Zach Edey’s defensive impact

Zach Edey played 25 minutes against Indiana on Nov. 4, and Memphis outscored the Pacers 57-39 in them. Indiana won the other 23 minutes 68-46, and the game, 107-103.

That has been Memphis’s season. The Grizzlies are 6-3, and their defense has allowed 109.3 points per 100 possessions, ninth in the league, after finishing 25th last season. With Edey on the floor, they’ve allowed 98.0. Without him, 116.5, which would rank 25th.

Edey’s impact on rebounding is real. With him on the floor, Memphis has grabbed 81.8% of its opponents’ misses, which would lead the league by five points. Without him, 71.9%, close to last season’s 70.9%. Only five players in the league have made a bigger difference.

That’s the main reason Memphis has gone from 29th in defensive rebounding to fourth, the biggest jump in the league, and it isn’t the schedule. Memphis’s opponents grab 26.4% of their own misses against everyone else and 24.3% against Memphis. Edey keeps them off the line, too: 16.3 free throws per 100 possessions with him on the floor, 30.1 without him. It isn’t the pace either. Memphis plays at the same speed with him on the floor as without him, about 102 possessions per 48 minutes.

It has held up beyond nine games. In all three of his seasons, Memphis has rebounded better with Edey on the floor, kept opponents off the line and given up fewer second chance points, about five fewer per 100 possessions across the three. As a rookie, over a full season, Memphis rebounded 78.0% of the misses with him and 73.3% without him.

What’s new is the defense around him. As a rookie, he played with Jaren Jackson Jr., the 2023 Defensive Player of the Year. With both on the floor, Memphis allowed 107.9 points per 100 possessions. With Edey and without Jackson, 121.7. Memphis traded Jackson to Utah in February, and this season, in Edey’s 348 possessions, it has allowed 98.0. An encouraging start for Memphis without Jackson.

“Two things I know I can always do really well,” Edey said last week, “and that’s my rebounding and my defense.”

The limits are minutes and fouls. After ankle and elbow surgeries in the offseason, Memphis is keeping him to about 20 minutes a night. He has committed 5.7 fouls for every 36 minutes and fouled out against New Orleans in 19. Tuomas Iisalo said he was “biting on pump fakes,” and added: “Zach has a lot of help responsibility on defense.”

Memphis hired Iisalo in July 2024 to help run their offense, made him the interim coach in March 2025 and kept him in May. His Paris team won the EuroCup in 2024. His first full season in Memphis went 25-57, with Edey out most of it, and the defense finished 25th.

Only 52% of last season’s minutes are back, among the lowest shares in the league. Isaiah Stewart, who came from Detroit in June, said this is “really the first time in my career I have a coach that’s pushing me to be something on that end of the floor.” Iisalo’s explanation for the start: “Mostly energy and defensive intensity.”

He also changes players in bunches. A quarter of Memphis’s substitutions swap three or more players at once, the most in the league by far. The average team does it 9% of the time.

Memphis won its first six games, tying the best start in franchise history, then lost three straight at home: by one point in overtime to New Orleans, despite Ty Jerome’s 40 points, by four to Indiana and by 31 to Oklahoma City.

In the six wins, Memphis made 41.3% of its threes and its opponents 30.3%. In the three losses, Memphis made 30.7% and its opponents 39.3%.

The worst loss came Nov. 6, when Oklahoma City won 128-97 and scored 30 points off Memphis’s 18 turnovers. And four of the six wins came against Utah and Sacramento, twice each in October. Both teams won one of their first nine games.

Memphis plays at Toronto on Monday and at home against Denver on Wednesday.

Toronto rebounds 33.2% of its own misses, the most in the league, so Monday puts Memphis’s new strength against Toronto’s. The Raptors also force the second most turnovers in the league. Their offense ranks seventh even though they’ve made 31.7% of their threes, 26th, with RJ Barrett, Scottie Barnes and Immanuel Quickley all shooting well below their last three seasons. Kawhi Leonard has played only twice because of swelling in his left knee.

Denver’s offense, first last season, is 12th, and Nikola Jokić has made eight of his 35 threes after making 38.9% over the three seasons before. The Nuggets rebound 71.3% of their opponents’ misses, 21st. Edey has played one full game against Jokić, in April 2025: 16 rebounds in 33 minutes. Jokić had 26 points, 16 rebounds and 13 assists.

Start with Memphis’s starters. The table shows the other four with Edey on the floor and without him. Put anyone on or take anyone off, and the numbers follow.

Build a lineup on the court. Defense and rebounding for teammates while playing with Edey are shown in the table.

TJJeromeZEEdeyJWWellsCCCowardCBBoozer

5 of 5

Jerome, Edey, Wells, Coward and Boozer: 98 minutes together, +17.1 per 100 possessions, likely +3.7.

Loading the season…

Monday at Toronto: the Raptors grab 33.2% of their own misses, the most in the league.

CBBoozerOnTJJeromeOnJWWellsOnCCCowardOnJGGrant–CSSpencer–ZEEdeyOnGJJackson–ISStewart–QPPost–SPPippen Jr.–JSSmall–KMMurray–THHendricks–OPProsper–

A full five.ClearOpen