Draft time is for takes, and this year’s NBA Draft provided ample room for strong opinions given how weak it was at the top. One of the many surprises from Thursday night’s first round was men’s National Player of the Year and NCAA champion Zach Edey going ninth to the Memphis Grizzlies.
While basketball analysts differ on whether Edey’s old-school game and frame will translate to the pro level, Yahoo Sports draft analyst Krysten Peek did not hold back on Memphis for the pick. Peek went off on this in a puzzling video posted to social media, and hoops fans were furious.
Peek called the pick historically bad, pointing to the various more modern players on the board and the Grizzlies’ style of play as well as Edey’s limited abilities in the pick and roll next to star point guard Ja Morant.
“To me this has got to be a terrible pick,” Peek said. “This is one of the worst picks I’ve seen in Draft history.”
However, Peek’s scorching take ended with a sizzle. Despite how awful she believed the pick to be, Peek still gave it a C grade.
“I said what I said,” Peek wrote in a comment on her own video posted to X on Thursday.
I said what I said 🤷♀️ https://t.co/YC9q1Hm9Nt
— Krysten Peek (@krystenpeek) June 27, 2024
To her credit, Peek was fairly positive with her draft evaluations throughout the first round. In a draft grades article for Yahoo, the Edey pick was the only selection to receive a grade lower than a B-minus.
Sports reporters are mixed in whether they believe draft time should be primarily positive or if it’s fair to criticize these young professionals before they play a game. Most analysts try to see the good in a pick, but clearly Peek does not think Edey is cut out for the modern NBA and believes the Grizzlies made a massive mistake with such a high pick.
Puzzlingly though, Peek’s written grade for the Edey pick was a D. Meanwhile, in the video panning Memphis’ selection, Peek also compared Edey to Shaquille O’Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon, two multiple time NBA Finals MVP centers.
Peek’s curious analysis comes after her Yahoo teammate Jake Fischer apologized for a few inaccurate reports during the draft.
Edey certainly is polarizing. Maybe this whole situation just reinforces how big the split is on his future prospects.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.