Z-Rex: The Cody Zeller Thread

[mrknowitall215]

I hated this pick when we made it. I still hate it now. Is there anyway we can trade him for that scoring/shooting wing we so desperately need?

Good question. I wish I could be a fly on the wall as Cho call around the league to other general managers to gauge his value. I have no faith or belief that Cody Zeller will ever be able to live up to his draft billing, no matter how weak they may want to say his draft class was. Zeller went from a consensus #1 pick to being projected a late lottery pick for a reason. Cho just reached on the reputation that preceded him, and it's not exactly paying off

And who do you suggest we should have picked? Nerlens Noel, a rail thin center, who has had two knee injuries already, is taking 18 months to recover from his second one, and is a carbon copy of a player we already have? Trey Burke, in the place of our best player? Ben McLemore, who has been utter garbage? Alex Len, whose ankles haven't let him play too much? Don't say MCW, Adams, Giannis, all would have been even bigger reaches than Zeller, Hindsight is 20/20 but none of them were anywhere near our radar at all.

I consistently wanted us to trade off the pick. I was a fan of nobody in this draft. But given our draft position, I stand by the Zeller pick and really think he'll pan out into a solid player once he's bulked up significantly. He gets thrown around in the paint and that has to change.

If you go back to my recommendation on draft day, I stood firm in believing that if Charlotte wasn't prepared to be patient with Nerlens Noel sitting out a year, and neither of Victor Oladipo or Anthony Bennett (cough) were available, I likely would've traded down with Minnesota for the rumored package of Derrick Williams + multiple picks or whatever other trade down option was available to draft a combination of Kelly Olynyk/Steven Adams + ???. I didn't think the Zeller pick was the worst. I tricked myself into believing that Cho knew something that I didn't about how his game could translate to the NBA, but I have yet to see it

Anyway, my post wasn't anything to make of mockery of the selection of Zeller, but everything to do with how much clout would he have as a recently drafted top-5 pick on the trade market

[JDR720]

I wanted to trade back with Minny, get their pick at #9 i think and draft Zeller with it and get D-Williams from them also

[catch20two]

I wonder if the Sixers would take Zeller for Thad Young? I'd give them Zeller and Sessions for Young and Lorenzo Brown. I think they would take that without asking for a pick from us. We'd get to keep both the DET and POR picks and get a real stretch 4 that we don't have to turn into one that's young enough to be our future and help us win right away.

[mrknowitall215]

I wonder if the Sixers would take Zeller for Thad Young? I'd give them Zeller and Sessions for Young and Lorenzo Brown. I think they would take that without asking for a pick from us. We'd get to keep both the DET and POR picks and get a real stretch 4 that we don't have to turn into one that's young enough to be our future and help us win right away.

No. Sam Hinkie isn't imbecilic enough to trade for Cody Zeller no matter how much we may want out of Thaddeus Young's next couple of years under contract. Zeller's contract is just as lengthy, but he's much more inferior of a player, and I doubt he'll ever be as good as Young. On behalf of Philly, we would reject that offer at the speed of light

*NOTE: I would resent Charlotte & Cho if they were able to bamboozle us into trading for a 7-footer that has been 1-13 shooting his last 2 games

[JDuaneWayne]

I was wanting to post earlier, but I was at the OKC game and a few things I noticed about Zeller is:

1. He is not comfortable shooting the ball

His comfort level will come with time. As many people have said before, this wasn't his game in college, he played a lot closer to the basket. He knows what this team is asking him to do and he is constantly working on his 20 foot jumper in warmups. I watched him and while he hits the occasional hot streak his misses really aren't that close for shooting wide open jumpers.

2. He doesn't have a role on this team

Zeller is a fairly intelligent player, you can tell in his development, but I put part of his struggles on the coaching staff. Zeller is having to think entirely too much. He is constantly setting screens for all players, who rarely hit him when he rolls. He comes in and plays a similar role to McBob and that is not his game. Furthermore he plays with Sessions and there were a few times Sessions missed Zeller wide open close to the basket. So Zeller is going to take his lumps in the name of development, or he could put up better numbers doing what he feels more comfortable with right now.

3. His body is developing

I did notice small differences in his arms. They looked a lot stronger looking which means he is spending time in the weight room. I think he is what he is this season, and he might be traded if we really want to make a push for the playoffs. Nothing is going to change dramatically, he may have a few good games and a few stinkers, but he's going to need a full off-season to start making the changes necessary to elevate his game.

[tondi123]

Rex has looked like crap but so has pretty much anyone else we would have realistically picked. All the rumors about offers to trade down and pick him later are just that, rumors. Who knows if they are true. There were also rumors that Phoenix was going to pick Zeller at 5 if he was still there so that rumor would make the other rumored deals where we got him at 9 impossible. People need to chill out since pretty much every player (with only a couple of notable exceptions) in this draft has been a disappointment. It sucks but its not like everybody else got better in this draft and we lost ground.

We all knew it was a crappy draft before it happened and, sure enough, it has been a crappy draft full of bad players, at least at the top. We got a guy who plays hard and obviously has some tools that should help him develop into a decent player which is probably as good as we can hope for out of this miserable draft.

[mrknowitall215]

*'BrotherDave' approved*

[catch20two]

*'BrotherDave' approved*

Millsap smacked his sh*t back down his throat last night. I thought it was just a joke when we drafted him that he'll get blocked at the rim a lot but I swear we could make a compilation of it. He get blocked emphatically every game. SMH

[mrknowitall215]

Millsap smacked his sh*t back down his throat last night. I thought it was just a joke when we drafted him that he'll get blocked at the rim a lot but I swear we could make a compilation of it. He get blocked emphatically every game. SMH

I thought the same thing, that it was just a small spectacle being magnified & totally blown out of proportion when 'BrotherDave' kept bringing it up during the draft process. I think I even engaged in a back & forth with him about how unlikely it'll be for a 7-footer to get blocked at the rim as often as he pronounced, especially one that made a decent enough living in the paint in the NCAA ranks to be a consensus All-American & projected as a top pick in two separate draft classes, but I am now witnessing what he foretold. That's why I always emphasize 'BrotherDave approved' when I post a GIF of Cody Zeller getting blocked. It's my way of eating crow to a certain extent

[hotrod]

*'BrotherDave' approved*

Millsap smacked his sh*t back down his throat last night. I thought it was just a joke when we drafted him that he'll get blocked at the rim a lot but I swear we could make a compilation of it. He get blocked emphatically every game. SMH

Zeller needs to learn how to play bigger around the basket. For a guy with his height and athletic ability, he plays below the rim when he drives.

[Eoghan]

"Brotherdave approved" indeed. He has the body control of an epileptic when he's in the air.

I know my big men. Smalls can fool me but I can tell when a big has game. Z just never struck me as someone that played big, I don't think you can change that. Be more likely to get Biz to stop using Twitter. Z has to vastly improve his ballhandling and rework his shooting form during the offseason and be an actual stretch 4 b/c he'll never be a powerforward no matter how much weightlifting he does. He's still got decent potential to be a solid stretch 4 if he develops the skill shot due to his athleticism and me moves well without the ball.

[JDR720]

if Cody doesn't stop falling and faceplantng so much he might develop barophobia

[Radu_Hornets]

Why did Cody only played 5 min tonight?

[KembaWalker]

Benched right where he belongs. We could have re signed warrick at the minimum and got better production

[MasterIchiro]

It was an amateurish pick.

[freakon0mics]

Should've drafted McLemore. We need outside shooting.

[MasterIchiro]

Should've drafted McLemore. We need outside shooting.

I think part of the reason we didn't was because Cho was mesmerized by Zeller and desperate to fill the PF position.

The other half of the reason was Henderson.

I honestly believe the organization's personal fondness of Henderson interfered with an objective analysis of his limited skillset and his bad fit given our need for a shooter. His play down the stretch last year solidified his spot and they went into the draft without McLemore even on their radar. They went in assuming SG was secured long term by their guy Gerald Henderson.

They liked him personally and imagined a better player based partly on his character and his recent play.

He's an inefficient player and a dead spot in the offense. He kills ball movement. He eats up the shot clock. He surrenders easy buckets. He's a horrible fit for what he does on the court. Off the court I couldn't care less.

[JDuaneWayne]

You probably won't but I hope you all eat crow.

Seems only natural we are willing to wait on some players for what seems to be decades and others we didn't even wait 10 games!

[mrknowitall215]

I think 99% of the Bobcats/Hornets fan base would rather eat crow than watch Cody Zeller thwart

[BeesWax]

I would love to eat crow I just don't think it will happen. I am willing to wait on players when I see promise in there games and like the pick. I did not want Zeller from the start so he gets less time with me. They sold Zeller as a finished prospect and now we see he has further to go than most.