The fastest team actually uses the most important center, and Zach Eadie, who subverts the perception, is Yang Hansen s shining light!

Yesterday I wrote a summary of the Trail Blazers' week. I suggested that the Trail Blazers' high-speed small ball rhythm is very unfriendly to a heavy center like Yang Hansen and that it would be difficult for him to adapt. As a result, a fan directly refuted me. He said: "Zach Eadie, who is the weightiest in the league, can adapt to it. He Yang Hansen can adapt to it." If Sen can't adapt, don't talk about playing in the NBA!" This sentence shocked me. I immediately got up and looked up Zach Eadie's NBA data. The more I looked at it, the more shocked I became. I couldn't sleep anyway. It took me until midnight to see the words "Nice" written all over the screen!

Eady was the heaviest player in the NBA last season, weighing 138.4 kilograms, significantly ahead of Nurkic, who ranked second in the league at 131.5 kilograms. This season, because he is on the injured list, the NBA official website does not have the latest weight data.

His physical test data in the 2024 joint trial (rounded to two decimal places) are: palm length 25.4 cm, palm width 27 cm, barefoot height 2.23 meters, wingspan 2.41 meters, standing reach 2.92 meters, dynamic physical test data: change of direction agility test 11 seconds 19, return run 3 seconds 01, three-quarter sprint The thrust is 3 seconds 42, the standing jump is 66 cm, and the maximum running jump is 80 cm.

Next, I will put Xiao Yang’s data for comparison: palm length 25.4 cm, palm width 28.6 cm, barefoot height 2.16 meters, wingspan 2.20 meters, standing reach height 2.82 meters, weight 114. 5 kilograms. The latest NBA official website weight has grown to 122.4 kilograms, ranking 8th among all NBA players. The dynamic physical test data is a change of direction agility test of 11 seconds and 79 seconds, a retracement run of 3 seconds and 01 seconds, a three-quarter sprint of 3 seconds and 38 seconds, a standing jump of 66 centimeters, and a maximum running jump of 76 centimeters.

Let’s make a simple comparison. Although Edie weighs 16 kilograms more than the current Yang Hansen, his speed and jumping are even better than Xiao Yang. In addition, he has a wingspan of 20 centimeters more than Xiao Yang, which has a huge advantage in protecting the frame. But I think there is nothing wrong with the fact that he and Xiao Yang are both heavy centers. Then I will talk about the scariest thing.

In the Houston Rockets during Van Gundy's time, in order to adapt to and take advantage of the characteristics of 140-kilogram Yao Ming, Van Gundy required the team's offense to land every ball in addition to fast break counterattacks. The ball must be handed over to Yao Ming first, and then he would go ball after ball at a slow pace. During the four years that Van Gundy coached from 2003 to 2007, the number of offensive and defensive rounds of the Rockets every 48 minutes. The average of 87 rounds was ranked in the bottom five in the league for a long time. At the same time, the Phoenix Suns, a run-and-gun team led by D'Antoni, averaged more than 95 offensive and defensive rounds per 48 minutes, ranking in the top three in the league for a long time. Therefore, I have come to the conclusion in the past that letting Yao Ming use run-and-gun small ball tactics is just like asking Song Xiaobao to marry Dilraba - it is nonsense.

With the development of basketball, the NBA increasingly encourages offense and promotes fast pace for the sake of game enjoyment. Now 20 years have passed, and the team with the fewest possessions every 48 minutes in the league last season was the Boston Celtics, who had 9 possessions every 48 minutes. 5.7 rounds. To put it simply, the Celtics, who are currently the slowest, were a lightning-fast run-and-gun team 20 years ago. The team with the most offensive and defensive rounds every 48 minutes last season was the Memphis Grizzlies, whom Edie played for. The Grizzlies played 103.3 rounds every 48 minutes. Can you imagine? The heaviest player in the league is still the main force in the fastest-paced team in the league. This sense of contrast, dissonance, and contradiction is basically equivalent to the world's richest man Musk marrying Sister Feng.

Eady actually kept up with the team's fast pace. His running speed was 6,952 meters per hour, ranking 36th among the 107 center players in the league. Last season, the fastest center in the league was Garr of the Timberwolves. Sa, 7515 meters per hour, and Yang Hansen's current running pace is 6887 meters per hour, currently ranked 49th in the league. However, Xiao Yang's data is not authoritative because there are many center players who have not yet appeared in the game.

When the Memphis Grizzlies used the 9th pick in the first round to select Eadie, the surprise was completely greater than the Blazers' selection of Yang Hansen with the 16th pick. At that time, many experts in the United States said that the Grizzlies management was crazy and gave this draft operation a low score. However, after a season, Eadie proved with actual performance that a heavy center can also play fast-paced running and gunning.

Rock singer Cui Jian sang in a classic song more than 20 years ago: "It's not that I understand, it's that the world is changing fast." As the NBA continues to develop, all kinds of peerless talented players emerge in an endless stream, and there will always be revolutionary changes that continue to break traditional perceptions. Now, Curry has made three-pointers a trend. The 2-meter-26 Wembanyama dribbles under his hips like a defender and changes direction to hold the ball from the top of the arc to attack the frame. The 2-meter-11, 128-kg Jokic dribbles like a point guard to break through and score the ball. The 138-kg Edie has really realized his run-and-gun game.

Of course, the contrasting performances of talented players such as Curry, Wenban, and Jokic have proven feasible and successful, but Edie's ability to play small ball is one thing. The key lies in how well he plays. Many teams in the league have chosen Curry-like shooting guards, but only Curry has achieved success, so we mainly look at the effect of Edie playing small ball.

Last season, the five-man group consisting of Morant, Bane, Wells, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Eady played a total of 221 minutes, ranking first among the Grizzlies. This lineup beat the opponent by 25 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1 steal per 100 possessions. It made 1.6 fewer turnovers than the opponent. The assists and blocks were equal to the opponent. The efficiency was very high. Of course, the core of this lineup is Morant.

When Morant came off the court and was replaced by Luke Kennard, the five-man group played a total of 103 minutes, ranking third among the Grizzlies. This lineup lost 6.4 points, 6.4 assists, and 5.8 steals per 100 possessions to its opponents, had 4 more turnovers than its opponents, and only led by 2.8 rebounds..

However, what is surprising is that among the top 10 lineups with Edie's playing time, 7 lineups have positive efficiency, and only 3 have negative efficiency. This alone fully proves that Edie can really gain a foothold and make positive contributions in a high-speed small ball environment.

His tasks in the team's tactical system are very clear. To put it simply, he is to provide pick-and-roll screens on the offensive end, finish at the basket, fight for the front board, and protect the basket and rebounds on the defensive end. Let's look at these work efficiency in detail.

The first is the pick-and-roll screen. His body is like a city wall, which can provide high-quality screen. Last season, he averaged 2.4 screen assists per game, ranking 41st in the league, and ranked 33rd in the league with a total of 154 times. The league's first is Sabonis's 419 times. Screen assists are using pick-and-rolls to help teammates block defenses. After teammates get shooting opportunities and score, a ball-handling scorer with a ball intelligence will smartly use his teammates' pick-and-rolls. If you watch Yang Hansen's recent games, you will find that he also has this effect. Young's blocking at the basket allows his teammates to get open opportunities to attack the basket. Currently, he has 4 pick-and-roll screen assists, ranking second in the team. The team's first is Klingen's 8 times.

However, due to Edie's slow movement and poor jumping, it is difficult for him to complete the follow-up pie-eating operation of the pick-and-roll. He only received the ball and attacked the frame after the pick-and-roll 57 times throughout the season, ranking 77th in the league. The league's number one in this data is Vucevic, who can roll inside and outside after the pick-and-roll, with a total of 345 times.

Judging from the data rankings, Zach Eady's pick-and-roll effect is actually relatively average, especially his lack of subsequent offensive threats after the pick-and-roll, allowing opponents to double-team the ball carrier unscrupulously.

In terms of finishing under the basket, Edie has a killer skill that ranks first in the league, which is the hook shot that has been lost in the league for many years. Last season, he made 106 hook shots and hit 53 goals with a shooting rate of 50%, and he made 16 layups under the basket. He hit 86 shots in 8 times and his shooting rate was 51%. In other words, he can dig in when he encounters a light inside line. When he encounters a heavy inside line and cannot hit it, he can just hit a hook and a half with high efficiency. In addition, with his height and wingspan, he can easily dunk when he squeezes deeper into the basket. Last season, he completed the total His 94 dunks ranked 21st in the league.

And his area of improvement is shooting. Last season, he tried to develop 3-pointers. He took 50 attempts from outside the three-point line and hit 17 goals. The shooting rate of 34% is barely qualified. If he is in the future If he increases the number of shots and maintains this shooting rate, he will be able to open up space for the team and play a greater role in the tactical system. However, he made 90 free throws in 127 attempts and his 71% free throw shooting rate also makes people not optimistic about his shooting potential.

In terms of rebounds, last season he grabbed a total of 537 rebounds, ranking 23rd in the league, and averaging 8.3 rebounds per game, ranking 27th in the league. Among them, he averaged 4.8 defensive rebounds per game, and averaged 3.5 offensive rebounds per game, ranking 6th in the league. His impact and ability to disrupt offensive rebounds are currently ranked first in the league, which is one of his greatest strengths.

Finally, in terms of defensive frame protection, this is the life-saving skill of NBA centers. Even in small ball teams, the center is the key to ensuring the team's overall defensive lower limit. To give a simple example, in the past, the Suns, the most typical run-and-gun team in the league, needed Stoudemire in the interior, and the Rockets during Harden's era needed Capela.

Last season, opponents took 13.4 shots per game in front of Edie and hit 6.3 goals, limiting the opponent's shooting percentage to 47.1%. The opponent's shooting percentage dropped by 1.8 percentage points on average under his defense. To be more detailed, he took 9.3 2-point shots and hit 4.8 goals per game, and the opponent's shooting percentage dropped to 51.5% on average. 3.8 percentage points, which is an excellent level of frame protection. He prevented 4.1 3-point shots and 1.5 field goal percentages to 37.2%. The opponent's shooting percentage increased by 1.8 percentage points on average. From this data, it can be seen that he still cannot prevent attacks from outside the three-point line due to his lack of mobility. This is also a common shortcoming of all squatting centers.

Will he be played by smaller players? I put his matchup defense data

The defenders played 103 minutes and 603 rounds, accounting for 19% of the total defensive time. The defenders shot 42.8% on defense, including 37.4% from three-point range. It can be said that his inside suppression of defenders is quite good, but it is still an old problem, unable to defend three-pointers.

Defended forward players for 185 minutes and 993 rounds, accounting for 34% of the total defensive time. The forward players shot 48.7% under their defense, including 38.1% from three-point range. The defensive effect on forward players was relatively average. It basically fell within the league average standard and could not cause interference.

Mainly defended center players for 263 minutes and 1321 rounds. , accounting for 47% of the total defensive time, and the center player's shooting rate under his defense is 50.8%. The efficiency of this defensive center is very good, because now NBA center players are more about eating and catching the ball, and there are rarely the one-on-one confrontations in the low post in the past. Therefore, the center's shooting rate is generally above 60%. It is very good for Edie to reduce the opponent's shooting rate to 50%.

Judging from the specific data, Edie's abilities are not outstanding among the league's centers. He can only be regarded as a qualified starting center now, but what makes him awesome is that these performances are based on his heaviest weight. He played on the fastest team in the league, and he is the best example for Yang Hansen. Edie can stand firm in such a difficult environment. Yang Hansen also has a chance. Edie is three years older than Young. I hope that in three years, Young can reach the height of Edie.