So, we're starting our summer series on Purdue's returning players, making for a relatively brief series because there aren't that many of them. Today: Zach Edey.
Previous: Caleb Furst
Last year: The sophomore took a significant step forward after an eye-opening freshman season and wound up being a second-team All-Big Ten pick and Purdue's second-leading scorer and supplanting a returning All-American for the starting job most of the season.
Edey passed on the opportunity to take his shot at the pros now to come back to Purdue, without so much as dabbling with the NBA process.
What's next? No reason to type the same thing over and over again here. This is Edey's time to become a true top-level college basketball player, because Purdue is going to make him its go-to guy offensively and have to build around him from a defensive perspective again. His usage rates should be through the roof, so this season for Edey is about his ability to handle a greatly increased workload and level of responsibility. Purdue needs him to be the best defender he can be this season, for one thing.
Anticipated role: Edey's Purdue's best player, its foundational player and its most important player, probably at both ends of the floor. That simple.
Off-season agenda: Last year, Edey took a step forward as a passer and decision-maker, and now's the time for him to peak in that regard, because he'll carry more offensive responsibility than he ever has before in his life. Is that an off-season thing or merely an experience thing? Doesn't matter, because he's very experienced now.
The better Edey can get from a mobility perspective — for a massive human, mobility is relative — and improve defensively, the better. Anything that can be done to soften some of the matchup issues that come against the dribble, the better, and while Purdue's always going to be dropping Edey to the rim against ball screens, the lighter he can be on his feet the better. Again, he's massive, so he's never going to be light on his feet, per se, but lighter.
Third, last year was a little more up and down for Edey at the foul line, after he was surprisingly good as a rookie. Needless to say, more minutes + more touches = more fouls. The game within the game for Edey's relationship with officiating — not personal, just the conditions on the ground — and how that category goes for Purdue this year will be so important to their success. That means keeping Edey out of foul trouble, but also getting calls and leveraging their impact by inflicting foul trouble and making free throws.
Lastly, and this goes without saying: Conditioning. There's no 50-50 split at center anymore, most likely. Edey will need to be able to carry more minutes than the 20 per game he carried in Big Ten play. Needless to say, that comes down to the shape he's in — no concerns there — and his ability to stay out of foul trouble.
One other thing to mention: Edey is physically capable of shooting from the perimeter. Whether Purdue needs him doing that, I don't know, but maybe that's something that shows up in the form of the occasional wide-open three-pointer. Edey has always worked on it, probably in part to prepare for NBA workouts. He can do it. Whether he can do it during live play, maybe we find out this season.
That's a long list, but reflective of Edey's gravity on this roster this season.
Bottom line: Barring Purdue signing an elite scoring guard in the next few weeks or a returnee turning into Superman, this Boilermaker team will be more singularly built around one player than just about any other that's come before it. Edey's that guy. He should be a first-team All-Big Ten sort of player and maybe one of the better players in all of college basketball. He'll certainly have opportunities to produce at that sort of level.
Previous: Caleb Furst
Last year: The sophomore took a significant step forward after an eye-opening freshman season and wound up being a second-team All-Big Ten pick and Purdue's second-leading scorer and supplanting a returning All-American for the starting job most of the season.
Edey passed on the opportunity to take his shot at the pros now to come back to Purdue, without so much as dabbling with the NBA process.
What's next? No reason to type the same thing over and over again here. This is Edey's time to become a true top-level college basketball player, because Purdue is going to make him its go-to guy offensively and have to build around him from a defensive perspective again. His usage rates should be through the roof, so this season for Edey is about his ability to handle a greatly increased workload and level of responsibility. Purdue needs him to be the best defender he can be this season, for one thing.
Anticipated role: Edey's Purdue's best player, its foundational player and its most important player, probably at both ends of the floor. That simple.
Off-season agenda: Last year, Edey took a step forward as a passer and decision-maker, and now's the time for him to peak in that regard, because he'll carry more offensive responsibility than he ever has before in his life. Is that an off-season thing or merely an experience thing? Doesn't matter, because he's very experienced now.
The better Edey can get from a mobility perspective — for a massive human, mobility is relative — and improve defensively, the better. Anything that can be done to soften some of the matchup issues that come against the dribble, the better, and while Purdue's always going to be dropping Edey to the rim against ball screens, the lighter he can be on his feet the better. Again, he's massive, so he's never going to be light on his feet, per se, but lighter.
Third, last year was a little more up and down for Edey at the foul line, after he was surprisingly good as a rookie. Needless to say, more minutes + more touches = more fouls. The game within the game for Edey's relationship with officiating — not personal, just the conditions on the ground — and how that category goes for Purdue this year will be so important to their success. That means keeping Edey out of foul trouble, but also getting calls and leveraging their impact by inflicting foul trouble and making free throws.
Lastly, and this goes without saying: Conditioning. There's no 50-50 split at center anymore, most likely. Edey will need to be able to carry more minutes than the 20 per game he carried in Big Ten play. Needless to say, that comes down to the shape he's in — no concerns there — and his ability to stay out of foul trouble.
One other thing to mention: Edey is physically capable of shooting from the perimeter. Whether Purdue needs him doing that, I don't know, but maybe that's something that shows up in the form of the occasional wide-open three-pointer. Edey has always worked on it, probably in part to prepare for NBA workouts. He can do it. Whether he can do it during live play, maybe we find out this season.
That's a long list, but reflective of Edey's gravity on this roster this season.
Bottom line: Barring Purdue signing an elite scoring guard in the next few weeks or a returnee turning into Superman, this Boilermaker team will be more singularly built around one player than just about any other that's come before it. Edey's that guy. He should be a first-team All-Big Ten sort of player and maybe one of the better players in all of college basketball. He'll certainly have opportunities to produce at that sort of level.
