Z-Rex: The Cody Zeller Thread

mrknowitall215 · Post #1361 » by **mrknowitall215** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 2:21 pm

NBA's Least Valuable Players
By Tom Haberstroh | ESPN Insider

Cody Zeller, Charlotte Bobcats: Remember when people thought he was the next LaMarcus Aldridge? Let's pump the brakes on that. Zeller has been atrocious as a shooter, converting just 26 percent of his 87 midrange jumpers this season. He has yet to make a 3-pointer, despite the hype that he was the best stretch 4 in the draft. It's early, but the No. 4 pick has been a mess on both ends of the floor.

Liver_Pooty · Post #1362 » by **Liver_Pooty** » Sat Jan 18, 2014 8:24 pm

mrknowitall215 wrote:

NBA's Least Valuable Players
By Tom Haberstroh | ESPN Insider

Cody Zeller, Charlotte Bobcats: Remember when people thought he was the next LaMarcus Aldridge? Let's pump the brakes on that. Zeller has been atrocious as a shooter, converting just 26 percent of his 87 midrange jumpers this season. He has yet to make a 3-pointer, despite the hype that he was the best stretch 4 in the draft. It's early, but the No. 4 pick has been a mess on both ends of the floor.

Yeah I saw that yesterday. Also had Ben McLemore listed.

MasterIchiro · Post #1363 » by **MasterIchiro** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 1:26 pm

The thing is Ben McLemore has 1000x better chance of becoming an elite 3pt shooter than Zeller has of becoming a serviceable stretch 4. McLemore's shot is a thing of beauty mechanically despite early returns. Zeller flops all over the place. He has not one standout skill to build upon.

catch20two · Post #1364 » by **catch20two** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 2:38 pm

Ehhh, McLemore is trash like I thought he would be in the NBA off the bat. Looking at him at Kansas you could tell that he was far from ready unless either you liked him so much you were willing to overlook his glaring flaws or you just don't know basketball.

I tried to be optimistic about Zeller but I've been losing it with each game of the regular season. He's almost comparable to Biz offensively. I never thought I'd see a 7 footer with Zeller's agility make making shots look so difficult.

Joest2003 · Post #1365 » by **Joest2003** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 2:58 pm

Hes soft. Its that simple and you can't teach toughness. Once again another blown lottery pick by the bobcats and I like MKG and all but he really needs to step his s**t up and start getting to the rim more.

MasterIchiro · Post #1366 » by **MasterIchiro** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 3:17 pm

catch20two wrote:Ehhh, McLemore is trash like I thought he would be in the NBA off the bat. Looking at him at Kansas you could tell that he was far from ready unless either you liked him so much you were willing to overlook his glaring flaws or you just don't know basketball.

I tried to be optimistic about Zeller but I've been losing it with each game of the regular season. He's almost comparable to Biz offensively. I never thought I'd see a 7 footer with Zeller's agility make making shots look so difficult.

I feel the opposite. If you don't see the beauty in his shooting mechanics you don't know basketball or you're fixated on his glaring flaws. He moves well without the ball and on the fast break, he shoots 3's, he rebounds and he can play defense. He's got a long way to go though. I just see there's way more to work with there than Zeller. Zeller is very uncoordinated. His game is almost like Tyler Hansborough minus the toughness. Big klutz.

catch20two · Post #1367 » by **catch20two** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 3:32 pm

MasterIchiro wrote:
catch20two wrote:Ehhh, McLemore is trash like I thought he would be in the NBA off the bat. Looking at him at Kansas you could tell that he was far from ready unless either you liked him so much you were willing to overlook his glaring flaws or you just don't know basketball.

I tried to be optimistic about Zeller but I've been losing it with each game of the regular season. He's almost comparable to Biz offensively. I never thought I'd see a 7 footer with Zeller's agility make making shots look so difficult.

I feel the opposite. If you don't see the beauty in his shooting mechanics you don't know basketball or you're fixated on his glaring flaws. He moves well without the ball and on the fast break, he shoots 3's, he rebounds and he can play defense. He's got a long way to go though. I just see there's way more to work with there than Zeller. Zeller is very uncoordinated. His game is almost like Tyler Hansborough minus the toughness. Big klutz.

Both of Zeller and McLemore are corny. Of course McLemore has more upside than Zeller. You're on the money about Zeller almost being comparative to Hansborough but Hansborough is better. I think I can recall saying that I didn't want to draft Zeller because he remind me of a less accomplished Hansborough or something to that tune. I hope Zeller get it together or get traded. Whichever make the team better in the long run.

mrknowitall215 · Post #1368 » by **mrknowitall215** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 7:14 pm

Clifford on Cody Zeller’s struggles...

"As much as anything he’s learning the NBA game. One of the things that’s been tougher for him is the physical nature of the game. People don’t realize the jump in physicality from even high level college to the NBA. He’s a 20-year old kid playing against these guys that are 26-27 years old. That’s been his biggest challenge on both ends of the court. I was excited about him when we drafted him. I still have the same feelings about his potential and where he’ll be in a year. He’s working hard in the weight room, he’s a diligent worker and the thing that will come out is that his great strength is similar to Josh McRoberts. He plays the game in a way that will make his teammates better. Our offensive plan with him and what he’s working on is his face up jumper and extending his range out to three, hopefully by next year. The next step for him, to become an exceptional offensive player then he would have to develop, a post up game or an elbow/iso game, where you have a chance to go through him."

Snidely FC · Post #1369 » by **Snidely FC** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 8:58 pm

I wanna pull my hair out. Next they're working on his 3 pt range?
Come on Cliff, just for 5 minutes, show us Biz next to Al, with McBob & Zeller on the 2nd team high/low post.

MasterIchiro · Post #1370 » by **MasterIchiro** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 9:00 pm

I bet Clifford let out a huge groan when they dumped Zeller on him.

catch20two · Post #1371 » by **catch20two** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 9:01 pm

He hasn't even became a average face up midrange shooter yet. He's about a few years away from being a mediocre 3 point shooter. Lol

BlackOutBuzz · Post #1372 » by **BlackOutBuzz** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 9:09 pm

catch20two wrote:He hasn't even became a average face up midrange shooter yet. He's about a few years away from being a mediocre 3 point shooter. Lol

"Our offensive plan with him and what he’s working on is his face up jumper."

catch20two · Post #1373 » by **catch20two** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 9:39 pm

BlackOutBobcat wrote:
catch20two wrote:He hasn't even became a average face up midrange shooter yet. He's about a few years away from being a mediocre 3 point shooter. Lol

"Our offensive plan with him and what he’s working on is his face up jumper."

I know. That's why I laughed when he mentioned 3 point line within the same parameters. You got players that mastered the face up jumper that never even think about the 3 point line like LMA for example, his so called far stretch from the truth comparison.

mrknowitall215 · Post #1374 » by **mrknowitall215** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:08 pm

I'm a little lost on this one myself. Why take a player that has been successful playing one way & then try to make him play a whole other way in hopes that he'll figure it out? This definitely was a 'project' pick even if they didn't intend it to be. They're basically molding him into the player that they want him to be out of clay. With that said, he's going to be a bigger project than both of Biyombo & MKG

thruthefire · Post #1375 » by **thruthefire** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:33 pm

McBob's went from not having much of a mid-range game to shooting almost 37% on 3.4 3PT attempts per game. Looking at Cody's shot chart, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he came back next season making a decent amount of straight-away 3s.

I'm more concerned with how awful he is at finishing at the rim.

Snidely FC · Post #1376 » by **Snidely FC** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:40 pm

thruthefire wrote:McBob's went from not having much of a mid-range game to shooting almost 37% on 3.4 3PT attempts per game. Looking at Cody's shot chart, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he came back next season making a decent amount of straight-away 3s.

I'm more concerned with how awful he is at finishing at the rim.

Don't you also think that has to do with them playing him at the high post? Finishing a drive is different from the turn around or sweep post moves he used in college. I just don't get ignoring his value in the post.

mrknowitall215 · Post #1377 » by **mrknowitall215** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:58 pm

thruthefire wrote:McBob's went from not having much of a mid-range game to shooting almost 37% on 3.4 3PT attempts per game. Looking at Cody's shot chart, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he came back next season making a decent amount of straight-away 3s.

I'm more concerned with how awful he is at finishing at the rim.

That would be incorrect. Josh McRoberts always had a jump shot in his offensive repertoire & bag of tricks, just his previous coaches never really fully encouraged it before Clifford. McRoberts is a career 34% 3-point shooter, and if I'm not mistaken I remember him shooting them on occasion at Duke. McRoberts always had a point forward mentality in which coaches tried to beat out of him to make him a predominant interior player as opposed to the perimeter-oriented player he's been with Charlotte. There's a big difference between Josh McRoberts playing that way & trying to convert Cody Zeller into that style of play

Also, there is a legitimate concern with Zeller finishing at the rim. He's always struggled to do so against players with size & length that mirrored or extended beyond his very own. That was the knock on him at Indiana, and why he went from being projected a top pick to a late lottery pick in which Cho still opted to take him in the top-5

thruthefire · Post #1378 » by **thruthefire** » Tue Jan 21, 2014 11:11 pm

Prior to this season, McBob was a career 31.4% 3PT shooter on 0.7 attempts per game.

And I didn't say anything about Cody being a point forward. Just that he could go from making 36.84% of his straight-away long 2s to making straight-away treys.

Eoghan · Post #1379 » by **Eoghan** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 2:02 am

Snidely FC wrote:
thruthefire wrote:McBob's went from not having much of a mid-range game to shooting almost 37% on 3.4 3PT attempts per game. Looking at Cody's shot chart, it wouldn't surprise me at all if he came back next season making a decent amount of straight-away 3s.

I'm more concerned with how awful he is at finishing at the rim.

Don't you also think that has to do with them playing him at the high post? Finishing a drive is different from the turn around or sweep post moves he used in college. I just don't get ignoring his value in the post.

Cody played in the high post a lot last year.

Post #1380 » by **JDR720** » Wed Jan 22, 2014 3:05 am

He should be a respectable midrange shooter next season because he will have a whole off-season to focus on it, this is probably the only time in his basketball career he has been primarily a jump shooter so i doubt he has seriously practiced it before