The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Everything around Zach Edey is big — including the debate
Either you watched Purdue center Zach Edey devour defenders in his opening NCAA tournament matchup and left in awe of the numbers he put up, or you reduced his stats to the hereditary byproduct of being super, ridiculously tall. Maybe you felt for Grambling State, and how the Tigers had no solution to slowing him down, or perhaps you envisioned how one day a professional team might try to defend Edey — in the G League.
If Edey, that 7-foot-4 and 300-pound marvel, plays anything like he did in the first round, his team will dominate. Reddened by battle scars across his shoulder from all the hacks, pulldowns and horse-collars that defenders call “fouls,” the Canadian-born Edey put up a signature performance against Grambling: 30 points, 21 rebounds.
Either Edey played like a projected first-round pick in this coming NBA draft — “I don’t think nobody seen what Zach Edey (does). That’s kind of unreal. What they say he’s on paper, he’s exactly that,” Grambling State guard Kintavious Dozier said.
Or he simply stood there and looked like the all-star any tall human being would against a Nerf hoop: “He’s going to be terrible,” Dan Le Batard said on March 18, predicting Edey’s career in the NBA.
I, for one, can’t figure out if Edey is the second coming of Yao Ming — or Drew Timme. On Jan. 2, then-top-ranked Purdue visited College Park and unleashed Edey on those poor, undersized Maryland defenders. And I watched as 6-foot-9 Julian Reese tried and tried to body Edey away from his spots, which seemed like an impossible task even if he had assistance from his superstar sister Angel — or if the whole Reese bloodline joined him to crowd that paint. During another early possession, I counted three Terrapins orbit around Edey. There was no panic there, just Edey patiently passing out of the congested area twice while his teammates on the perimeter moved the ball around. Eventually, the rock returned to Edey for an easy dunk. He would go on to finish with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 12 rebounds.
Edey was dominant and the Boilermakers won breezily. After which, I asked Purdue Coach Matt Painter about the team’s juggling act: keeping Edey as a beast in the college ranks, while also preparing him for his potential next launch into a very different game. Painter spent more than three minutes giving an answer that also doubled as Edey’s career chronology. But Painter started by repeating the question that he hears often.
“The one thing that comes up for him is: ‘Hey, are you going to let him shoot threes?’” Painter said.
That answer, as evidenced by the two three-pointers Edey has attempted during his four years at Purdue, would be a definitive “no.”
The NBA loves its Unicorns, Aliens and Jokers. Giant humans with diverse skill sets who do more than just build camp fires three feet away from the hoop. But while 7-plus-footers like Kristaps Porzingis, rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama and two-time MVP
Nikola Jokic are the trend, the current version of the league has diminished the big man.
Joel Embiid, the best pure center, gives throwback vibes with his impeccable footwork — when he’s healthy, of course — but he also has attempted 112 three-pointers this season. That’s more than his dunks, hook shots and tip-ins combined. So if Edey doesn’t shoot threes, where will he fit in the NBA?
There are other top centers who live closer to the paint. But they’re agile, athletic and a wee slighter on the scale — think lob-catching Daniel Gafford in Dallas, or shot-erasing Jarrett Allen in Cleveland. This is the landscape Edey, who looks all of his listed 300 pounds, will be entering come June. Had this been 2018, when a 16-yearold Edey turned to basketball, he might have been selected as a lottery pick. That year, center Deandre Ayton went as the top pick and two other big men came off the board within the next five slots ( Jaren Jackson Jr. and Mo Bamba).
But six years later, Edey’s size and skill may not be as appealing to an NBA general manager. It’s why back in January, Painter needed to share the context on how far Edey has come in his basketball journey from an IMG Academy afterthought to the most statistically dominant player in college.
When the Boilermakers take the court for the remainder of this season, Edey will be at the center of every play, every win or loss and every debate. He’s not a unicorn, he’s a lightning rod, and there’s no one else like him in college basketball.