Tyler Zeller Making Strides At Camp With 'Unique' Skill Set

http://nesn.com/2014/10/tyler-zeller-making-strides-at-celtics-camp-with-unique-skill-set/




Tyler Zeller Making Strides At Celtics Camp With ‘Unique’ Skill Set


by Zack Cox on Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 2:49PM



WALTHAM, Mass. — Talk to any member of the Boston Celtics, and you’ll get the same scouting report on new guy Tyler Zeller.

“He’s a 7-footer that can run,” forward Brandon Bass said.

“The coolest thing about Zeller is he runs really well,” recently signed swingman Evan Turner added.

Even rookie Marcus Smart: “That’s always good that your big can get down the floor that fast.”

So, yeah, the strength of the 24-year-old’s game is no mystery.

Zeller’s ability to run the floor and create offense in transition is the calling card for the 7-foot, 253-pound center, who is playing under his third coach in as many seasons after being traded to the the Celtics in July.

Interestingly enough, Zeller says he hated running as a kid, only learning to take advantage of his fleet feet after a seventh-grade AAU coach drilled it into him.

“He used to make us run all the time in practice, and I hated it,” Zeller said Thursday during the Celtics’ pre-practice workout. “Then when I got off his team, I started running a lot. He was like, ‘Where was this when I was coaching you?’ So, that’s kind of where it came from.

“It is something that makes me unique,” he added. “They always say, ‘play to your strengths,’ and that’s something I have to continue to do and continue to get better at, and just push the pace as much as possible.”

That’s something Celtics coach Brad Stevens likes to hear, as his new system centers around upping the tempo and intensity at both ends of the floor. Zeller has a chance to find a niche in Stevens’ offense given his usual positioning — he does most of his work down low, while some of the Celtics’ other bigs have more dangerous perimeter games — and the fact that he has the size to defend opposing centers.

Zeller still has a lot of improving to do, as evidenced by his statistics though two NBA seasons. He started just nine of the 70 games he played last season — down from 55 starts as a rookie — and saw his playing time drop by more than 11 minutes per game while playing on a Cleveland Cavaliers team that missed the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.

But Stevens, who recruited Zeller’s two brothers while he was head coach at Butler, sees tools he can work with — on top of the fact that, yes, he can run. “He’s strong, he’s physical, he’s not afraid of contact and he moves pretty well,” Stevens said. “One of the things that we’re working on with him that we work on with all bigs is playing lower, longer. Playing in a stance, being able to — bigs have a tendency to stand up. … We’re working with all of them on that.”






bob
MY NOTE:  "Even Marcus Smart said it's good when your bigs run".  Well, there you have it folks.  The oracle who has never played an NBA game has spoken.  And such a pearl of wisdom too.  We're blessed a sportswriter was there to catch it before it disappeared into the cosmic ether forever.  (time to wake up and smell the sarcasm).  Moving on to the meat of the article, Zeller's mobility keeps coming up everywhere and that's a good thing.  What I'll be focused on is his defense.  I don't want to be overly negative, I have no more reason to be overly negative than I have to be overly positive, but he could be another Nenad Krstic.  A center who is a good scorer but is soft on defense.  Just a few more days before the first pre-season game.


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Bob,

Even if they could both be ultimately classed as journeymen, the one thing I can guarantee you is that Zeller is not another Nenad Krstic. They have about as much in common stylistically as jazz and country music.

It's funny, whether it's Zeller, the defense, Rondo, Jeff Green, or whatever, the whole summer was a waiting game for camp to begin to make any judgments because who knows what roster moves might be made. Now that camp has started, we have to wait until the preseason games start to tell anything. My guess is that when the preseason starts, we'll have to wait until the real games start, then when the regular season starts, well, you can't tell anything until 20 games in, and the next thing you know, we've got Sam saying, "see me in April." Maybe we should just put everyone in cryosleep for six months.

Outside wrote:Bob,

Even if they could both be ultimately classed as journeymen, the one thing I can guarantee you is that Zeller is not another Nenad Krstic. They have about as much in common stylistically as jazz and country music.

It's funny, whether it's Zeller, the defense, Rondo, Jeff Green, or whatever, the whole summer was a waiting game for camp to begin to make any judgments because who knows what roster moves might be made. Now that camp has started, we have to wait until the preseason games start to tell anything. My guess is that when the preseason starts, we'll have to wait until the real games start, then when the regular season starts, well, you can't tell anything until 20 games in, and the next thing you know, we've got Sam saying, "see me in April." Maybe we should just put everyone in cryosleep for six months.

outside,

The proof is in the pudding. Right now it's still all jibber-jabber. This is an upgrade since it's jibber-jabber about who/what we really have as opposed to jibber-jabber about who we might have and what we might jibber-jab about after we get them. I didn't have much of a problem with Krstic because he was playing alongside KG. If we had him now, I'd probably have a problem.

I'm not going into cryosleep for 6 months, but I will be in mostly cryosleep until the 2nd half of February. 90% of whatever I'm gleaming of this season will be coming from this board. When I check in I will be like a man who has been wandering in the desert and found a fresh water spring.



bob
btw, just to dispel one of the oldest rumors about this, Walt Disney was NOT cryogenically frozen. He was cremated (which is the exact opposite).


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I'm more convinced Zeller will surprise us offensively than I am that he'll surprise us defensively. As I suggested elsewhere, he can jump start his defensive value by using his foot speed to get back on transition defense. I'm anxious to see how he uses his seven foot wingspan. It should be more effective down low than those of Sully and Kelly.

Sam

I've yet to hear much of his defensive ability. Here's to hoping it's even a small improvement over what was readily available last year.


KJ

The very thought of a big who can get up and down represents another piece to enhance the fast break.

Next week preseason and we can start our evaluation.

dboss