SAN FRANCISCO — The Memphis Grizzlies rookies are ready to tip off at All Star Weekend in the Castrol Rising Stars game. The Rookies have been taking in everything that All-Star weekend has to offer and hope some of their regular season magic can translate to a couple wins.
The first All-Star weekend can be overwhelming, but Edey and Wells seems to be settling in just fine.
“A little bit, being able to see all the Rising Stars. Be able to play with Zach. Looking forward to it, it’s going to be fun,” Wells said.
Wells and Edey both find themselves on Team C, coached by Chris Mullins. As usual Edey towers over everyone and it tends to get attention.
“That’s a unit right there bro. It’s not like he’s tall and kinda frail, but he’s tall and really solid. Sets solid screens and stuff like that. Zach Edey, that’s a giant right there,” said Blazers guard Scott Henderson.
Edey and Spurs rookie Stephon Castle squared off in the NCAA Tournament for Purdue and UCONN, respectively. Castle is glad that he’s on the other side of one of those Edey screens for once.
“”I’m looking forward to getting the same screens that he set on me,” Castle said. “They are tough to get through. I’m not going to say they’re illegal. I feel like they’re illegal, but they don’t call them. They’re tough to get through. I’m happy that we’ll be able to team up now.”
Speaking of teaming up, the Grizz rookies hope to employ some tactics they don’t normally get a shot at back in Memphis. Wells is hoping to get a couple screens of his own from the big man.
“Just looking to run some pick and rolls with Zach. I probably ran like two or three the whole year. I hope I can get up there and throw a lob. I’m not really a lob thrower guy, but this is the platform to try it,” Wells said.
All-Star Weekend is a chance to take a break from the regular season and maybe reflect a little bit. Both rookies have already had some memorable moments. Canadian Zach Edey had a chance to return to his homeland for a matchup with the hometown Toronto Raptors.
“It was real cool. I remember being a fan in the stands. Watching games, watching big games. Just to kind of be there before center court, I kind of looked around and took in the moment and it was really cool to be able to go there and play well,” Edey said.
Edey had 21 points and collected 16 rebounds in his return home. For Wells, a moment that will live on the highlight tape is shooting over the out streched arms of another 7-footer – Victor Wembanyama.
“Probably the one legged three over Wemby” Wells said. “I told one of my coaches I hit the last four in a row, I might as well go for it and then he kinda gave me space to shoot and I was like I got try it.”
The moment went pretty viral on Grizzlies twitter. As for Wembanyama’s reaction. Wells remembers it well.
“I shot it and he said, ‘what the –?’ You can fill in the blank,” Wells said.
The festivities do not have to end tonight for the rookies. If Team C can get out of the Rising Stars tournament. They will find themselves in the All-Star tournament on Sunday. Wells said he wanted to dunk on Edey if they ended up on different teams, but he’s turning his attention to a different Grizz teammate.
“I’ll just have to dunk on Jaren now,” Wells said.
