Sixers draft profile: Nick Nurse knows all about Zach Edey’s unique game

Sixers draft profile: Nick Nurse knows all about Zach Edey’s unique game originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

A scouting report on NBA draft prospect Zach Edey:

Strengths

Edey is extremely tall and extremely accomplished. Edey, Ralph Sampson and the late Bill Walton are the only players to win the Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year award multiple times.

The final game of Edey’s college career was a 37-point, 10-rebound performance in Purdue’s national championship game loss to UConn. He was incredibly dominant throughout the Boilermakers’ tournament run, posting humongous stats while dealing with immense attention, avoiding foul trouble, and being highly efficient. Over the six-game tournament, Edey averaged 29.5 points, 14.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.8 blocks.

While he’s quite comfortable with the basics, Edey doesn’t score solely because he’s very big. He has strong legs and plays with balance and power in the post. The 22-year-old has good touch and range on his hook shot, can shoot it with both hands, and has reliable counter moves. He fights to earn deep position, but Edey is still a serious scoring threat when he catches the ball a few feet from the paint.

Blocked shots don’t capture all of Edey’s impact as a rim protector. At Purdue, he regularly deterred drivers and generally appeared to pick the right spots to be aggressive. He doesn’t seem like a young center who will bite on pump fakes and pile up fouls because he’s bewildered by NBA-level craftiness.

Edey took up basketball late, focusing on baseball and hockey until he was a sophomore in high school. He improved continually over his four years at Purdue and further development wouldn’t be surprising at all.

Sixers head coach Nick Nurse was impressed when he worked with Edey on the Canadian national team.

“I think he’s got a good IQ,” Nurse told reporters in 2022. “And to complement that … he’s got a great work ethic. He is a hard worker. He has some rigid things he believes in that he does — like he’s not leaving the gym until he does his X amount of jump hooks with both hands. Literally,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/sixers-draft-profile-nick-nurse-161500479.html

Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia

Publish date : 2024-05-28 16:15:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.