Miami Heat Could Find Size, Skill With Purdue's Zach Edey at No. 15 in NBA Draft

Zach Buckley | Jun 21, 2024

Apr 8, 2024; Glendale, AZ, USA; Purdue Boilermakers center Zach Edey (15) controls the ball against Connecticut Huskies center Donovan Clingan (32) during the first half of the national championship game of the Final Four of the 2024 NCAA Tournament at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports / Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Decision time nears for the Miami Heat.

The 2024 NBA draft gets rolling on Wednesday, June 26, and, barring any trades, Miami is slated to make two selections in the annual talent grab with picks Nos. 15 and 43.

If the Heat are thinking size with their first pick, they won’t find more of it than 7-foot-4, 300-pound center Zach Edey out of Purdue has to offer. He measured that height without shoes at the combine, by the way, where he also clocked in with a Rudy Gobert-like 7-foot-9 wingspan.

The sales pitch on Edey extends well beyond his size, of course, but that’s an obvious place to start. Save for All-Star big man Bam Adebayo—who isn’t enormous (by NBA standards) at 6-foot-9 and 255 pounds—the Heat have struggled to find functional size in recent years. On a directly related note, they also just averaged the league’s fewest blocks this season (3.4) while clocking a bottom-half rebounding percentage (49.8 percent, 18th overall, per NBA.com).

Edey, who averaged 12.5 boards and 2.1 blocks over the past two seasons (during both of which he was crowned the men’s college basketball player of the year), would immediately upgrade both areas. His skill and touch from the low post would also help expand the offensive menu.

Now, there are real questions about how much (if any) help he’ll be on the perimeter, since he didn’t shoot at Purdue and is hardly the fleetest-of-foot away from the basket. Saying that, he did display a splashy three-ball at the combine, and this league has other interior-bound bigs who find a way to make it work defensively.

Between Edey's skill level and the track record of this coaching staff, there are reasons to believe this partnership could work.

Zach Buckley works as a contributing writer to Inside the Heat. He can be reached at zbuck07@gmail.com or follow him on X @ZachBuckleyNBA.

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