA…

We’ll get into ALL of it, but let’s first understand who Zach Edey IS as a basketball player and how he got to this point…

with his competitive fire lit Edy turned to the IMG Academy in Florida graduate with a scholarship to play D1 ball for the Purdue boiler makers Edy is one of four finalists for the nasmith award which goes to college basketball’s most outstanding player this year’s men’s wooden Award winner Zach Edy of Purdue Zach Edy has been named n Smith player of the year does this ever get old how does this feel never gets old winning winning never gets old Zack Edy has been the face of college basketball for the last two seasons his sheer size and physicality has allowed him to dominate at the college level he should be on his way to the NBA next season but something feels a little off about Zack Edy’s NBA projection he’s not near the top of any 2024 NBA mock drafts and Scouts are even saying that 2024 is a weaker draft class theoretically his high level of dominance in college should have Scouts excited to draft Edie but it’s not that simple while he is the most dominant force in college basketball right now many Scouts are questioning if Ed’s game will translate well to the modern NBA we’ll get into all of it but let’s first understand who Zack Edy is as a basketball player and how he got to this point crazy enough Zach’s first sport was not basketball the Toronto native start started his athletic career playing hockey and baseball but by 14 he’d given up both Sports because his 7ft tall stature was the most practical in basketball he only started to play basketball his sophomore year of high school at leide High School in Toronto Canada and he only started to take basketball seriously when baseball became impractical to play at his exceptional height he would eventually catch the eye of top tier Prep School IMG Academy and played there for two seasons starting in 2018 it didn’t take coaches long to find a fit for eating they put the gigantic 16-year-old on a second tier team for one year primarily so he could develop his skills and learn to cope with the frustration of smaller players pestering him after showing what he’s made of he got bumped up to the school’s national team the next year even though he was just a three- star recruit and just the 440th ranked player in his class he reclassified it to the 2020 class and committed to Purdue snubbing offers from Baylor and Santa Clara he was extremely under the radar as a high school recruit only playing organized basketball for 3 years many could question whether Zach Edy was even ready for division one basketball with such inexperience but honestly it took an immense amount of pressure off of him just take a look at some child prodigies who were supposed to be the next big thing Julian Newman Mikey Williams these guys were propped up by social media to be stars but the pressure got to them if you want to watch our videos on Julian Newman and Mikey Williams those will be linked at the end of this video but back to Zach edting he came in with zero expectations and zero pressure and in a way that was better than being let down by a prospect who’s supposed to be the next big thing as a freshman at Purdue Edy came in at a towering 7′ 4 in making him the tallest player in Big 10 history despite sharing playing time with trevan Williams who was another solid Center Ed still managed to put up impressive numbers averaging 8.7 points 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in just 14 minutes per game his efforts earned him a spot on the Big 10 all freshman team he put up solid numbers in his freshman year on such a limited minutes many were interested to see if his size and motor can translate to a more expanded role and if his body even handle the full duration of a college basketball game and in his sophomore season Edy stepped into that role he became the team’s starting center and wasted no time making his mark his stats improved dramatically averaging 14.4 points 7.7 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in just 19 minutes per game and to cap it all off he snagged a spot on the all big 10 second team it wasn’t a fluke Edy was impressive that season being a more featured scorer in developing a skill set around the basket look how he receives the pass and dunks it while using his big stature to Shield the defender and this was only in his sophomore year but Ed’s junior year was an absolute game changer with his minutes bumping up to 31.7 per game he really hit his stride he was averaging 22.3 points 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks while shooting an impressive 60.7 % from the field and 73.4% from the free throw line and he won just about every Accolade possible in his junior year he won the national Player of the Year first team All-American Big 10 Player of the Year First Team all Big 10 Big 10 all defensive team Big 10 tournament MVP and he even won the kareim Abdul Jabar award for the best center in the NCAA That season that’s a complete sweep in his junior year Edy was a force to be reckoned with and it wasn’t just his height but also his weight that gave him the strength to dominate in the paint unlike many other towering players who might be on the skinnier side there’s no doubt that his physical presence will be at the top even for NBA standards he’ll likely be not just one of the tallest but one of the heaviest players in the league but even after his historic junior year he was projected to only be a second round pick in the 2023 NBA VA draft leading Edie to decide to come back for his senior year at Purdue many of you might be wondering why he was not projected higher after such a dominating season of college basketball and to be completely honest there was still plenty of room for growth in his game I mean this guy didn’t really start playing organized basketball until his sophomore year of high school and entering his senior season at Purdue he was still viewed as the big guy who dominated solely off Shear’s size and physicality and needed to display more of a skill set in his senior year to get more NBA Scouts on his radar and it’s safe to say that he has shown some signs of that in his senior season his touch around the basket has been excellent and his footwork has improved drastically he’s becoming less reliant on his size and is developing some real moves in his Arsenal and speaking of size he’s big but what’s optimistic is that he’s showing to move better compared to earlier in his college career his agility and coordination have definitely improve improved and he’s also shown to have an improved motor going from playing 14 minutes a game in his freshman season to over 30 minutes consistently in his senior season and while we know Zack Ed practically lives at the rim and many want to see more in his game it is a fact that when he gets those mismatches inside he has been simply Unstoppable he’s dunking over anyone and everyone powering through contact like it’s nothing and his touch is superb making tough shots on the low block with bodies all over him and even when teams try to double team him he has been unfazed he’s been able to improve on reading defenses in finding open teammates when he gets double teamed in the low post his improved decisionmaking and passing skills help open up this Purdue offense and that is what NBA Scouts want to see more of compared to highlights of Zack Edy being one-dimensional in the post Ed’s numbers speak for themselves he AAG is the most points per game in the country is third in the nation in rebounds per game and has helped impact winning basketball at Purdue Ed’s Journey from a wideeye freshman to a seasoned senior All-American has been quite the ride for him he has seen lots of success in the regular season clinching back-to-back Big 10 titles in 2023 and 2024 but have absolutely collapsed in the tournament up to this point from the sweet 16 collapse in 2022 against 15 Seed St Peters in the even worse round of 64 historic upset vers 16 seed fairly Dickinson in 2023 Zack Edie and Purdue are looking for much improved March Madness success in 2024 as at this point in time are heading into the sweet 16 of 2024 March Madness they absolutely manhandled 16 seed Grambling State in the first round to be fair they knew the program could never be taken seriously if they lost to backto back 16 seeds Edy dominated in this game and Grambling State didn’t have much time to cook up a defensive strategy let alone execute it they tried to keep Edy in check with single coverage but let’s just say it didn’t go as planned Defenders who were a head shorter than the 7 fo4 edies desperately tried to contain a player who is just too big too strong and too skilled to handle one-on-one look how he bullies the defense on this dunk gembling State simply couldn’t contain Edy he went on to make history becoming only the third player in the last half century to drop 30 points and grab 20 rebounds in an NCAA Tournament game and in the round of 32 Edy dominated again he scored 23 points 14 rebounds and three blocks to lead Purdue to a 106 to 67 win over Utah State it’ll definitely be interesting to see how Edy competes against much stronger competition in the later rounds of March Madness if Ed can lead Purdue on a Deep Run in the tournament Scouts might view Edy in a different light but as of now even with his ridiculous stat lines and incredible in-game performances Scouts know who Zack Edy is as a basketball player Ed’s best chance to make an impact in the NBA at this point is being able to show Scouts parts of his game they have not seen concerns are generally centered on his Speed and Agility especially when it comes to guarding more athletic players you see in today’s NBA where versatility is key Edy might struggle to keep up plus his lack of a reliable three-point shot could limit his impact on the floor just check out this quote from an anonymous NBA Scout he said Edy is at best another boban marianovich which I think is a little bit disrespectful Ed because he’s not a bad player by any means it’s just that the NBA game might not be the best fit for his skill set the modern NBA is looking for a more versatile big man who can stretch the floor and be far more athletic just think about this for a second Victor wenyama is the same height as Zach Edy but they play completely different if we’re talking way back in the day Edy would have been a dominant force in the league but now with the emphasis on speed and versatility he might find it tough to carve out a consistent role we’ve seen living proof of this happen in recent years just look at Drew Timmy for example he dominated at Gonzaga during his time there but he did not get drafted Drew Timmy dominated in college from his incredible footwork in the post and incredible touch around the rim it was his bread and butter in college but Timmy lacks the size agility and explosiveness to excel at the NBA level and and never developed a consistent three-point shot either and although Zach EDI is much more physically imposing than Timmy he does have similar weaknesses that did not give Timmy a shot in the NBA it’ll be interesting to see how Edy can develop and polish up his game aside from his physical dominance so after hearing all about Zach Edy from his background and development to his stat lines and accolades and ultimately his NBA draft Scouting Report do you think NBA teams should take a chance on Zack Edy in the draft what do you think the ceiling and floor is for Zach Edy in the NBA let us know in the comments below