Since James Naismith put up peach baskets at a YMCA, it’s been a huge advantage to be tall in basketball. Players at or near 7-feet-tall are wildly overrepresented in the NBA and among the all-time great players the sport has ever seen. And, no one in college basketball showed the advantage that wildly tall people have than Purdue’s Zach Edey.
The 7-foot-4 Edey was the nation’s most dominant player this year. He averaged 22.3 points and 12.9 rebounds per game for the Boilermakers over 32 minutes a game. He led the Boilermakers to Big Ten regular season and conference tournament titles, but the team lost embarrassingly in the round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament to sixteen-seed Farleigh Dickinson, one of the shortest teams in the country.
How tall is he? He didn’t even need a ladder to help cut down the net when Purdue won the Big Ten regular season title.
A ladder to cut down the net? Zach Edey says no thank you.
— Jake Marsh (@PMTsportsbiz)
He’s not just tall, either. Zach Edey shows great touch around the basket, can finish with both hands, and knows how to seal to create good position. And, he is a good enough foul shooter, too, shooting 73.4% this year. But, the junior lacks the elite athleticism normally seen at the NBA level.
That’s why a guy who may have been a top 5 pick even 25 years ago, could go undrafted.But, that’s not stopping Zach Edey, as he is declaring for the NBA Draft while still retaining his college eligibility.
— zach (@zach_edey)
The National Player of the Year is widely thought to be a second-round pick, and could decide to come back to school. In fact, he may make more money playing college hoops next year than as an NBA second-round pick likely relegated to the G-League. It never hurts to get some feedback from NBA scouts, and that’s what I think Edey is doing.
The post Purdue Star Big Man Zach Edey Has Made A Massive Decision About His Future appeared first on BroBible.