By John Rammas/ info@eurohoops.net
After hiring David Blatt, renewing the contracts of Spanoulis and Papanikolaou, and acquiring Nigel Williams-Goss, Olympiacos continued with their planning by bringing on the 24-year-old American power forward/center, in a move everyone characterized as a surprise.
The player himself has already gotten to work in order to prove that the surprise only had to do with the timing and unexpected nature of the signing and not his skills, which, after only one season playing as a professional, got him a spot on the roster of the three-time European Champions.
Zach LeDay was born on May 30, 1994, in Dallas, Texas, and that’s where he made his first steps in basketball, in local high schools Skyline and The Colony, before the time came to choose a college. Missouri, Vanderbilt, Fresno State and George Mason were among his options, but a visit to South Florida and a discussion with his mother were more than enough to make him a Bull.
His first two seasons were not the best possible, with the older and more ready Victor Rudd (Maccabi Tel Aviv 2016-17, CSKA Moscow 2018) overshadowing everyone with his performances, but they were enough to help him realize what he had to do. And he did it.
|
ΖACH LEDAY @ SOUTH FLORIDA BULLS |
||||||||||
|
Points |
2p FG |
3p FG |
FT |
Rebounds |
Assists |
Steals |
Blocks |
T/O |
Minutes |
|
|
2012-13 |
4,8 |
40,9% |
29,2% |
72,7% |
2,5 |
0,3 |
0,4 |
0,5 |
0,4 |
17′ |
|
2013-14 |
3,5 |
43,2% |
27,3% |
76% |
2,6 |
0,4 |
0,3 |
0,2 |
0,7 |
15′ |
His decision in June 2014 to leave South Florida for Virginia Tech turned out to be the decision of a lifetime, as it was with the Hokies that he managed to make the beginning of the evolution that has led to where he is today.
Even though he had to wait for one year, as specified by NCAA rules in every change of college, it didn’t take him long to show who he is and, both in 2016 as well as 2017, he got to the point of being the top scorer, top rebounder and top blocker for his team. In 2017, in fact, the LeDay family had the honors in the Hokies, since Zach’s younger brother, Seth, wasn’t just his teammate, but the team’s second best scorer and second best rebounder behind him.
|
ZACH LEDAY @ VIRGINIA TECH HOKIES |
||||||||||
| Points | 2p FG | 3p FG | FT | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | T/O | Minutes | |
|
2015-16 |
15,5 |
50% |
35,6% |
76,2% |
7,9 |
1,4 |
0,8 |
1,7 |
1,6 |
31′ |
|
2016-17 |
17 |
57,3% |
27,5% |
77,2% |
7,6 |
1,3 |
0,6 |
1 |
1,9 |
30′ |
Those two seasons were what attracted the interest of several NBA teams, who called him up for pre-draft training sessions/ tryouts and, even though he wasn’t selected by any of them in the 2017 draft, he was going to have plenty of second opportunities in the summer preparation. Despite that, he chose not to look any further in the USA but to launch his professional career. His destination? Israel and Hapoel Gilboa Galil.