"Going to have a great NBA career" - Purdue’s Matt Painter hypes up Grizzlies addition Zach Edey, sends message to Ja Morant

Purdue coach Matt Painter has a message for Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant, who will have a big Boilermaker helping him in the 2024-25 NBA season.

Zach Edey, who guided Purdue to the 2024 national final, was picked ninth overall by the Grizzlies. He averaged a career-best 25.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.2 blocks last season.

Painter hyped up his former player and two-time National Player of the Year in a sit-down interview with CBS Sports columnist/analyst Gary Parrish during the Big Ten Media Days. He told Parrish that Morant should be feeling great right now as the 7-foot-4 Edey is an excellent player off the screens and has a winning mentality.

"He should be because he's a great ball screen guy. He's a great roll guy. He can rebound out of his area. He's physical but he's about winning so like when he gets doubled or things happen he's become a really good passer," Painter said of Edey. [1:56-2:06]

"And so I just think he's going to take off. I think he's going to have a great NBA career," he added. [2:07-2:10]

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Purdue coach Matt Painter gives sneak peek of post-Zach Edey Boilermakers

Purdue coach Matt Painter also gave a sneak peek into how the Boilermakers are stacked up after the departure of Zach Edey. Painter, who is in his 20th season as Purdue's coach, noted that his roster is still intact with three starters from last year's squad returning in Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn.

They will also have power forward Caleb Furst and three four-star freshmen Gicarri Harris, Daniel Jacobsen and Raleigh Burgess in the 2024-25 roster. He also discussed his style of developing players in a traditional manner where players are recruited from the high school ranks and trained in a four or five-year program to blossom.

"We take the high school guys and just try to do it traditionally like everybody used to do it. So you know we're excited about it but also we we also try to organically let it happen like what's our strengths here like you know what's the best thing for us to do," Painter said. [3:03-3:15]

Purdue will begin its 2024-25 college basketball season with two exhibition games against Big East team Creighton on Oct. 26 and Grand Valley State on Oct. 30. The Boilermakers will start their regular season against Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Nov. 4 at the Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana.

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Will Purdue remain a Big Ten power without Zach Edey? Let us know your views in the comments section below.