With the 7th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, The Portland Trailblazers select. . .

I'm not a big Edey fan either, but he completely dominated the next biggest center in college basketball who will be a mid-high lottery pick.

37 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks on 60% FG shooting.

The 'defensive monster' Clingan got torched, turned inside out, chewed up and spit out and while he was taking a beating, only managed 11 points, 5 rebounds and a measly 1 block.

Of course the NBA will be more difficult, but he won't face many centers with the height, size and wingspan of Clingan and he showed in convincing fashion what he could do against him and a team with much more talent than Purdue had. Put a few more talented pieces around him, and he might have some success. UConn will have possible 4 players taken in the upcoming Draft. Purdue will have only 1. Edey did as much with his opportunity as he could and against very good competition.

I don't think his style fits for long stretches, but I'm not sure how many bigs are shutting him down either.

Wemby - he's hot him by 80 lbs
Jokic - no vertical either
Gobert - outweighs him by 50 lbs but his length might bother him although Edey is one of the few with more wingspan
Embiid - Joel has the size and length to bother him
Davis - great defensively but that much size could cause an already fragile AD to get hurt
Sabonis - not a chance
Bam - great athletic ability, but he's 6'10 at best and not near the size
Holmgren - Chet better pray he doesn't get broken in half

Of course there are matchup issues as Edey wouldn't be able to defend most of those either, which is why he will have difficulty staying on the court. But with a good coach, I don't see many being able to deter him very much without some help.

 

If this declaration held up, then literally every center in the NBA should have put up Edey like numbers where they played before the NBA, because most of them also played a bunch of smaller centers. Right?

Why didn't they? And, if that's not a crucial omission to your point, why is it only being held against Edey but wasn't held against, say, Holmgren, who was a high-major player competing in a mid-major conference?

 

LOL...ok then.

you guys arguing in favor of Edey should be advocating for Edey at #7 then.

 

Stop it with the false equivalencies, Wiz. No one's saying that. What everyone's saying is your casual dismissal of Edey doesn't have any reasonable basis.

Good grief.

 

BTW, Edey and Holmgren played against each other in 2021 in the FIBA U19 Worlds.

Holmgren didn't guard Edey much, but they were on the floor together most of the time. The U.S. beat Canada, 92-86, but here were their individual stats:

Chet: 23 minutes, 12 pts, 5-7 FG, 8 reb, 6 blocks, -11.

Edey: 26 minutes, 16 pts, 7-14 FG, 16 reb, 3 blocks, +3.

 

I don’t particularly want either player

but 60% for Edey, while good, was his lowest efficiency in many games preceding that game

not to mention they played edey “straight up”.

Typically Edey shoots above 60% WHILE being doubled

Clingan undoubtedly made him work much harder in a 1:1 setting than Edey had to work in 2:1 settings

Also you’re not factoring in age …

once again, don’t really want either, and I’d probably take Edey @ 14 over Clingan @ 7 … both @ 14 is a toss up

but there is a whole lot of context missing

 

I should also add:

Edey might be one of the very few players where his offensive output coupled with rebounding and rim
Protection MAY be able to offset the matchup issues.

 

Who is arguing in favor and should be advocating for him at #7?

Sure, Clingan, the biggest, most highly rated center 'held' him to 37 points on 60% shooting. Okay....
And I'm not discounting age. He played who was put in front of him. Clingan was on the highest ranked program in the league with multiple Draft picks around him. It was what it was, nothing more, nothing less.

 

bullshit

my "casual dismissal" of Edey was only after a poster wondered why Edey wasn't getting the respect a guard would get who averaged 25 points and 8 assists while posting a .660 TS%. At the same time it was suggested if the same standard were somehow applied to Shaq, he'd be a 2nd round pick. My casual dismissal was a direct reply to pretty active hyperbole. Context matters you know

I don't believe I had said anything about Edey before that post

and I'm not the only one casually dismissing Edey as a lottery prospect. Just about every mock draft is as well.

 

The facts of the matter about Edey are that he’s a wonderful big man talent. But in todays NBA he just doesn’t check the boxes that you need with a modern center

 

Considering if pretty much any other team played him 1:1 straight up he would’ve shot 80%+ maybe even 90%, it’s not a bad performance for Clingan. There is a reason pretty much every talking head and analyst after the game said clingan played well. One of the only players in the nation that could play him straight up AND hold him below his shooting avg.

but that’s also why I said Edey could be a force in the NBA. Pretty impressive that shooting 60% was considered a good defensive performance.

 

Edey also collects fouls like Pokémon cards. I’d be interested to see how he does in the league

amazes me people will take a chance on Duncan Robinson, who couldn’t guard a cow, but edey “no way”

 

You have three quotes in one post and then another and then another. It might be the first time you casually dismissed Edey in this thread, but I don't keep track of you so it'd be interesting to see if that's really the first time you casually dismissed Edey on this board.

I think a number of us have pointed out that we think it might not hold merit. You happen to be the person right now standing up for that thinking. And coming back with "LOL, OK, you guys advocate for drafting Edey at 7" doesn't exactly come off as a guy that wants to have a serious discussion about Edey's value in this draft nor is it the kind of post someone who isn't "casually dismissing" someone would make.

 

My half-serious response would be the Gonzaga senior that started ahead of Zach Collins. I can't remember his name, because...he was irrelevant as soon has he was done beasting on younger, lighter players. IMO, Edey's future productivity should be estimated based on his first two years of NCAA play, not his last two. That puts him on more even [comparison] footing with the guys he'll have to match up with at the next level.

 

Karnowski was BEAST mode in college. But like Edey he was a slow, plodding Center. Feet in concrete shackles type slow. Like Edey he would’ve been a nightmarish mismatch against stretch bigs the NBA

 

Im going to push back on this.
Clingan is NOT more mobile than Edey. On the game film I watched, Id say Edey is more mobile.

Clingan has better instincts for passing and blocking shots... but those are the only advantages Clingan has over Edey.

This I 100% agree with.

Although both Edey & Clingan produced very well statistically in college... neither one is worthy of a top 10 lotto pick.

Both will be drop coverage C, and will get played off the floor at times.

I think Edey has a viable mid-range shot, & has better health & conditioning.

Id be okay with either at 14.... but Edey is my preference

 

In college he collects fouls because being guarded by 6’8” centers on a regular basis.

Duncan Robinson has a skill that translates super well to today’s NBA. He can get hot and be lights out from 3

 

I want nothing to do with either. If we draft a Center I’d rather it be Ware. Someone with versatility to actually guard outside of the paint.

These slow plodding centers are totally not what we need. It’s not that hard of a concept to grasp.

 

If I were to bet on it I think we’re taking Cody Williams. Lots of upside, good size and versatility and there’s the Colorado connection.