He really seems like the kind of guy the organization likes - disciplined, efficient, good collection of skills. I did not know that his free-throw and rebound rates were so good, but those are skills that translate well. I expect that Tyler will be a Rocket come draft day.
I admit I didn't want him,but he would be all right at 16 unless a better player eg Terrance Ross is around.
I like Zeller more than both the other centers. Sure, both Leanord and Drummond could be better than him but I don't see that happening. He reminds me of Hibbert in the sense that he is an upper classmen who will fall a bit because of a percieved lack of potiential. There is still plenty of room for him to grow as a player. Here is my prediction, if a center in this class becomes an all star it will be Tyler Zeller. Unless Davis ends up center of course.
LOL most of you guys have it wrong, Zeller's offensive game will translate into the NBA because hey, how many 7 footers are left that can actually overwhelm him and make him pay for only having 7 foot reach? He's not an unathletic stiff, he's just not a beast like Davis or Howard. Most of the posters here think that he'll turn out to be a new Prizbilla, however Prizbilla in today's NBA is actually a top 5 center. The fact that he's not a shotblocker is of very little concern, shot-blocking only affects 2-3 shots a game, that's a total of 6 pts. What's more important is you can clog the paint and bother shooters, which is what Yao did by virtue of being 7-foot tall and what Zeller could also do. Lack of strength is negligible, it seems he's a hard worker so the bulk will come in time. This video calls him low risk, but IMHO he's actually a mid-risk, high-reward prospect. My concern with him is actually his rebounding, according to the video, he was a mediocre rebounder his first 3 seasons then became the best rebounding C in the draft class his senior year. The question is, which rebounder will we see once he gets to the NBA? If he turns out to be even an average rebounder then we just found out the perfect complement to D-Mo and our new twin towers, white edition. The thing that I like about him is his intangibles, IHMO apart from height and health its the most crucial thing about a center, you really need mental toughness to absorb contact, maturity to work on your game and most of all BBALL IQ to actually not be useless on the court ala Joey Dorsey or Hasheem Thabeet. Athleticism is next to useless, you'll never be more agile than the beast PFs and you're already 7 foot, how much athletcism will you need? LOL
That's my feeling as well. I feel like the 'high-risk, high-reward' term gets misused a lot. Most of the time, it gets stuck on guys like Hassan Whiteside (who many on this board wanted) People see their size and athleticism and think 'If we can just teach him to play the game of basketball, he'll be an All-Star!' but that almost never happens. 'Low ceiling' is really just a back-handed term for 'unathletic' despite the fact that the league is full of successful guys with skill and middling athleticism. I think a guy like Zeller, who has a lot of the skills already developed, would be an excellent pick. The other advantage of Zeller is that in this league, you don't have to be a great center to be a valuable trade chip. When you hear about Brook Lopez being the centerpiece of an offer for Howard or Roy Hibbert as an All-Star, it really drives home that even a mediocre center is valuable.
