I listed it here the other day: www.sportstwo.com/posts/5660926/ And yeah, I guess Edey being Top 10 isn't a surprise anymore. I think other teams are noticing these things, too, and it might be fans behind the times. Either way, whether or not Edey is an NBA star, he's practically a "safe pick" as a productive player. Personally, I think he has potential to be a modern day Yao Ming, not as mobile and skilled but taller and more unstoppable....his hook shot isn't Kareem's Skyhook but because he's so tall, it's practically going to be an automatic. If there was somehow a way to exploit this "weak draft" to get Reed Sheppard+Cody Williams+Zach Edey without losing Shaedon Sharpe, I would do it. These guys pass the eye test and various 'thresholds' that I find work far more often than not.
On the bright side, the more players that jump into the lottery that weren't there before, allows one more player to slide down to the 14th spot.
unless it's a franchise level big, I think using a lottery pick on a traditional C is a waste. The value of big lumbering C's has dropped dramatically over the last decade. Teams are just way too adept at forcing those guys into major mismatches and playing them off the floor. Drop cover C's are more liability than asset people saying Edey is "this year's Walter Kessler". Well Kessler has played 138 games: 64 as a starter and 74 as a backup. A lottery pick for a part-time starter averaging 23 minutes a game? If the Blazers are going to gamble on a big at 14, then gamble on a mobile big like Nic Claxton or Jarrett Allen or Holmgren not on somebody who can't outrun a glacier
they were making jokes about Edey on the radio. "OMgosh, He's soo slow, he'll be lucky to land in the 2nd round." I find that odd in a city that hired Moses Brown for 3rd string Center. If not for a hand fracture, we may have seen Moses getting more reps then the temporary horror showings. Gigantor Smash! rated M for mature, scenes of mutilation in the painted area.
Edey shot 14-25, 56%, on 3-pointers in the combine. That's more three-pointers than Kessler has taken (22) in 2 seasons. Kessler has made 5. Being a good 3-point shooter would be a complete game-changer for Edey's value. Claxton and Allen are not 3-point shooters At All. Combined they made 1 three-pointer last season.
As someone who dismissed Edey in the Championship game, he statistically is an absolute phenomenon in college basketball. Can he be a Brook Lopez? Taking a flyer on a guy who was so productive wouldn't be the worst thing when the thought with these prospects are all over the place. While I'm not a fan of his lumbering, I'd bet that he has some skillsets that we didn't get to see on the college level.
