Cody Zeller has been in the NBA since 2013, but since the Hornets center signed a rookie scale extension in 2016 that tacked four years onto his four-year rookie contract, he has never been a free agent. Zeller, an unrestricted free agent this offseason, acknowledged that it’ll be a new experience for him, as Sam Perley of Hornets.com details.
“It’s crazy – my first free agency,” Zeller said. “I’ve only played for one team, so I don’t know how it’ll go or even logistically how it goes. I am eight years into my career and who knows how much longer I’m going to do this.
“I think the biggest thing is just being somewhere where I’m valued. I just want to win. I think we can make that step here if we’re all healthy and make that jump to becoming a competitive team that can make a deep run.”
Although Zeller referred to Charlotte as “home” and said he’s had a “great eight years” with the Hornets, he recognizes that his future is somewhat up in the air. The Hornets have identified center as a position they want to upgrade, so if they bring in a new big man or two, it’s possible there won’t be a spot for Zeller.
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Hawks swingman Bogdan Bogdanovic (right knee soreness) and Cam Reddish (right Achilles soreness) have both been listed as questionable for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference on Wednesday, tweets Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Bogdanovic has started every game of the playoffs so far for Atlanta, while Reddish has yet to make his postseason debut.
- After winning just 20 games a year ago, the Hawks are an unlikely final-four team, but they’ve succeeded this season by finding the exact contributions they need from every corner of their roster, says Rob Mahoney of The Ringer.
- The degree of difficulty for the Magic‘s rebuild increased a little on Tuesday, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic. As Robbins writes, Orlando was fortunate to get the No. 8 pick from Chicago, but the team’s own pick slipping outside the top four will make it more challenging to land a future All-Star in the 2021 draft.
- Heat center Dewayne Dedmon said at season’s end that he’d like to remain in Miami. Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald takes a look at whether that’s a realistic possibility.
Hawks jump from the 27th best team to final 4
Play Without
4th pick Hunter,
7th pick Kris Dunn
8th pick Reddish
Bogdanovic played with injury
Why does where they were picked matter lol dunn came back and was terrible he was not worth the 5th pick anyways. Also reddish was 10th and Dunn was 5th.
Hawks have been consistently underrated all season. The return of Cam Reddish is gonna be huge. We’re gonna need him to slow down Middleton. People are also sleeping on the effect that John Collins is having on the defensive end of the court. Shutting down Julius Randle & Ben Simmons was definitely a team effort but John was the #1 factor for both guys struggling the way they did bc he was the primary guy keeping both guys out of the paint. John will have an even tougher test this series vs Giannis but don’t be surprised if Giannis struggles as well
The Hawks played good defense in the Sixers series for sure, but I think Ben Simmons had more to do with shutting himself down.
Hawks are a feel good story . This might have to be more on coaching than the talent on the team. They always had talent. Just not the right coaching. I wonder if the rockets regret doing that trade now
Hawks have a lot more talent now than we had the past few yrs. Our young guys (Trae/John/Kev/Dre/Cam) all are improved from last yr too. If not for all the injuries we had all season long we woulda had a Phoenix type season w 50+ Ws & a top2 seed
Hawks Conference Finals 2015 and 2021
Top tier team in East
76ers have not reached conference finals since 2001
20 years
76ers spend $25 million salary on GMs and coaches this year and $25 million luxury tax
What’s you’re view on hawks doing a sign and trade to acquire Derozen? They have the pieces to make it work.
Dedmon to remain with Miami or go to hornets.
Bogdanovic was fine until he started jacking up shots then he faked an injury. My Hawks should move him this summer for a Loonie Walker or Duncan. Galo was having same problem in first round but managed to bounce back in last 3 games so he should be kept.
Zeller could always be pushed around and does not run like he used to.
There are a lot of athletic seven-footers out there, 10-15 draftable, but often “old-fashioned”, underskilled, and most foreign.
CHA with smallish forwards should go with size, but #10 is earlier than necessary for a big given the quantity.
Americans Garza and Cockburn are awful at switching. Mobley will be gone by #10.
Charles Bassey was compared to Biyombo, who could be retained to mentor. Sengun was recently elevated by Hollinger’s ranking; throws his weight around well.