Newbie Memphis Grizzlies Heart Zach Edey was hungry. His teammates seen, so that they continued to feed him.
Edey was relentless on offense towards Indiana Pacers defenders and carved out place Monday night time at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. His endurance, energy and footwork had been all on show Monday’s 120-116 preseason win.
Monday’s match was like a homecoming for Edey. He performed school basketball at Purdue and his coach, Matt Painter, was within the crowd Monday.
Edey completed with 23 factors on 10-of-15 taking pictures in 19 minutes and pulled down 9 rebounds. The factors and rebounds had been probably the most he had this preseason.
This is what stood out from Edey’s efficiency.
Do it inside
It wasn’t simply the truth that Edey was scoring inside. He regarded dominant and energetic whereas doing this. He made a number of of his patented right-handed hooks which he practices every day.
He countered the hook with certainly one of his most spectacular strikes of the day. When he pulled the hook, it usually went over his left shoulder. However on this case, Edey stored Pacers heart Isaiah Jackson off steadiness and turned to his proper to throw down a strong two-handed dunk within the first quarter.
Edey did a lot of his work towards Pacers heart Myles Turner, generally known as top-of-the-line shot blockers within the NBA.
Grizzlies gamers had beforehand identified how the quick tempo they most popular restricted the variety of put up touches Edey might get, however on Monday it appeared like they’d discovered a steadiness.
Settle for the defensive problem
After not getting the beginning, Edey entered the sport halfway via the primary quarter and instantly gave up a 3-pointer to Turner.
You’ll have thought – uh oh.
Instantly, these considerations about his means to protect perimeter-oriented gamers got here to thoughts, however he rapidly recovered. Grizzlies assistant coach Erik Schmidt identified throughout halftime on the Bally Sports activities present that Edey’s offense wasn’t the one benefit of his night time.
“Either side of the ball too,” Schmidt stated. “Superb pick-and-roll protection. Excellent finishes on the put up. I really like seeing him do that the place he went to school, so it is superior.
Damichael Cole is the Memphis Grizzlies beat author for The Industrial Attraction. Contact Damichaël at [email protected]. Observe Damichael on X, previously generally known as Twitter, @DamichaelC.
This text was initially printed on Memphis Industrial Attraction: Memphis Grizzlies’ Zach Edey Offensive Skillset vs. Pacers Preseason
