On April 24, Beijing time, Canadian Chinese center Zhou Zhihao (English name: Zach Eddy) informed ESPN that he had submitted documents to the league office and qualified to participate in the 2024 NBA Draft. In the previous ESPN mock draft prediction, Zhou Zhihao ranked 14th.
"I think it's time," Mr. Zhou said. "This season, I've shown my physicality on the offensive end and I've shown my defensive qualities. I can defend in the space that is pulled away, even defensive defenders. "
Standing at 2.24m tall and weighing 129kg, Zhou Zhihao is the first player of the year to be voted unanimously by vote since Bill Wharton in 1973. He leads the nation with 24.9 points per game and ranks third in the nation with 12.2 rebounds per game.
Zhou also set a new all-time record for Purdue, scoring more than 2,500 points and rebounding more than 1,300. Previously, he led top seed Purdue to the NCAA finals, where he had 37 points and 10 rebounds in the loss to UConn. Become the highest-scoring player in a championship game since Duke University's Jack Givens in 1978. Chow's 177 points in the NCAA Tournament tied Bill Bradley for the second-most points in history, behind Glenn Rice in 1989.
Despite all these accolades, Chow said there are many more elements to his game that he can show once he makes it to the NBA.
"Winning in college is completely different from winning in the NBA. There's a lot of things I can do that people haven't seen yet. At Purdue, I focused on influencing wins and streamlining my game. Every year I'm moving forward, and there's no reason why I can't keep getting better. ”
'I need to stay on the pitch and I have to be careful of fouls. My passing skills were better than people expected. When I get the ball in the low post, I always want to score, but I can play better in different situations than I did this year. ”
Zhou Zhihao only started playing basketball officially in his sophomore year of high school, and before that, he mainly focused on ice hockey and baseball. Zhou Zhihao believes that this is one of the reasons why he still has a lot of room to grow in the next few years.
"I'm still learning to compete, and in training at Purdue, I've learned some basic things that other people might have learned in sixth or seventh grade. I'm going to continue to expand my game and do things that no one else has ever seen. In pre-draft training, shooting will be my top priority. "
Zhou was drafted in the 2023 NBA Draft, but he chose to return to Purdue to play one more season. The move seems to have paid off a lot, as he's now a rookie projected to break into the top 20. 'It doesn't matter where I go, I just focus on the teams that believe in me. I wanted to find a team of coaches who believed in me and my abilities. "
The NBA Draft will be held over two days on June 27 and 28 in New York. The first-round draft will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and the second-round pick will take place at ESPN's studio in Manhattan.