After earning consensus men’s college basketball National Player of the Year honors last season, Zach Edey is now improving his draft stock.
The Purdue star big man, who played for Canada during the 2023 FIBA World Cup, is a fascinating basketball prospect. When the 7-foot-4 center initially decided to return to college for his senior season, he wasn’t initially seen as a first-round draft pick.
While our latest mock draft at For The Win doesn’t have Edey projected to hear his name with one of the first thirty picks in the 2024 NBA Draft, it is hard to ignore the productivity and efficiency we have seen from him.
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Based on his performance thus far, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo moved Edey into the No. 14 overall ranking on their latest big board update. Givony explained why:
“The runaway favorite to repeat as national player of the year, Edey has found another gear with his conditioning, mobility and productivity, looking noticeably more impactful on both ends of the floor. He has shown better versatility stepping outside the paint defensively, blocking shots prolifically while drawing fouls and dunking even more than usual, finding some real swagger to his game this season.
Edey has done it against many of the top teams in college basketball, with big performances against Arizona, Alabama, Marquette and Tennessee, even showing some new facets to his game as a passer when double-teams inevitably come. While there will surely be some skepticism around his age, lack of perimeter shooting and ability to hold his own as a pick-and-roll defender, Edey has some clear virtues NBA teams can tap into early in his career and is worthy of a fresh look, possibly as a lottery-level prospect in a class lacking sure-fire contributors.”
Edey leads all men’s college basketball players in BPR, per EvanMiya.com. He is also the current leader in Player of the Year rankings according to both BartTorvik.com and KenPom.com.
While there is still plenty of basketball remaining this season, he has shown particularly notable improvement at drawing fouls to increase his free-throw rate. Edey has drawn 9.8 floor fouls per 100 possessions, via CBB Analytics, which is the most among all Division I players.
His progress (and draft stock) is worth monitoring, especially considering this isn’t considered a particularly strong class of future pros.
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