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ccgeneral

Cody Zeller - Atlanta Hawks

By ccgeneral, in Hoosiers in the Pros

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OliviaPope40    6,470

OliviaPope40
Posted (edited)

Yes, it comes in the service of promoting a sock drive asking Charlotte Bobcats fans to donate six-packs of new socks for the needy at 'Cats home games through Dec. 27, with fans donating socks (or at least $10, if they'd rather give cash over cotton) getting a voucher for a free ticket to Charlotte's Jan. 20 home game against the Toronto Raptors. That does not change the fact that this video does indeed feature Cody Zeller and Josh McRoberts playing with sock puppets:

Is Zeller's delivery of "That sounds amazing" more than a little disturbing? Absolutely. Is said delivery farless disturbing than the rookie having a fully coiffed sock stand-in for McRoberts to talk to? Of course it is. But if this leads to the Bobcats video promotion team launching their own off-brand reboot of Sifl and Olly, then I'm on board. I could really get behind Bismack Biyombo covering "Dude's House", or Jeff Adriengetting down on some "Rock 'n' Roll Friends." That'd be pretty cres.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/bobcats-big-men-cody-zeller-josh-mcroberts-playing-194658224--nba.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

Edited by OliviaPope40

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OliviaPope40    6,470

OliviaPope40
Posted

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OliviaPope40    6,470

OliviaPope40
Posted (edited)

A little over a week ago, Charlotte Bobcats coach Steve Clifford decided asking rookie Cody Zeller to do less might result in him producing more.

Clifford streamlined Zeller’s responsibilities, focusing on the things he does best – jump shots from just above the key and pick-and-rolls. The results, while less than spectacular, are encouraging:

Zeller’s only two times reaching double figures scoring were in the past five games. He’s had five or more rebounds in four of the past five games. He’s starting to figure out the NBA.

“It’s a big learning year,” Zeller said Monday. “I feel like I’m a lot better than I was a month ago and hopefully I’ll be a lot better a month from now.”

Based on making the all-tournament team at the Las Vegas Summer League, Zeller showed up on several watch lists for NBA rookie of the year. Other rookies, like Philadelphia’s Michael Carter-Williams and Orlando’s Victor Oladipo, are doing more so far.

Seven-footer Zeller is averaging 5.3 points and 4.2 rebounds. He’s played every game as a reserve this season, partially because power forward Josh McRoberts has been so effective as a passer on a team that needs facilitators.

Zeller, too, is a good passer/decision-maker, but the difference in experience for now is telling.

“One of my strengths is my basketball IQ – knowing where guys are going to be even before they’re there. A lot of this right now is learning my teammates better so that, the way NBA defenses are, I can take advantage of that,” Zeller said.

Zeller played mostly center at Indiana because the Hoosiers needed him in the post. Now he’s more at the top of the key offensively. In Las Vegas, his first step got him consistently to the rim. In real NBA games, the competition has been much stiffer.

“If I have a quickness advantage, I try to drive, but sometimes defenses drop off so I need to shoot,” Zeller said.

Defense has been more of a challenge, one Clifford anticipated.

“He’s further ahead offensively than defensively, but that’s true for almost all rookies,” Clifford said.

“NBA defense is so different from college defense that I’ve never been around a (rookie) who was ready defensively. College defenses are very basic for the most part. With the quality of players in the NBA and the rules, you can’t be like that. So it’s always an adjustment.”

Part of that is mental, some of it physical. Zeller is no weakling at 240 pounds, but he needs more strength, so as not to be pushed around as he sometimes has been. After some foul trouble early in the season, he’s now adjusted to how the NBA is called – no more than two fouls in any of the past eight games.

As far as getting stronger, Zeller said that’s on his to-do list, but this must be a balancing act with what got him to the NBA in the first place.

“One of my advantages is my speed and quickness, so I need to take care of that as well,” by not getting too bulky.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/12/16/4549918/asking-charlotte-bobcats-rookie.html#.UrEjlGRDv6k

Edited by OliviaPope40
mamasa and Dalton26 reacted to this

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OliviaPope40    6,470

OliviaPope40
Posted

I had no clue how this season would go. Everyone kept asking me before the year how good I thought the team was going to be, but I had nothing to compare it to. All I knew was that guys came in and worked hard and were better than the competition I had seen before.

The Eastern Conference hasn't been so good. Which has helped, to say the least. But we're 12-15 and getting a decent amount of wins. We're in the playoffs at this point, so hopefully we can keep it up. The coaching staff and veterans have really been leading the way.

The last time I didn't start was my freshman year in high school. It's been a little bit weird adjusting to a reserve role. Guys in this league are so talented. I have so much to learn. I really don't mind coming off the bench and playing fairly decent minutes. It's been different not being the first option, but having the chance to come off the bench and be an energy guy and play good defense and do all the little things has been fun. I'm always going to do whatever the coaching staff asks me to do. If they need me to score, that's what I'll do.

My competition with Josh McRoberts isn't really hostile. Josh and I are very similar with how we play and he's been in the league for seven years. He's helped me with the little things here and there. It's not like college when you've got your five main contributors and the others don't play. We've got 82 games and go 8-9 deep every night. Both of us get plenty of time even though he's the starter, so things are pretty friendly. We are both trying to help each other along and help the team.

I've been doing a lit bit of acting on the side. I recently recorded a video for the 'Cody Zeller Sock Drive,' a promotion I'm doing with the Bobcats and I also recently filmed a spot for a car dealership back home. It's kind of fun doing stuff like this. In college and growing up I was never allowed to do endorsements or anything like that. It's been fun hearing from people back in Indiana who have seen the commercial. I get made fun of a lot, but that's fair. It's fun keeping in touch with friends back home and having that connection.

The filming only took a few hours for the car dealership. We did radio advertisements, TV commercials and a little bit of everything. But the guys were fun and they hooked me up with the car I wanted too, a 2013 Dodge Charger.

The whole town of Washington, Ind. came to see me play against the Pacers last week. I did the math and I think I've played 12-15 games in Bankers Life Fieldhouse when adding up high school and college games. Just walking in there I get a lot of flashbacks and memories. I won three high school state championships in that building. So it was great coming back and playing in front of so many people I knew. I got to see people I hadn't seen in 5-6 years because I hadn't been home for so long.

Playing back home also felt different. I forgot what it was like having so many friends and family in the stands. It also was my first game that was on TV back in Indiana, so it was a chance for everyone to see me play in the NBA.

I tried to get my teammates excited about our road trip to Indiana. But they weren't too pumped when they got off the plane and it was five degrees.

I keep in contact with Victor Oladipo a lot. We text probably once a week just sharing stories and talking about what it's like going through our rookie years. It's tough mentally more than anything, so it's great to have someone else who knows what you're going through. We share stories, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Going back to our time at Indiana, Vic and I have always been really close, so it's great to keep in touch.

I talk to my brothers Tyler and Luke pretty often too. But we never talk about basketball. We're all really close. I'll call them a lot of the time on the road just to see what's going on. A lot of the time Tyler and I talk and we're both sitting in the hotel room with nothing to do. We can talk about pretty much nothing for quite awhile.

The 82-game season kind of snowballs on you. You play well one night, you play bad the next, and then you've got another game right away so you have to put that behind you. If you get behind on sleep or you aren't eating healthy, things can snowball on you real quick. If you aren't your best every night, it's not like you have a non-conference game against some nobody like in college. Playing so many talented players and teams every night is mentally draining. You've got to stay on top of your treatment, rest and do the right things.


Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nba/news/20131220/cody-zeller-charlotte-bobcats-rookie-diary/#ixzz2oGJxpKQz

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OliviaPope40    6,470

OliviaPope40
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It’s not often you see a rebuilding franchise only end up with one draft pick in a year where the second-round draft pool is pretty deep, but that’s where the Bobcatswere in the summer of 2013 after trading away their second-round pick for Byron Mullens two years earlier. That makes Cody Zeller the only rookie on what’s turned out to be a surprisingly adequate Bobcats team. Their overall youth, combined with the fact that this was, again, supposed to be a rebuilding year, cast a bit of a spotlight on Zeller entering the season.

So far, it’s been a rough season for the 21-year-old center out of Indiana. Playing in a bench role due to inexperience and relative depth at the position, his averages of 5.1 and 4.2 points and rebounds per game rank pretty low on the team. Even when adjusting for playing time, Zeller averages only 10.4 points per 36 minutes. His rebounding numbers begin to look better at 8.5 per 36 minutes, although this is still only good for fourth on the team.

Individual statistics do show him adding an impact to the effectiveness of the Bobcats bench on defense. He blocks an adequate amount of shots for a big man, and his individual Defensive Rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) is 100, good for fourth on the team. While head coach Steve Clifford probably doesn't quite trust giving Zeller many minutes at the center position in a rim protector role quite yet, he’s been handling his defensive duties pretty well so far. I’ll break down his defensive impact a bit further later in this post, but it’s important to know that Zeller’s impact is far from just negative.

That being said, his lack of offensive contribution likely outweighs his defensive efforts. His raw FG% is 38.8 percent, worse than any Bobcats player (minimum 100 minutes played) except for Ben Gordon, and his True Shooting percentage and Effective Field Goal percentage are 43.3 and 38.8 percent, respectively, which are the worst marks on the team. His raw offensive rating is 85, tied for second-worse with Ben Gordon (SOME PATTERNS ARE EMERGING), and well below the team average

So what’s wrong with his offensive play? To be fair, I guess you can start with the part where he has trouble hitting any shot. If you go by the three basic zones for inside shots (at the rim, mid-range, and long twos), Zeller’s shot chart is very, very red. Mullens-esque, in fact.

If you look at his shot chart in a little more detail, there’s two things that really stand out. The first is how much he struggles with close shots, converting shots within eight feet of the rim at a 47.7 percent success rate, well below league average. The second is that the area where he shoots the second-most, outside of around the rim, is the spot commonly referred to as the most inefficient shot in basketball: the 18-to-24-foot jumper at the top of the key. This, ironically, is the area where Zeller has the most relative success, as his 41.7% success rate from this spot is around league average. Of the zones from where Zeller has taken more than 10 shots, this is actually the highest relative success he has. The current lack of low post finishing skills combined with only finding his rhythm from a spot that doesn’t offer much in the way of offensive production to make the offensive struggles we see currently. On the bright side, his usage rate is relatively low at 18.9 percent, but that figure is still considerably higher than that of more efficient teammates, such as Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Josh McRoberts.

On the other end of the court, Zeller's defensive impact can be driven by the lineup he's playing with. Going by a two-man system, Zeller plays very well with Jeff Adrien and certain perimeter defenders, while a combination of Zeller and Gerald Henderson or Kidd-Gilchrist has resulted in poor defensive team play. Some of the lineup data may be accountable by small sample size, but this does make sense. In particular, Adrien's physicality is a strong complement to Zeller's lateral quickness, and Henderson's occasional tendency to let defenders by him allows ballhandlers to prey on Zeller's inexperience with the professional game.

I watched a lot of video on Zeller thanks to the indispensable NBA.com/stats, and it seems more and more like he has been coming into his own on defense. One takeaway from his game tapes is that he's learned how to assert himself defensively in more areas than one. At the beginning of the season, the vast majority of his shot alteration was coming on help defense, as one might expect with a quick center playing in his rookie season. However, more recently, including Friday's game against the Pistons, Zeller has began to play considerably better in transition and in isolation defense.

It's possible what we saw from Zeller for most of the season was just some rookie inexperience, because it definitely looks like he's improved recently. The offensive issues are still there, and they will probably be seen for most of the remainder of the season, but shooting range and ability can be improved. Zeller's already figured out a way to make his defensive quickness into an asset at the professional level, and it might only be a matter of time before he utilizes his post moves and finishing skills the same way. Zeller will be asked to play a bigger part on the team as his skills expand, but for now, he fits his particular role fairly well.

http://www.rufusonfire.com/2013/12/22/5224552/rookie-status-report-cody-zeller

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OliviaPope40    6,470

OliviaPope40
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How does one go 0 for 5 in a game and only score 3 points which come from the charity stripe but it happens to almost every player get your head in the game and stop psyching yourself out.


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Dalton26    16,892

Dalton26
Posted
[quote name="OliviaPope40" post="26314" timestamp="1388512751"]Anybody care to explain to me how last night he only gets 2 points and only plays 5 minutes and doesn't get in for the rest of the game I just don't get it.[/quote]

Because he's playing like crap.


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