Raptors Draft Watch: Going big with Zach Edey

Jakob Poeltl doesn’t fit the Raptors’ core timeline, while Kelly Olynyk is in the twilight of his career. Is it time for the Raptors to get their next project “big” and select Zach Edey?

As we inch closer to the 2024 NBA Draft, the Raptors’ highest pick is the 19th overall, after they lost their lottery pick to the San Antonio Spurs. While there are many debates going on who Toronto should draft at that spot, one name comes to mind — Zach Edey. The Canadian had a great NCAA career as a Purdue Boilermaker and will now be an interesting draft prospect as he transitions into the NBA.

If Edey is still available by the time the Raptors make their pick, should they go for it?

Why Zach?

The Toronto native left Purdue as one of the most decorated and best Boilermakers of all time. Just look at his Wikipedia: multi-year awards, All-American selections, scoring title, etc. For someone who took up the sport a bit later than his peers, Edey’s growth over the last two years has been nothing but remarkable. He left Purdue as their all-time leading scorer, rebounder, and double-double machine.

Edey displayed remarkable growth in each of his four years at Purdue, capped by 25.2 points, 12.2 boards, and 2.2 blocks as a senior. He looked really raw coming in as a freshman and almost willed his team to a national title. The reigning national player of the year posted 30 points, 16.3 boards, 1.8 blocks, and 1.8 dimes during this past March Madness.

At Purdue, Edey worked and got better in terms of positioning and fundamentals in the post, including refining his touch in the short and floater range, often utilizing his baby hook. As a big, he does a good job at being tall and long, but what’s underrated is how good his hands are at catching the ball. Edey’s “soft hands” give him a big catch radius, and his awareness of his position relative to the basket allows him to pivot or drop step for a high-percentage shot easily.

Another aspect that Edey improved upon is his conditioning. He played a ton of minutes as a senior, playing more than 35 minutes in at least ten games, including pretty much playing the entire game in their four March Madness games.

Defensively, Edey is best suited as a rim protector and should be straying too far from the basket. While he’s shown that he can get in a low defensive stance and has an improving ability to flip his hips, Edey should not be left in an island against an NBA-calibre wing/guard ISO player.

Mock Drafts

• ESPN: 14
• NBADraft.NET: 36
• Tankathon: 23
• The Ringer: 25
• No Ceilings: 30
• NBA Draft Room: 13
• The Athletic: 21
• Bleacher Report: 19
• College Sports Wire: 23
• SB Nation: 26
• CBS (Boone): 26
• CBS (Parrish): 24
• CBS (Finkelstein): 25

Areas of Concern

Given Edey’s size and mobility relative to the NBA’s game speed, it’s understandable to worry that he may be unplayable at the next level. Looking at NBA history, no one at his height or taller outside of Victor Wembanyama was able to transition well into this modern NBA style of play, and Wemby’s an alien. Tacko Fall, Raptors 905 legend Edy Tavares, and fan favourite Boban Marjanovic failed to be a factor in the modern NBA era.

To Edey’s credit, he’s religiously worked on his body, from leaning out and conditioning while maintaining/gaining strength. He attended the combine these past two years, and he’s shown remarkable improvements in his three-quarter sprint and max vertical leap. His 3/4 sprint is even faster than Gradey Dick’s! In fact, his agility and jumping Combine Measurements indicate that Edey is faster and more explosive than Donovan Clingan.

Despite those improvements, we can’t expect Edey to be like Rudy Gobert, who, in some possessions, can hang trying to defend in the perimeter. He will also be subjected to unfavourable situations, such as being targeted via pick-and-rolls and various screen actions to get him out of the paint and defending in the perimeter.

Edey’s strength will be tested at the next level. While his base is strong enough to back down his smaller defender at the collegiate level, the players are generally stronger and bigger on the main stage.

Offensively, Edey won’t get the regular post-up reps. If so, how can he remain effective despite not getting as many touches? He’s limited as a vertical threat, and can he roll to the basket fast enough to be in a good scoring position? Perhaps there’s some unearthed skill set like passing and perimeter shooting, just like what he’s displayed at the Combine?

Raptors Fit

Technically, we still have Jakob Poeltl --- for now — projected to eat up the lionshare of the minutes at the centre spot and Kelly Olynyk to take the backup minutes, but looking back at last season, we barely saw Poeltl in this calendar year, and have you see how Olynyk got manhandled in the paint? The Raptors did not have a 3rd string big (well, they refuse to play Chris Boucher) and had to rely on Sioux Skyforce’s backup big even to start and play big minutes down the stretch.

There’s an argument to be made here for the Raptors to invest in a big. Poeltl is not part of this team’s future, and Olynyk is no longer a spring chicken. They don’t have anyone in the pipeline, with Christian Koloko forced to prioritize his health for now and Jontay Porter making a bad bet. They say bigs take years to develop, and there’s no better time to develop a young “big” than when a team has low expectations and minutes could be easily attainable.

Zach Edey should give the Raptors a big that will attract a lot of attention in the paint offensively and make opposing teams hesitate to venture in the paint when he’s roaming around the basket.

Sadly, the ideal coach for Edey is no longer with the Raptors. Nick Nurse relied on a lot of post-up possessions during his last couple of seasons with the Raptors, and that’s Edey’s bread and butter. Much like how Poeltl could stick out like a sore thumb in coach Rajakovic’s offense, Edey’s got a much bigger learning curve if he ends up as a Raptor than most other teams.

Edey only got to showcase a little offensively outside of getting the ball to him deep in the paint and the occasional pick-and-roll reps to get him rolling to the basket. Coach Rajakovic’s offense asks for the bigs to be much more involved in the offense and decision-making, and that’s something that’s outside his offensive repertoire, or at least not yet unless he’s like Karl-Anthony Towns, who was forbidden to shoot three-pointers by John Calipari during his lone season in Kentucky. Unless Edey comes out shooting like Towns from the perimeter, the spacing will be an issue, with Barnes and Barrett not known as perimeter shooters, so the fit is a bit wonky.

Edey will probably take years to develop, and there are questions about whether his combination of size, speed, mobility, athleticism, and skill set in general is good enough at the NBA level. Traditional bigs, including Rudy Gobert, find themselves targeted and, to some extent, become unplayable in the playoffs — heck, even our own Poeltl couldn’t see minutes in a close game in the fourth quarters this season.

At 19th, the Raptors might be better off taking a chance on a guard or a wing that can help with creation, as there seems to be a lot of things that need to go Edey’s way — including ending up in the right system and favourable developmental program — for him to be successful at the right level. I’m just not sure if the Raptors is that team for him.