Size matters as Nets scoop up Zeller

Big Man Provides Depth to Brooklyn’s Diminutive Front Line

September 12, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Brooklyn Nets reportedly inked Celtics center Tyler Zeller to a two-year deal on Monday, bulking up along an otherwise undermanned front line. AP Photo by David Zalubowski

Share this:

Entering an NBA season with only two players taller than 6-foot-8, one of whom is a somewhat lithe rookie and the other an aging veteran who was picked up as part of a salary dump, isn’t exactly a formula for success.

The Brooklyn Nets made sure to add some bulk and beef to their otherwise meek front line on Monday, reportedly inking Boston Celtics Tyler Zeller to a two-year contract.

Though Nets general manager Sean Marks expressed a willingness to remain pat with only first-year pivotman Jarrett Allen (6-foot-10, 235 pounds) and veteran center Timofey Mozgov (7-1, 275) as his top frontcourt options, he waited out Boston for the 7-foot, 250-pound Zeller.

A North Carolina alum, who won a national title with the Tar Heels back in 2009, Zeller was originally selected by Dallas in the 2012 NBA Draft, only to be traded to Cleveland that very evening.

In two seasons with the Cavaliers and the last three in Boston, the 27-year-old Visalia, California native has averaged 7.0 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest.

He had his best season with the Celtics in 2014-15, putting up 10.2 points and 5.7 boards per night while playing in all 82 games, including 59 starts.

Though he is hardly expected to be a high-impact player here in Brooklyn, Zeller will fill a necessary role in the paint, where the Nets figured to be undersized and undermanned with only Allen and Mozgov available to battle it out with their opponents’ big men.

Waived by the Celtics in July after making only five starts, and playing 51 games overall last season due to a couple of extended illnesses, Zeller and former Ohio State standout Jared Sullinger both reportedly worked out for the Nets this summer.

Brooklyn opted to go with Zeller, who will be guaranteed only the first season on the two-year pact.

He will join a franchise that remains in full rebuild mode as Marks continues to do his best to mesh together a contending team following the disaster he inherited from former GM Billy King.

The Nets added Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell in the deal that sent Brook Lopez to Los Angeles and netted them Mozgov as well. Toronto forward DeMarre Carroll and Portland’s Allen Crabbe were picked up this summer in the hopes of building a stronger foundation for the future.

Point guard Jeremy Lin is hoping to rebound from an injury-plagued 2016-17 campaign during his second full year here in Brooklyn, and the Nets will gladly accept whatever they can get out of still-developing back-court players like Caris LeVert and Coney Island’s Isaiah Whitehead.

“We want to see progress every year,” Mark noted last month at the team’s HSS Training Center in Sunset Park.

“I know [head coach] Kenny [Atkinson] does, I know I do,” he added. “The fans demand it. So I think now with the change in the roster — and the roster will continue to evolve here for the next couple of years for sure — they’ll see a direction in how we want to play, where we want to head here.”

Wherever they head has got to be better than the cumulative 41-123 mark the Nets have put together over the past two seasons after reaching the playoffs, and winning a first-round round series during their first three campaigns here in Brooklyn.

“It’s a great challenge,” Marks admitted. “That was one of the things I was enamored about when I decided to take the job.

“A lot of people don’t believe in it, a lot of people think this is going to be extremely difficult to do. Yes! No question, it’s going to be difficult! But we’re going to have a lot of fun doing it, we’re doing it with the right people. From our analytics staff, from our performance staff, from our scouts, from everybody here. If we all pull in the right direction, it’s only going to help us.”

* * *

From the Nets:

The Brooklyn Nets will host their annual Media Day on Monday, September 25, at HSS Training Center prior to holding training camp at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., from Tuesday, September 26, through Saturday, September 30.

* * *

In other local pro sports news, the Islanders officially opened their rookie camp at the Northwell Ice Center on Long Island last weekend, and will kick off their unofficial exhibition slate Wednesday with a rookie game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Isles head coach Doug Weight, who watched as 19-year-old Anthony Beauvillier worked his way into the team’s season-opening lineup last year at rookie camp, is hopeful to find some new young blood for New York during this year’s workouts featuring mostly first- and second-year players.

“You always get excited for this time of year,” Weight said on Friday.

“You saw these kids today. They come out — and you could be skating all summer — but that adrenaline and that excitement to push themselves, they’ll be sleeping tonight.”

First-round picks Matthew Barzal, who appeared in two games with the Isles last season, Kieffer Bellows, Josh Ho-Sang and Michael Dal Colle hope to impress their coach as workouts continue leading up to Sunday’s full-squad exhibition opener vs. the Flyers.

“Certainly, at camp I think they [see] Barzal had two long camps and a lot of games played,” Weight noted. “It’s going to be fun to see how everything plays out. It’s probably going to have to be some tough decisions, some discomfort, but that’s good.”