Nivek wrote:nuposse04 wrote:fishercob wrote:
Zeller took two three pointers in his two years in college. I'm sure part of that was that he was sol efficient around the basket that Crean didnt want him shooting jumpers. I wonder what kind of precedent there is for bigs who played almost exclusively inside in college becoming good outside shooters and 3 point threats in the pro's. I know this came up a bit in our pre-draft discussions of Sullinger.
I remember Zeller saying that the coaching staff wanted him to stay in the paint to be more effective...I find an excuse like that to be full of bull ****. If your guy CAN shoot and stretch the D, you take advantage of it. I find it hard to believe his coach wouldn't utilize a supposed strength. I doubt Zeller becomes the shooter LMA or Love are, but he has the ability to improve. If he does, than he can be a 3rd option on a decent team I think. I still think he's going to be a bad defender though, I don't see him as a "winning" player on a contender. Maybe a role player. Blake griffin struggles in the playoffs and Zellers game is too much like Griffins. Pretty regular season, but he'll be a liability in the post season.
What? Coaches do this all the time. John Thompson did it with Patrick Ewing -- the story was that Ewing had a much better offensive game than he showed in college, which turned out to be true when he hit the NBA. The old joke was that the only person who could hold Jordan under 20 points per game was Dean Smith. Denny Crum -- one of the great college coaches -- never had the same success once the 3pt shot came in because he wouldn't let his players shoot it.
Coaches ask players to take on roles that the coaches believe give their teams the best chance to win, not necessarily to showcase a player's skill set for NBA scouts.
I'm NOT saying Crean is correct. I'm not even saying that Crean did tell Zeller to stay in the paint and not shoot jumpers. I'm just saying it's entirely believable that any coach would ask a player to not do certain things he's capable of doing because he wants that player to focus on other things that other guys on the team can't do. In this case, having Zeller control the paint while his teammates did work on the perimeter.
Having watched a lot of IU games the last two years, I can assure you Zeller rarely touched the ball on the perimeter in a way designed for him shoot. He handled some handoffs at the top of the key and sometimes had the ball in his hands near the baseline, but Crean's offense was designed to get inside shots for Zeller and outside shots (or drives) for Jordan Hulls, Oladipo, sometimes Watford, and others. As shown by his FT%, Zeller has good shooting fundamentals, and I expect him to be a decent mid-range shooter in the NBA. Whether he can stretch that out to the 3 point line is another question.
What worries me about him is how often he disappeared at the end of games. He didn't demand the ball, and when he was involved in the offense, he sometimes forced up shots. This was especially true in tight games against good defensive opponents, especially Wisconsin. Maybe that's his personality, or maybe that's a limitation of Crean's offense, I don't know. I don't think that's a reason not to draft him at 8 if other good options are gone, but it is something to keep in mind. (Of course, as I am married to an insane Hoosier fan, I am not allowed to entertain the possibility of passing over Zeller or Oladipo.)
