How good could the Ja Morant, Zach Edey pick-and-roll become?

The Memphis Grizzlies have made pick-and-roll's with Ja Morant a focal point of the offense. How good could his pick-and-roll partnership be with rookie big man Zach Edey?

When the Memphis Grizzlies were searching for a new starting center, many people envisioned how each potential option would look in the pick-and-roll with Ja Morant. Shortly after getting selected with the 9th pick in the draft, Zach Edey highlighted his upside as a pick-and-roll partner — sending Grizzlies faithful into wondrous dreams of the possible potency of a Ja Morant, Zach Edey pick-and-roll.

How could good their pick-and-roll partnership be?

We know how good Ja Morant is at the pick-and-roll. He’s masterful at attacking space — most evident with bruising centers like Steven Adams and Jonas Valanciunas crushing the oppositions with their screens. The way he attacks downhill after a ball screen resembles a Ferrari, possessing a terrifying combination of speed and power while also shifting gears and directions with ease. He identifies slivers in the defense — whether it’s splitting the defense within the ball screen, or angling his body to adjust to the right finishing window. He manipulates defenses downhill with how he hits his defender with a hostage dribble after the pick-and-roll to maintain advantages, and with how he times the help defense perfectly to hit rollers, cutters, or shooters for open scoring opportunities.

Morant is a dynamite pick-and-roll ball-handler with more gears of his game to unlock, as his main areas of offensive improvement lie with expanding his range. If he’s not getting to the rim, he loves getting to his floater, but a reliable mid-range game and improved 3-point jumper would add more layers to his lethal pick-and-roll attack.

All in all, Morant is one of the most dangerous pick-and-roll guards in the league because of his finishing, driving, and playmaking.

So now, another important component within the overarching question: how good could Zach Edey be in the pick-and-roll?

Truthfully, he can be a very good pick-and-roll big man from day one of his career, and it’s not hyperbolic to suggest he can be one of the NBA’s best in that category. His size is unique. He can crush opponents on screens because of his 300-pound frame. At 7’4”, he’s an automatic bucket when he’s near the rim off the roll, as he couples improved mobility with a catch radius unattainable for most defenders. Per Synergy Sports, he shot a sensational 82.2% from the field in 67 possessions as the pick-and-roll man.

While his physical tools and collegiate production ooze of upside, more context lies within this question. His pick-and-roll prowess will amplify as he nails down the technical elements within the action. What’s his mobility like off the roll? How effective are his screens? What sort of looks do his screens create?

To get a better glimpse of his pick-and-roll upside next to Ja Morant, I went through the film from his sophomore season when he had Jaden Ivey — the 5th pick in the 2022 Draft — running the show. To be clear, though still a great pick-and-roll creator (81st percentile in pick-and-roll efficiency, including passes, at 0.977 points per possession in his sophomore season at Purdue, per Synergy Sports), Ivey is not the caliber of pick-and-roll creator of Morant. At Purdue, he was a reliable paint touch that leveraged his athleticism and gear-shifting to create scoring opportunities, but doesn’t possess the firepower of Morant. While his shot was a tad more steady, Ivey is tiers behind Morant as a playmaker. Nonetheless, Ivey serves as a good barometer for Edey’s pick-and-roll upside next to a NBA guard — as his collegiate running mate has above-average NBA value as a driver, finisher, and creator.

The finishing with Edey is the easiest thing to point to in a dynamic pick-and-roll partnership. He possesses undeniable size at the center position and is a surefire bucket in the paint. In his sophomore season at Purdue, Edey scored 1.429 points per possession on an effective field goal percentage (eFG%) of 76.5 in a (low) 21 possessions as the pick-and-roll roll man, per Synergy Sports. While finishing with superb efficiency in this sample, his need for improvement with his mobility was evident.

Edey put in a ton of work on his body, as he became more mobile in space. In his junior and senior seasons, he finished on a scorching 87.9% (33 field goal attempts, 42 possessions) and 82.2% (45 field goal attempts, 67 possessions) of his shots out of the pick-and-roll.

I’m enamored with Edey’s potential in the pick-and-roll as a finisher at the next level. Ja Morant draws so much attention with his driving attack, and he manages to time his passes perfectly to his teammates — whether it’s for shooters, cutters, or low-block bigs. Edey will be an undeniable release valve for Morant in dump-off’s.

Edey has the opportunity to showcase his improved mobility with better spacing. In addition, his prowess in the pick-and-roll should shine now that he’s not the 1st (or even 2nd and 3rd) option out on the floor.

The biggest thing with Zach Edey’s screening in relation to Ja Morant will be space creation. As long as he continues to nail down the technical elements of screening, his size is a true hurdle for defenses to adjust to — which should generate a launch pad for driving opportunities.

And from there, the possibilities are endless.

With Ivey, Edey set ball screens high enough where Ivey could get a comfortable open to change gears and burst downhill. As we’ve seen with Morant the past four years, if he’s given a clear lane to the basket, he’s going to exploit the defense with his speed, aggressiveness, and gear-shifting.

Because of Edey’s presence as a roller, the guard could afford to probe downhill to dissect different gaps in the defense. Morant creates advantages with his hostage dribbles, gear-shifting, and creativity whenever he’s not zooming downhill.

Ivey isn’t a playmaker of Morant’s caliber. However, it’s evident what opens up when an elite slasher and a massive roller are heading to the basket. The defense has to shift to either help off the drive, or tag the roller — leaving shooters and cutters wide open for clean scoring opportunities.

Something to watch for, especially with Morant’s areas of improvement, the pick-and-roll is a form of space creation that can turn a defensive scheme against itself. Ball-handlers can exploit the screener’s defender dropping too low to walk into mid-range jumpers or 3’s, especially if the screener can create space by knocking the handler’s defender out of the mix.

(Note: This element makes me enamored with the idea of Desmond Bane and Zach Edey working together off pick-and-roll or handoff’s. It’s the action I’ll likely monitor the heaviest this season.)

Zach Edey’s screen contact is a development to watch. Given his size, he could’ve set harder screens at times. When there was little contact with the screen, Ivey often struggled creating his own space, which led to turnovers within the flow of the offense.

Ja Morant maximizes space so well — splitting defenses, leveraging defense pressure to draw fouls, and identifying finishing opportunities even in the tightest windows. The margin of error for screen contact does rise on this team — important to note: even Steven Adams and Jonas Valanciunas didn’t demolish a defender with every screen.

It’d be remiss of me to not highlight the different dynamics that exist with screen contact within the pick-and-roll. For starters, Purdue couldn’t afford Edey to get into foul trouble. Also, various actions exist with a screen. If a defense blitzes the ball-handler — something that happens frequently with Ja Morant — the screener may exploit it by slipping the screen. If the defense cheats the direction of the screen, the guard could reject it to explode towards the basket.

As Edey becomes more comfortable as a pick-and-roll big man, you should see him develop sneaky traits to his game as a space creator. Nailing down the “Gortat Screen” would be huge, as he’s nearly impossible to move past in these situations.

Not necessarily a full pick-and-roll concept, but Edey rolling to the basket should put him in offensive rebounding position, where he can finish the ball-handler’s misses with “Kobe assists.” Finishing 4th all-time in offensive rebounds over a collegiate career, Edey should help the Grizzlies re-solidify the possession advantage on the glass.

So to bring everything back to the premise: how good could the Ja Morant and Zach Edey pick-and-roll become?

Very good, maybe even one of the very best pick-and-roll duos in the association.

However, it might take time. Chemistry has to be developed between the two players. Both players need to learn how to time rolls. For Morant, it’s timing it when Edey can get into a good passing lane for a finish; for Edey, it’s timing it to get himself in position to finish dumpoff’s or offensive rebounds. Though possessing a strong foundation with his size and collegiate production, Edey has to learn the intricacies of screening at the NBA level — nailing down the optimal angles for space creation, rolling in space, and finding a sweet spot on the right amount of contact.

Or it may not take a lot of time at all. Ja Morant is one of the best pick-and-roll players in the league with his driving, finishing, and playmaking — while possessing extra room for growth as an outside shooter. Zach Edey is an anomaly of a big man with his size, efficiency, and the learning curve he’s been on in his six-year basketball journey. While he may not be as effective as a screener as Jonas Valanciunas and Steven Adams, it wouldn’t be surprising if he surpassed them as a finisher from day-one.

If that’s the case, the pick-and-roll dynamic between Ja Morant and Zach Edey can be devastating for defender and can rise among the league’s elite pairings quickly.

It’s going to be an important element to watch, as Ja Morant-led pick-and-roll’s are usually spearheading the Grizzlies’ offense. If Zach Edey’s screening-and-rolling is sharp from day one — along with the improvements with Morant’s big 3 companions Jaren Jackson Jr. and Desmond Bane, and with the enhanced offensive talent around its core — then the Taylor Jenkins and Grizzlies could add a potent layer in its quest to turbocharge the offensive efficiency.

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