It doesn’t take long for Zach Edey to make his presence felt.
On the opening basket of Sunday’s game between the Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers, rookie wing Cedric Coward is able to eek out a late-clock bucket against Sidy Cissoko after a well-timed pump fake. What stands out to me is what happens before it:
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Edey and Jaylen Wells (looking good lately) flow into a ball screen that the Blazers work to force down the sideline. Edey’s dive naturally occupies the attention of Toumani Camara, who technically has low-man responsibilities. Edey doesn’t get the ball, but that doesn’t stop the work. He seals rookie (and Summer League legend) Yang Hansen, then retreats once he recognizes a drive is happening.
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As he backs out of the paint, Camara gets two hands on Edey — in part to make sure Edey feels him, but I’m sure a part of him wanted to take whatever chance a lob was available off the table. As that’s happening, Yang is already working his tail off to box out Edey. A noble act on its face — do your work early, rook! — but a poorly timed one in practice. Because Yang was preoccupied with Edey, Coward’s able to get an uncontested layup after his pump fake.
This is where the fun really begins.
A little later, Jaren Jackson Jr. is dealing with full-court pressure from Jerami Grant; that high activity remains a staple for the pesky-but-injured Blazers. As Jackson drives and gathers, Grant’s able to strip the ball away, though Jackson is able to recover. Searching for an option, he quickly wraps a pass around to Edey — quietly in position after slow-rolling from the free-throw line to the restricted area during Jackson’s drive.
Two points, too easy.
Not to be outdone, Grant brings the ball up the left side of the floor on the next trip. He receives a screen from Yang, hoping to attack the space given by Edey’s drop. It doesn’t work; Grant snakes to his right, attempts to power through Edey on his gather — and maybe draw a foul in the process — but ultimately tosses up a righty push shot that misses everything.
Thirty seconds later, Edey takes Yang to Seal City. What should happen on the possession is a high ball screen between Coward and Jackson, with potential interplay between Jackson and Edey — maybe another 4-5 ball screen they’ve been sprinkling in? — following shortly after. Instead, Camara gets handsy with Jackson to prevent a screen from happening.
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No matter; Edey gives Grant a little tap before darting down the middle of the floor, setting up shop at the dotted line and pinning Yang behind him in the process. The ball finds Jackson, who immediately hits Edey. You know what’s coming: one dribble, dislodge, turn, bucket.
Yang wants his get-back on the next trip. He inbounds the ball, then flies down court for a trail 3, but he misses. Edey takes advantage by doing what every big should: jet back down the middle of the floor and seal like your life depends on it. Yang doesn’t deal well with the blow and is so preoccupied with Edey that he isn’t really prepared for the Jackson drive coming right at him. The second Yang steps up, Jackson lobs a slightly off pass for Edey.
Catch, load up, bucket.
The Blazers alter their approach on the next trip, this time opting for an early post-up for Grant against Vince Williams Jr. Grant works quickly, spinning to his left … only to see Edey meeting him at the rim. Grant tries to wrap a pass around Edey, but a turnover ensues.
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Edey darts down the middle of the floor, again. He seals Yang, again. As he goes to work on Yang, Cissoko opts to provide some help for the rook. The second he does, Coward fills that space with a cut, and Edey hits him.
Bucket. Timeout, Blazers.
When I say it didn’t take long for Edey to make his presence felt, it’s true in a literal sense. All of that happened within the first two minutes, 36 seconds of the game. Edey would eventually finish with another double-double — 12 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists in roughly 22 minutes — in another Grizzlies win.
In a broader sense, it hasn’t taken long for Edey to change life for the Grizzlies.
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Edey’s enormous impact
Since making his season debut on Nov. 15, Edey’s averaging 13.6 points (65.6% on 2s, 78.1% from the line), 11.1 rebounds (3.9 offensive) and 1.9 blocks. Zooming out a bit, the Grizzlies have performed like a top-10 team in basketball since that date: a 7-4 record while ranking 15th in offense (115 offensive rating), 2nd in defense (109 defensive rating) and 6th in net rating (+6.0), per Cleaning The Glass. After a tumultuous start, they’re firmly in a play-in spot with plenty of room and time to move upward.
Looking at just the Edey minutes, they’ve been even more dominant: the offense has been a smidge better (115.1), but the defense has been stingier than the Thunder’s (95.1). There are four players who have logged at least 200 minutes whose teams are at least 20 points per 100 possessions better with them on the court: Pascal Siakam (+20.4), Aaron Gordon (+20.5, get well soon), Giannis Antetokounmpo (+20.6, get well soon), and Edey (+29.6).
Now, I’m obviously not here to argue that Edey is legitimately the most impactful player in basketball. I will say it’s pretty easy to see why he matters so much. Thanks to his intersection of abnormal size and skill, there’s a level of interior gravity that he brings to the table.
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He flat out isn’t a good screener right now, an annoying carryover from last season, and it hasn’t really mattered because of how much mass defenders have to navigate anyway. Because of where the Grizzlies often deploy him as a screener — among 39 players to set at least 300 on-ball screens, only nine players have a lower average screen distance than Edey (25.2 feet from the basket) — he’s able to threaten the paint earlier.
That opens up early pocket passes, lob chances or, as you saw above, opportunities for Edey to turn his rolls into seals. In addition to his own post scoring, he’s also been more intentional about turning those seals into driving lanes for his opponents. Marcin Gortat would be … well, more proud than last year.
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If you aren’t able to get a body or bodies on him, he’ll cause havoc in some form. There are the aforementioned scoring opportunities within the flow of a possession, but there’s also the offensive rebounding. He’s fifth in the league (min. 10 games) in offensive rebounds per game. But even when he isn’t grabbing them, the attention he draws can leave room for his teammates to swoop in.
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You really feel Edey’s size, and some subtle mobility improvements, on the defensive end. To the boring part: The Grizzlies do a much better job of ending possessions when Edey’s on the floor. They rebound a whooping 80.3% of opponent misses in Edey’s minutes; that drops to 72% with Edey on the bench.
What’s impressed me the most since his return is the level of do-your-job consistency he’s reached. The Grizzlies most often deploy him in drop coverage — it makes sense to keep that much size near the rim, where he’s been solid — but he’s a more active participant in those reps. He’s using his arms more to take up space; he’s tossing in more swipes and lunges while he backpedals, aimed to disrupt the rhythm of ball-handlers while giving his screen navigators more time to recover.
Wells, Williams, and even Coward deserve a ton of credit for the work they’ve done on and off the ball. In addition to their navigation chops, they are incredibly active helpers — they shrink gaps and get their paws on plenty of kick-out passes. Per Genius Sports tracking data, the Grizzlies have help defenders present on over 77% of the drives they face, a top-five mark in the league. With Edey on the floor, that rises to 81.4% — a mark that would edge out the Warriors (81%) for the highest in the league.
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That context is necessary when parsing out some of Edey’s data. For example, the Grizzlies are allowing 0.89 points per possession on trips featuring a pick-and-roll defended by Edey. That’s 13th among 62 players to defend at least 200 — above names like Bam Adebayo, Rudy Gobert, Isaiah Hartenstein, Draymond Green, Jackson, and Chet Holmgren. I think it’s fair to say he isn’t that, at least not yet for the optimists. The Grizzlies deserve credit for creating this infrastructure, and Edey deserves credit for doing his job — and unlocking some of the aggression in front of him because of the size security he provides — within the infrastructure.
There’s still room for growth with Edey. Offensively, he just has to become a more dutiful screener to grease the wheels for some of Memphis’ well-schemed off-ball concepts. There’s another leap or two of passing growth for him, especially with the attention he can draw on some of his deep catches.
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Defensively, you’d like to see him continue to take strides on the perimeter. The Grizzlies don’t switch him out as often as last season, but he’s still tasked with navigating late switches when ball-handlers string things out. Some of his load-ups on rim contests are a hair late; any growth in that area could lead to him leveling up even more as an interior defender.
But that’s what makes this all so encouraging. There are things to point to and he’s still impacting winning to this degree. At worst, he’s a very useful floor raiser on both ends that’ll swing the possession battle in your favor. At his best, he just wrecks people, man. I’m excited to keep watching to see just how high his ceiling is.