Brunt: How Indiana’s Zeller and Oladipo project as NBA players
By CLIFF BRUNT
ISL Founder
Note: Cliff Brunt covered the Indiana Pacers for seven years for The Associated Press and Indiana University basketball this past season for The Sports XChange (Reuters) and his website, Indy Sports Legends.
With Indiana’s Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo heading to the NBA, here is Brunt’s assessment of what their chances of success are in the league.
CODY ZELLER
For some reason, it’s a popular pastime for fans to rip Zeller. Many say he’s just another stiff who will ride the end of an NBA bench.
I say they are wrong.
Very few bigs in recent years have come out with the package of skills Zeller possesses. Some folks say he’s similar to Tyler Hansbrough — I say he’s more polished and skilled than Tyler was, plus he’s taller, more mobile and a better passer.
Zeller is 7-foot and 240 pounds. For those who say he was soft, remember, Zeller was skinny when he arrived at Indiana and put on quite a bit of muscle. That means he can probably put on more and remain mobile. He struggled at times against power players, but remember, Zeller is mobile enough to play the power forward position, meaning he might not be matched up against the bigger posts all that often. Zeller also is capable of putting the ball on the floor and finishing, a rare skill for someone his size.
Zeller had a great career at Indiana, but it wasn’t what it could have been because of how he was used on offense. He was used as a traditional center, but he’s really a forward who played center because he was tall and Indiana didn’t have anyone else better suited to play the position. Indiana was especially dangerous when Christian Watford played center and Zeller played power forward. Zeller will be able to better take advantage of his mobility at the pro level, and his agility and smarts will make him a force on the boards. If Zeller has or develops a mid-range jumper or a 3-point shot, he’ll become extremely difficult to guard. And remember, people will have to chase him around. That won’t be an easy task. When he hits the league, he will immediately become one of the NBA’s most mobile post players.
He was a very good shot blocker and defensive presence in college, and I believe his athletic ability, smarts and commitment to improve will make him a better-than-average defender in the pros. He has the agility and speed to defend forwards who step outside to shoot and is strong enough to offer resistance as a post defender. He’ll have some matchup issues at times, but opponents will have an extremely difficult time accounting for his versatility.
So, how good can he be? The sky is the limit. I think he will be a better pro than he was a college player. With his unique physical skills, work ethic and mental makeup, I see him as a starter his rookie season (on the right team) and a borderline All-Star by year three. He is simply not like the other guys who have come through. Sorry, Purdue fans. He’s that good.
VICTOR OLADIPO
Oladipo’s athletic ability is exceptional. He jumps out of the gym and has exceptional speed, quickness and explosiveness. At 6-foot-5 and a solid 215 pounds, he is a solid physical presence. On pure athletic ability, he’s a can’t-miss prospect.
Work ethic is an important factor to any NBA player’s success. Oladipo has worked to improve as much as anyone I’ve seen since I moved to Indiana eight years ago with the possible exception of former Purdue center JaJuan Johnson. His freshman season, Oladipo averaged 7.4 points and 3.7 rebounds. His sophomore season, he averaged 10.8 points and 5.3 rebounds. This past season, those numbers jumped to 13.6 points and 6.3 rebounds.
Looking beyond those numbers, Oladipo improved from a 21 percent 3-point shooter last season to a 44 percent 3-point shooter this season. He shot 47 percent overall as a sophomore, then improved to 60 percent as a junior, an almost unheard of percentage in this day and age for anyone, and especially a wing player competing in what was widely considered the toughest conference in America.
So, we know he has the work ethic.
We also know that he handles business in key moments. Temple’s Khalif Wyatt had his way with Oladipo for much of the game in the round of 32, yet Oladipo hit the key shot that helped Indiana win the game. So we know Oladipo is mentally tough.
Here are the down sides.
He improved his 3-point shooting this past season, but because of the attention Zeller drew, Oladipo never really was defended the way a star normally would be. He never faced the double and triple teams throughout a season that a star expected to be his team’s top dog night in and night out would typically face. Oladipo was great, but Zeller was a big part of why he was able to shine. In my opinion, Indiana’s balance actually worked against molding Oladipo into an NBA prospect.
Oladipo hasn’t been a star for very long. That can work both ways. Will he have the confidence in key moments at the next level to deliver? Will he be able to get that shot off in the pros? Remember what Rodney Williams did to him at the end of the Minnesota game? Check out this video from the Big Ten Network.
He’s going to face a whole bunch of Rodney Williams-types at the next level. His release needs to be quicker. He could get away without having a quick release at Indiana because he was usually open, and he was open because his teammates were very, very good. He won’t get nearly as many open looks in the NBA, and when he does, the line is further out, another thing he’ll have to adjust to.
My guess is he will be a very good NBA player. He will be a game-changing defender. He has great potential on offense, too, but he won’t be a star for at least another few years and may not even start for a while until he adjusts to the higher level of defensive play he’ll face, quickens his release on his jumper and adjusts to the distance of the 3-point line.
