This Memphis Grizzlies season has been strange. There have been bright spots and extremely h*cking low moments. All of the ups and down led them to the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference Playoffs, after a Play-In win over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.
Zach Edey was a small-scale version of this very weird season. There never seemed to be much consensus among Grizzlies fans about whether the former Purdue star was playable over the long haul, or what his role should be, or even if he was good at all.
Well last night he certainly was. In his team's most important game of the year, Edey held his own as best one could expect against against Anthony Davis on defense and had 15-11 on the other end for a +13 net rating. It was a clear, positive sign that Edey may, in fact, have a future on this team despite not being a super-modern five.
But it’s less the defensive eye test and the box score numbers that stood out to me last night. Edey’s hands looked better than expected. There was a deftness to the way he would take the ball, and hold it above his chest with two hands. I saw him one time, back to his defender, ball in front of his face, and I figured it out.
Zach Edey should eat the basketball.
… I’m sorry ... What.
No, you did in fact hear me correctly. Zach Edey should eat the basketball.
Think about it.
No.
No, seriously, think about it: If you had to pick one player in the entire NBA who you think had the best chance of consuming an entire basketball, who else would you pick? Maybe Nikola Jokic? Ivica Zubac is a dark horse. I mean, I think I could make it in the NBA if this tactic takes off. But to me it’s so, so obviously Edey.
Plus the first syllable of his last name sounds very, very close to “eat.” You just vocalize the ‘t’ sound in “eat” and you get “ead” for Edey. It’s like this was predestined.
But that’s just the framing. The basketball value is profound, and quite honestly unprecedented. Maybe Chet Holmgren is hitting 3s over him in Memphis' first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Or he can’t stay with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander when he gets to the rim.
Oh no, should we take Edey off the floor?
Don’t take Edey off the floor.
At the moment he's somewhat at fault for the Thunder going on an 8-0 or 12-2 run, Edey takes the ball from under the hoop and just starts tearing it at it with his mouth and face — while, of course, taking care for the moment it pops. His teammates will then jump around, screaming things like, “Hell yeah! He’s doing it! He’s going to eat an entire basketball!” Kinda just hyping him up.
I imagine pretty much everyone in attendance, both fans and those directly involved in the game, would be way too confused to continue things as usual, halting all momentum for the Thunder.
Maybe Edey shouldn’t actually consume too much basketball. It is, after all, a basketball. But once everything calms down, he can hand the remnants back to the ref. No harm done.
This will probably be awkward for him the first time he does it in the series, but once it just sort of becomes his thing (like breaking backboards for Shaq, underhand free throws for Rick Barry, etc.) people will just be like “lol there goes Zach.” Plus, he’ll have his teammates for support.
It might be a technical. But it’d be worth it. Anyway, I think this strategy speaks for itself. So much so that--