We’re just hours away from the 2024 NBA Draft, and my research that consists of YouTube breakdowns, old school scouting reports, and dozens of podcasts is nearly complete. I have a confession to make:
I like Zach Edey.
I’ll never sell myself as a college basketball expert or draft guru, but I know what the Kings are missing, and I think Edey can be legitimately helpful in several of those areas.
Edey’s floor as a bench center with Malik Monk is a terrifying combination for opposing defenses. Monk’s pick-and-roll prowess combined with Edey’s size, elite screening, and touch can punish every bench unit in the NBA. With no exaggeration included here, they could be the best 1-2 bench punch in the league.
Edey’s size is a problem that I don’t think the NBA can solve. His ability to draw fouls reminds me a lot of DeMarcus Cousins. For those who remember, Boogie would draw fouls through his post-up physicality without even touching the ball. Like Cousins, Edey is going to be very difficult to dislodge from advantageous post positions, and I believe you’ll see him draw a lot of fouls from smaller defenders who are just trying to knock him off his spot before the ball even gets to him down low.
The Kings are one of the worst teams in the NBA in both foul drawing and foul shooting. Edey will help everyone’s offensive game by getting the Kings in the bonus early and often. Here’s a fun fact: Edey shot 127 more free throws last season than anyone else in college basketball. He also shoots them above 70%, which is pretty decent for a center. He averaged an insane 11.7 FTA for Purdue last year, and I love free throw attempts as a skill that typically translates when players make the jump from college basketball to the NBA.
For those who would argue that you can’t draft a backup center at #13, I hear you while also somewhat disagreeing with that position. Nobody the Kings draft at #13 is likely starting from day one. The Kings don’t need Edey to be a starter right now. And if he develops into a starting caliber center, that is a good problem to have. I’ll throw out Ivica Zubac as a role comp. Zubac was tremendous for the Clippers off the bench in 2020-21 before developing into an NBA starter.
And let’s talk about his ceiling. If he develops a shot, all bets are off. The NBA is trending big. For as great as Sabonis is, there are certain areas where he is incapable of improving: rim protection and size. Sabonis’ strength on defense is his ability to stay in front of quicker forwards. Can he do it full time? I don’t know. But I do know Edey would solve the size and rim protection issue, and the combination could be equally punishing offensively if they can stay out of each others way.
As a point-center, Sabonis spends more time on offense outside of the paint than a lot of traditional bigs. I’m not drafting Edey with the expectation that he and Sabonis would be a seamless fit to play big minutes together, but I’m certainly not taking it off the table. There is a world in today’s bigger NBA where this both works, and solves a lot of the size problems the Kings are currently dealing with.
Lastly, the biggest knock on Edey is his pace. He’s slow. He doesn’t move great laterally. I get it. But I’ll say this: For as much as Kings fans romanticize playing fast with pace and speed, this team doesn’t really play that way a lot of the time. In the Mike Brown era, for better or worse, the Kings have never been a top-10 pace team. They’re just about average. Edey is slow, but he plays hard and is extremely durable. This gigantic man averaged over 30 MPG during his last two seasons at Purdue. Conditioning has not been an issue for him.
That’s about it. While Edey isn’t my first choice at #13 depending on who else is available, I took a hard pivot from hating on the idea of drafting him to actually sorta liking it and realizing how it could benefit the Kings in both the short and long term.
I have slipped Edey above Holmes (but below da Silva) on my draft list, though neither of them crack the top 13 for me. I agree with Tony’s article for the most part, but my concern about Edey is his lack of lateral quickness. Could I see Edey become something between Brook and Robin Lopez? Absolutely. But I don’t see him or Sabonis ever being stretch 4s, so if I am drafting Edey it is solely through the lens of him ultimately being an upgrade over Alex Len, and I don’t know that this occurs in Edey’s rookie (or even 2nd) year.
So with that as the backdrop, I think that the long wing and stretch 4 spots on this roster are far more pressing needs than the center or guard positions. Unless there is a C or G prospect at 13 that makes your eyes pop out of your head, use the pick (be it via selection or trade) to address those more pressing needs.
I agree that this team needs a legitimate four.
I disagree that Sabonis cannot play as a power forward. I don’t think it his natural spot but for stretches he can do it well.
I’m going with he hasn’t, so to draft someone under the assumption that he can is more hope than strategy.
But if you’re going to have Sabonis chase some combination of Zion and Ingram around the floor, you’ll need Edey, because Domas is going to pick up fouls at an exponentially faster rate.
He hasn’t very much. Odds are better that he can play the four compared to getting into the first round of the playoffs without a four.
I just think Sabonis can figure it out for parts of games.
It never really worked with Myles Turner in Indy, and Turner could already hit 3s.
I’ve lived several lifetimes of the Kings trying to pound square pegs into round holes. If Sabonis can grow his game, great. But I’d prefer to obtain a player that can play alongside a 3rd team All NBA stud than draft a rookie and then ask the 3rd team All NBA stud to change his game.
This.
(and better than I could have stated it)
Rec’d. Purple it. Have it written in the War Room.
Edey can shoot. He’ll space the floor for Sabonis. With less pressure Domas will score better.
I have lived the Kansas City Kings doing the same…
Been a while.
I don’t think Indy and Turner were meant for Sabonis. Just get someone to play the four spot well.
there are good players out there and arern’t all stars and can really contribute. Collins, Kuzma, Stewart, Portis etc. It,s up to Monty to find one that fits. I have confidence in him. GO get one.
If we go through the draft and this off season without dealing with the obvious realities he has failed.
Yeah, this offseason will tell me all I need to know about whether it’s time to finally step off the McNair train.
Myles Turner was not the offensive force that Edey is, 3pt shot, or no.
But this isn’t true, they were a good team and playoff teams with those two
And then they weren’t.
I don’t put dispositive weight on any analyst’s rankings, but Hollinger makes a compelling case against Da Silva and ranks him #51 in his recent article at the Athletic.
And Givony has him at 17 and Vecenie has him at 19.
Junior Draft Pundits Club training
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It’s the look on her face for me.
Yeah, but Hollinger made some good points about his age and lack of lateral quickness, among others that I found more persuasive.
Tankathon has da Silva at 16.
Hey, maybe Hollinger is right. But the consensus seems to have da Silva in the mid to late teens range. Also, Hollinger is Hollinger. I have never found him to be terribly compelling – or correct.
Your mileage may vary with all of these guys. I’d certainly take Hollinger’s analysis over Givony’s but that’s not necessarily saying much. I do tend to like Vecenie.
This was Hollinger’s take on Keegan Murray, who was 7th on his big board:
If there is a constant to Hollinger, it has been that he is less enamored with older prospects, and he loves perceived upside. He’s not alone in using these factors. But I can’t recall a year where I found him to be more right than wrong.
I think that Givony and Vecenie do a good job with their player profiles. No one puts out a solid mock – I think that there is just too much front office misdirection across the league for any of these guys to draw a clear bead.
not that bad of an analysis. for Hollinger, perhaps we should pay more attention to the content than the numerical ranking.
I don’t know. When a guy ranks Ivey 3rd and Murray 7th, I think that the numerical rankings are pertinent, especially when Murray was two “tiers” below Ivey on Hollinger’s scale.
All told, it’s a pretty fair review of Murray at the time of the draft. He wasn’t a good defender yet, and no one saw him banging 40% on three at decent volume, but McNair made the right call, and Brown and his guys have coached Keegs into an impressive player in under two years.
The shrillness of draft “experts” in regard to the caution teams must take with players who have reached their twenty-first birthday is one of the dumbest ongoing takes in the field.
“Is he good? Does he project to get better?”
“Well, yes to both. But think, man! How much improvement can you expect from a guy who is already TWENTY-TWO YEARS OLD?!?”
The amount of money people like Hollinger are paid to say such patently stupid things is an affront to anyone who works for a living.
I wonder if it says Draft “Expert” on his business card?
“Draft Expert. Hemorrhoid Sufferer. Costco Member since 2014.”
It seems like it’s still a pretty fair review of Keegan’s current game.
I’ve always been personally skeptical about ascribing major predictive value to a prospect’s age, but Pelton, Hollinger, and a lot of numbers guys tell me that’s what the historical statistical surveys show, and I’m not really in a position to dispute that. I do think age is less relevant in a year like this one where there aren’t any particularly compelling young prospects either.
You seem to be putting that out there as a gotcha, but that seems like a pretty fair pre-draft assessment of Keegan even in retrospect. Givony, IIRC, had Bronny as a top ten prospect last fall, which is far worse than whatever flaws your ascribing to the Keegan scouting report.
The point of the conversation to me is where he has da Silva ranked compared to the consensus. He nicked Murray for…age? Lack of pizazz? Not being a highlight reel player? Sounds familiar to me as it pertains to da Silva.
And where does Givony have Bronny on 6/26/24? Because that is what is relevant. (The answer is 55.) Ask Gerald Wallace or Byron Mullens about the difference a season makes when it comes to your draft stock.
Hey, you think the world of Hollinger compared to the consensus, more power to you. There is always the chance that he is right. My point was (and is) that there is nothing about Hollinger that makes me think that he is right and everyone else is wrong.
The great thing about these hot prospect drag down takes is that they are usually correct. That’s the numbers of this game, as most of the prospects are not going to live up to expectations. Prospects living up to and exceeding expectations is the annual exception, not the rule. So the odds actually favor Hollinger when it comes to whether or not da Silva will pan out. But if there are 50 other players in this draft that wind up being better than him, I’ll eat my hat.
I’m not sure where the assertion that I worship Hollinger comes from. That’s some nonsense. And that’s quite the move for you to post an entirely accurate scouting report of Keegan and then handwave away one of the most absurd draft takes in recent memory (and yes, everyone was laughing about Givony’s take at the time, too, you can’t say he was repeating the critical consensus).
Back to the point, I’ve been reading a lot of positive da Silva stuff, but these observations scared me off quite a bit, and I find the described downside a lot better than the upside some of you see. To each their own.
It’s hard for me to make hard conclusions about these young men w/o seeing them in person. I have an idea of who they might be, but we have to trust MM’s eval, having seen them in the gym.
I also rank him lower than most. not that low. late first probably. 6’9″ with a shot and good coordination gets you somewhere. can’t argue with 17 or 19.
IMO Edey is too slow.
Is he faster than 3 time MVP Nikola Jokic?
way slower in terms of processing speed, reaction time, … all that stuff that falls under cognitive neuroscience.
If your having trouble seeing him in a Kings jersey, try imagining him next to Wemby, or Chet. Now, wouldn’t you rather he come to Sac? If not, how do you propose we guard that when it arrives for a road game?
So forget BPA, and just “address pressing needs?”
When BPA is as opaque as it is this year, it essentially becomes a non-factor.
Best player available? According to whom?
I haven’t seen anyone express a ton of confidence in their speculation about who is to be picked first, let alone a top three, five, or ten. It’s going to be interesting, and the Kings are far enough down in the lottery that guessing who may be available is a crapshoot.
I’ve noted this elsewhere, but when your team sucks and your roster has multiple needs and no real franchise players and you have a high draft pick, you draft the best player regardless of need (see Doncic, Luka). When you’re drafting later in the first round and you have a couple of franchise cornerstones and you have obvious holes on your roster, draft for need, unless “THERE IS A PROSPECT THAT MAKES YOUR EYES POP OUT OF YOUR HEAD.”
I like the idea of rolling the dice on this guy instead of another guard to sit on the bench.
Sabonis and Edey together for 15 or 20 minutes a game could be interesting. Sabonis is athletic enough to play the four spot.
No more guards, please! I’ll take the gigantic player of the year over yet another bench-caliber perimeter player any day right now. It’d at least be “interesting,” as you said.
…and it is always guards that nobody else wants. Cannot even trade them.
At least they were low-cost to acquire. I’ll give Monte this much– he’s swung and missed on multiple signings/trades, but they’ve been cheap swings that haven’t hurt the cap at all.
At the very least, if Edey proves himself a quality NBA talent, he is a great asset to have for future deals. I like the description of fitting in the starting lineup with Sabonis as a “good problem.” If Edey becomes a starting-caliber player, then you can worry about fit issues. If his floor is a highly disruptive and effective bench big playing 18 mpg, that’s a solid value for the 13th pick in a “weak” draft. The dude can ball, and Monte likes drafting dudes that can indisputably ball. I’d be OK with this.
The pick would not piss me off. This FO has done well enough with their 1st round picks that I am comfortable with whomever they select. That said…
This same FO has had roster construction issues. And whether it is bad management or bad luck (the numerous reported “almost” trades), the issue remains – why else would you be kicking the tires on Okpala, Edwards, etc. So while I will be comfortable with the pick, I will be even more uncomfortable with the construction of the roster, and the ability of the FO to fix it.
That’s a very fair point. The roster would still need a lot of tinkering, and the FO hasn’t shown itself to be very good at the whole tinkering thing.
If only Brown would chime in and tell us good or bad.
Yeah, If he indeed turns into Rik Smits 2.0, then you have to take him at #13 and figure the rest out later.
I am unique. And I wouldn’t pick me even in the 2nd round.
I will say I’ve read more than twice that Edey has turned quite a few heads in his pre-draft workouts. There is a reason he is one the climbers on draft boards.
I don’t disagree, Tony. Edey is incredibly-skilled, has pro-level footwork already, and manages to be enormous without getting rung up for fouls.
I have a feeling that there will be a player at thirteen that makes more sense than Edey, but if it’s his name that I hear, I won’t have a tough time getting on-board.
That’s right Andy.
I don’t know. I’m not an expert. Edey seems really slow. I wasn’t impressed with his free throw shooting, so I’m not sure that is a positive. Seems odd to compare him to Cousins as Cousins was skilled and quick in his early years. Cousins was multidimensional and amazing. It’s too bad he was a headcase and a bully.
Don’t mean to be a downer. I just saw news of the Mikal trade and am bummed and pissed. They traded him for Bogdanovic and picks to a conference rival.
How can the Kings not beat that deal?
The comparison to Cousins was regarding his ability to draw fouls in the post before the entry pass was made. That is it. No other skill was brought up in the comparison
Cousins got a lot of the same criticisms, and he was slow too, but it still worked out. He was a pain too, but at least he wasn’t Wesley Johnson.
“That deal” being four-and-a-half draft picks and a career 39% shooter of threes?
So which of the Kings top-six guys are you also including with the picks? No need to answer, because it’s Keegan Murray or there’s no deal.
Also, and this is the even more important part, Bridges let the Nets know that he wanted to go specifically to the Knicks. My guess is that there was never a deal on the table for the Kings to beat.
Yeah, I’m really only talking about his ability to use size and physicality to draw off-ball fouls in the post. I can’t remember a prior King who did this more effectively than Cousins, and I believe Edey would create a similar problem for smaller defenders.
it’s a reasonable take. an nba team will find a use for Edey. sort of comes down to preference I think.
Which is good, because every defender in the league is smaller than Edey.
This is a good point also.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I wouldn’t be disappointed with this pick. I really think he’s going to surprise some people.
Great point!
Edey has only been playing basketball for like 6-7 years, which means he is still learning the game and has some room for improvement. If the Kings were to use current players and future picks (not the #13 this season) to acquire an upgrade over Barnes/Huerter, then taking Edey at #13 would improve another deficit on the roster, that being the backup Center.
Edey will stick in the league. I’m not a big fan however because his reaction time seems slow. It’s not that much fun to watch.
that’s why I like Scheierman. also a player who will stick in the league because he’s 6’7″ and has an elite skill. (actually two or three elite skills) however, Scheierman processes at a high level. I’ll tune in to watch an nba offense with him out there because I don’t know what’s going to happen. think the play is going one way, then in a flash the ball moves here then there, then a three and a swish.
I’m with you Tony. 27/14 in college has gotta carry over to the pros. Even 70% of that would be excellent. The Lakers are projected to take him at 17. Imagine them with Edey, AD and Lebron in the frontcourt. Massive. And he’s still relatively new to the game. Lots of opportunity to improve. Take him before another Pacific division team does.
I’m not opposed to drafting Edey, but when it comes to falling in love with college stats…
I don’t see this ownership group forcing the front office to take a guy based on potential jersey sales.
KAWHI FUCKING LEONARD
I’m not opposed to drafting Edey, but when it comes to falling in love with college stats…
Let’s hope he’s not the next Luke Garza
And those numbers are out of the Big Ten, which never has a shortage of other huge centers to bang against.
Me Driving to the NBA Draft Day thread
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Oh Magoo! You’ve done it again!
You and Bill Simmons sold me on this. I’m rooting for it now.
If he’s there, I do really want the Kings to take him. As you pointed out, even if his ceiling is a bench big that has to hide in the playoffs I think he helps this team a lot.
I’m in on Edey. Monsters like this don’t come around very often especially ones with his kind of talent.
While I get the points being made, we see time and time again that immobile bigs get picked on and run off the floor. If Rudy Gobert is useless in the playoffs, will Edey actually help?
You sonofabitch I’m in!
Rick’d
We doing an ultimate heist? You sonofabitch, I’m in, too!
The Ringer’s latest mock has the Kings selecting Kel’el Ware at #13 (Edey at #12 to OKC) and Harrison Ingram at #45.
If Ware’s Sophomore season wasn’t a fluke, and he can keep developing, that would be fine.
You can read our discussion of Ware here.
I did the other day.
Just making sure everyone sees all the pre-draft things we’ve written!
You have been working overtime. I hope you are being compensated accordingly. The others must be on vacation.
This site has really just been the Greg Herald since April.
A lot of people have been calling it “Gerald” but I would never.
I’m good with some Ware and tear. He is legit and I believe it’ll work well with him and sabonis. Go for it Monte!
Talk yourself out
Edey is also half Chinese which means he’s Yao Ming 2.0!
Go get him Monte!
Mama, there goes that man.
Prepare to get happy!
If Edey I think it’s to showcase him as a rookie and trade him later. They don’t have the roster space to do that at the guard position. The teams real target is a wing, I think it’s much easy for them to trade a big later on for a wing than try to entice someone with a guard, everyone has guards.
Knicks keeping OG for a billion dollars.
Damn, today is crazier than the deadline. Deni Avdija to PDX….I don’t know what the hell the Wiz are doing?
https://x.com/wojespn/status/1806097327918080270
Sad to say but without a guy like Edey, we have no shot at the title. Just in the West we have to deal with Jokic, Kat/Gobert, Wemby, hell even Chet. Those guys are going to dominate the post season for the next 5 years (the duration of this current team). We need to be able to stop people at down low and at the rim.
He’ll even allow our perimeter guys to take more chances, we’ll be able to do things on defense we’ve never been able to do in the Fox era.
Badge Legend