NBA players, coaches say Purdue’s

BOSTON — Is the NBA too fast, too spaced-out and too much to handle for Purdue’s big man Zach Edey?

NBA players and coaches say no — but agree the 7-foot-4 Edey has his work cut out for him.

The Canadian big man dominated to the tune of 25 points, 12 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game as a senior leading Purdue to the NCAA Championship Game, where the Boilermakers fell short to UConn, 75-60, late Monday night.

Edey scored more than half his team’s points, finishing with 37 on 15-of-25 shooting to go with 10 rebounds and two blocks as a dominant paint presence both scoring and on the glass.

Defensively, however, is where things get iffy, exponentially so for Edey, who is as tall as Spurs’ presumptive Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama without the French phenom’s blend of mobility and three-point shooting.

Space and pace are the two biggest differences between the college and NBA games, and scouts have their concerns as to whether a slow-footed Edey’s game will translate to the pro level.

The consensus is Edey — whose stylistic disadvantage sends him plummeting down mock drafts — will have to work hard to attack his weaknesses if he wants to make it at the NBA level.

Most mock drafts have Edey going either in the late first round or as a Day 2 pick in Round 2. The Ringer has Edey going 17th to the Heat, while NBA.com has him pegged 25th to the Bucks, and CBS Sports has him 22nd to the Pelicans. Other mock draft pages have him going in the second round.

“He’ll be fine, but he just has to really be humble,” starting Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein said. “I was humble enough to work on the stuff I wasn’t good at.”

The offense should translate. After all, you can’t teach height, and if Edey were to end up on a roster next season, he, Wembanyama and Boban Marjanovic would be tied as the NBA’s tallest active players.

The jump hook is already there, as is the counter hook over the opposite shoulder. Player development staffs can work with that.