Zach Edey had been thinking about what Wednesday night would feel like for a long time.
Since he was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies last June and once the NBA schedule came out a couple of months after that, even if the whole thing seemed a bit far-fetched when he’d head from Leaside to Scotiabank Arena to watch a lacrosse or Raptors game with friends.
The day arrived and Edey, a rookie centre having a fine first season for the Grizzlies, overwhelmed the Raptors – including a familiar face – with his size and strength.
Edey scored 13 points, hitting all five of his shots, grabbed 15 rebounds and blocked a couple of shots, including one by Canadian national team captain and mentor Kelly Olynyk. When asked if he’d apologize to Olynyk, Edey smiled as he had when the crowd roared when his name was announced prior to tipoff. “I might have to, but it’s just competition. He knows how it is,” Edey said.
The 7-foot-4 Edey said he had just under 100 family and friends on hand and was “more excited than nervous. Cool to be back home, my one time a year, I got to enjoy it,” he said. Edey said he’d never played in the building before.
“It was really cool, before tipoff, I kind of looked around, took it all in.”
More than anything, Edey said he felt “grateful.”
Memphis head coach Taylor Jenkins has enjoyed having Edey on his team and believes Edey is “just scratching the surface” of what he’s capable of. “I know people had all kinds of question marks about what he was going to be able to do at this level defensively with our system, protecting the paint, protecting the rim, trying to secure defensive rebounds. I think he really thrives in that,” Jenkins said
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic, formerly Jenkins’s right-hand man in Memphis, was impressed by Edey and how he’s developed in just over half a season in the NBA.
“He is huge, but not just that, he does really good job of positioning himself to be in the right positions for those offensive rebounds,” Rajakovic said. “I do think that he’s catching up with the style of NBA, and especially with his team, with the way he’s running, I think that his conditioning is constantly improving,” Rajakovic said.
“Just kind of trying to take it game by game,” Edey said. “That’s kind of always been my thing this year. Just take one game at a time. Keep improving, keep getting more comfortable.”
He looked mighty comfortable Wednesday. Some might say he looked right at home.
@WolstatSun