Zach Edey Discusses Draft Process Following Raptors Workout

The Toronto Raptors hosted Purdue center Zach Edey for a workout Tuesday afternoon as the Canadian big man prepares for the NBA draft

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

Five years ago, Zach Edey was just like every other Torontonian.

At the time, nobody saw the Canadian center as some future NBA first-round pick. He was just a child — a remarkably tall one — celebrating a Toronto Raptors berth in the NBA Finals and about to head to Purdue as some relatively unknown high school prospect.

“I remember driving around downtown after they won the championship like downtown was going crazy,” Edey said as sweat dripped from his nose following his first official NBA workout from the OVO Athletic Centre in Toronto. “Now I’m in here working out, like, it is really cool.”

Edey tested the NBA draft waters last year but opted to go back to Purdue for one more season. It was a near-perfect season for the 7-foot-4 big man who led the Boilermakers to the NCAA championship game while clinching his second straight Player of the Year award.

This time around, Edey is locked in and getting ready to make the jump.

He began the process a few weeks ago at the draft combine in Chicago where he showed off his new three-point stroke and did his first official workout with the Raptors on Tuesday morning.

At this point, the workouts are a bit of a formality.

Zach Edey getting up shots at OVO right now pic.twitter.com/Ztw6hQBgDV

— 𝐀𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 (@AaronBenRose) June 4, 2024

Everyone knows who Edey is. He’s been one of college basketball’s most dominant big men for the better part of the last three years and is borderline unstoppable in the paint. He averaged 25.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game this past year while shooting 62.3% from the floor.

But Edey is still a baby when it comes to his basketball career.

He only began taking the sport really seriously about a half-decade ago. It’s part of what makes him such an intriguing prospect. What more is there to tap into for a 7-foot-4, 300-pound big man who has repeatedly proven to be the best player in college hoops?

“I don’t even think I’m close to my ceiling,” he said. “Still doing things in practice I’ve never done. Still trying to add things to my game that I’ve never done before. I don’t think I’m a finished player by any means.”

His three-point shot could be the biggest swing factor in his development as a high-level NBA player. Despite his claim to being a 50% three-point shooter for his career (1-for-2), he was essentially a non-shooter from anything outside the paint for Purdue. It made sense at the time because nobody could stop him. In the NBA, though, that will be different.

“At Purdue I was a post-up player, it’s not a secret. I like to play in the post, I like to get rebounds,” Edey said. “But now that I’m preparing for the draft, I’m really working on extending my range, I’m feeling comfortable out there and comfortable in doing different shit, different things.”

Edey showed off some of that at the combine where he looked impressive shooting from the outside and when the doors swung open to the Raptors’ practice facility on Tuesday, Edey looked comfortable from the free-throw line where he drained four straight shots.

There are, of course, limitations in Edey’s game that’ll have him slipping outside of the top part of the draft later this month. His quickness is the biggest issue with his game and it’s not hard to see him getting picked apart defensively. While his height is a huge plus, his inability to step out and defend quicker guards on the perimeter is likely to make him a target in the pick-and-roll.

That’s not new to Edey, though. He understands his game and plays within himself, and it’ll be on the coaching staff wherever he ends up to put him in a position to succeed.

“There’s guys in the league that play like how I want,” Edey said. “Like Valanciunas, like Zubac. How Jokic plays in the post, how like Embiid plays in the post. Vucevic. There’s some guys in the league that do some things that I want to do. Then also remembering that I’m a different person. Like what works for them might not work for me. What works for me might not work for them.”

It's hard to get a read on where Edey will go in the draft later this month. Some draft prognosticators see him going as early as the late lottery while others see him slipping behind Toronto at No. 19.

The Raptors don’t necessarily have a need for a center with Jakob Poeltl and Kelly Olynyk under contract moving forward, but a young big man who could grow with Scottie Barnes and Toronto’s young core would certainly be helpful.

Edey said he has four or five more workouts to do before the draft and plans to spend the draft night at Purdue surrounded by his teammates, coaches, and the facility members who helped get him to where he is today.

Maybe the next chapter in Edey’s story starts where it all began. Nobody thought the boy from Leaside would make it here but now the Toronto native is on the doorstep of the NBA.

“Obviously getting drafted anywhere would be a blessing, but drafted by Toronto, like, it’s the team you grew up watching,” he said. “It’s a team all my buddies are watching, my family watch, like, it'd be real cool.”