{"id":100357,"date":"2024-10-10T13:18:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T17:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=100357"},"modified":"2024-10-10T13:18:32","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T17:18:32","slug":"giant-grizzlies-draft-pick-saluted-by-dpoy-teammate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/10\/giant-grizzlies-draft-pick-saluted-by-dpoy-teammate\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant Grizzlies Draft Pick Saluted by DPOY Teammate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Memphis Grizzlies giant draft pick Zach Edey<\/a> was one of the more surprising early draft selections this summer. Edey has since integrated himself with his Grizzlies teammates and now the preseason. While being interviewed,\u00a0Marcus Smart<\/a> expressed his excitement for Edey and what he brings to the team.<\/p>\n

Marcus Smart Loves What Zach Edey Provides<\/h2>\n

Former DPOY Praises Grizzlies Giant Draft Pick<\/h3>\n

In July this summer, the\u00a0<\/span>Memphis<\/span><\/a>\u00a0Grizzlies selected Purdue center Zach Edey in the first round. Fast forward to the NBA preseason and the regular season just days ahead. Edey is already impressing his teammates in a\u00a0<\/span>grand<\/span> fashion. Marcus Smart, the 2021-2022\u00a0<\/span>Defensive Player of the Year<\/span><\/a>, is just one Grizzly to take notice of Edey’s potential and how his size and basketball IQ will flesh out for the Grizzlies throughout the season.\u00a0<\/span>Ja Morant<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>Desmond Bane<\/span><\/a>, and\u00a0<\/span>Jaren Jackson Jr<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>all\u00a0<\/span>shouted out Edey earlier in the summer<\/span><\/a>, but Smart’s comments came more recently via an interview with\u00a0<\/span>Grant Afseth of Sportskeeda<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

“He’s gonna be huge for us,” Smart said of Edey. “He allows us to do a lot of different things on the defensive end. He lets me and Jaren really give everything we’ve got. Being former Defensive Players of the Year, it’s great to have that rim protection behind us. And being 7’4\u2033 definitely helps with that. He moves very well, his IQ is very high, and he’s only continuing to get better.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Smart further expressed how excited he was for the pick-and-roll action between Edey and Morant.<\/p>\n

“Oh it’s going to be deadly, man,” Smart said. “It’s just going to open up things even more for us, especially for Ja. We all know what Ja can do with a little bit of space, so just imagine what he can do with a lot of space cleared out by a big like Zach.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Edey Going Into the Draft<\/h3>\n

Before the NBA Draft, Edey was imposing his size and strength in the NCAA Tournament and further into the championship game. Unfortunately, the Boilermakers fell to the UConn Huskies. Despite the loss, Edey’s strengths and skills were fully displayed throughout the college season. However, there were a few concerns regarding his footwork, lack of quickness, and ability to keep pace that left many questioning his fit in the NBA. The Grizzlies paid no attention, so to speak, as they drafted the big man at No.9 in the first round.<\/p>\n

Edey wasn’t initially projected to go that high. Still, Memphis A) needed a big man to cement their paint presence after the loss of\u00a0<\/span>Steven Adams<\/span><\/a>\u00a0via trade to\u00a0<\/span>Houston<\/span><\/a>, and B) wanted his elite basketball touch, pension to draw fouls and rim protection. He will also open up the floor so Jackson\u00a0can roam more defensively. It should also\u00a0<\/span>come as<\/span> no surprise if Jackson’s offensive production increases this year helped by Edey’s paint presence. Everyone knows Jackson, for a big man, likes to spot up from the three-point line.<\/span><\/p>\n

Getting Better in Progress<\/h3>\n

Smart’s remarks about Edey’s game only back Morant’s excitement that he instigated earlier in the summer. Overall, the Grizzlies have made it apparent they are very high on what Edey can do for them. Whatever Edey’s limitations, how quickly he can translate his dominant college game to the NBA floor will play out as the season progresses. However, Smart is right about one thing: the potential pick-and-roll game with Ja Morant carries the potential to be deadly, as he put it, and simply fun to watch for fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Memphis Grizzlies giant draft pick Zach Edey was one of the more surprising early draft selections this summer. Edey has since integrated himself with his Grizzlies teammates and now the preseason. While being interviewed,\u00a0Marcus Smart expressed his excitement for Edey and what he brings to the team. Marcus Smart Loves What Zach Edey Provides Former […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5081,"featured_media":100470,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,1608,62],"tags":[558,3127,49618,1822,1948,428,98,2985,832,543,4741],"class_list":["post-100357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-grizzlies","category-basketball","category-nba","tag-defensive-player-of-the-year","tag-desmond-bane","tag-dpoy","tag-ja-morant","tag-jaren-jackson-jr","tag-marcus-smart","tag-nba-draft","tag-ncaa-championship","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-steven-adams","tag-zach-edey"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5081"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}