The Importance Of Cody Zeller To The Charlotte Hornets

Cody Zeller‘s four-year, $56 million extension kicks in next year, a deal many criticized the Charlotte Hornets for signing him to. This year, Zeller has proved he is worth every penny when it comes to wins and losses.

Cody Zeller’s career averages settle in at 7.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.8 blocks and 0.6 steals per game. Many on Twitter and beyond mocked the Charlotte Hornets for locking Zeller into a four-year, $56 million extension at the beginning of this season, but his contributions to the Hornets night to night are undeniable.

Zeller’s best skills lie in the things that traditional box scores don’t count, such as setting sturdy screens, being in the right spot defensively on a consistent basis, and making team-savvy plays to help contribute to the win column.

Luckily, Zeller exists in an era where many of those stats are made available for those willing to dig for them. For example, Zeller currently ranks fourth in the entire league in screen assists per game with 5.4, according to NBA.com. Screen assists are defined as an offensive player setting a screen for a teammate that directly leads to a made field goal by that teammate, thanks to Nylon Calculus.

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In other words, Zeller is setting the screen that opens up another Hornet for almost 12-18 points per game. That absolutely matters, and can be the difference between winning and losing. In addition, Zeller is third on the team in deflections (deflecting a pass, thus disrupting the flow of an opposing offense), third in loose balls recovered and first in contested two-point shots per game, all of these figures courtesy of NBA.com.

Those two-point contests are also coming at a reduced conversion rate for opponents, as opposing players are shooting 8.7 percentage points worse within six feet of the basket when contested by Zeller than when they’re not, per NBA.com.

All of these figures add up to helping the Hornets on a nightly basis. The most important number out of all of these is that Charlotte is 2-12 when Zeller doesn’t play this season, and 22-17 when he does. Zeller’s net rating is +8.0 on the season, more than four points better than the next Hornet with over 1,000 minutes played, according to NBA.com.

Zeller also has great instincts and is deceptively quick laterally. The NBA is a pick-and-roll league, and big men today have to be ready to switch onto a guard. Zeller does so masterfully in this clip against one of the shiftiest guards in the association, John Wall.

Zeller also excels in contesting shots vertically, using every inch of his seven-foot, 240-pound frame to make it tough for opposing players, including future Hall of Famer Tony Parker on this occasion.

In addition to setting screens expertly, Zeller slips them just as well, vanishing underneath the defense thanks to the threat Nicolas Batum poses off the bounce.

Zeller’s not going to make any Top 10’s with his bag of tricks, but that doesn’t make them any less tasty. He ignites the fast break with a deflection and runs from rim to rim knowing Kemba Walker will reward his effort, finishing the play with a nice catch and finish underneath the backboard.

For decades, coaches at all levels have raved about players on their roster who make “winning plays.” The media rolls its eyes and files it under coach talk to avoid talking about anything of substance, but Zeller puts a face to that cliche.

Even the most optimistic Hornet fan would rank Charlotte’s talent among the middle of the pack in the association. But the beauty of basketball is that when the pieces fit together, the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. For the Hornets, they’re at their best when they don’t beat themselves by doing the little things few focus on, and that begins with Zeller.

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Make no mistake, playing hard and being engaged mentally every single night is a skill, one that Zeller possesses in spades. The Hornets’ margin for error is smaller than many teams, and Zeller helps tighten the strings when things begin to get loose. Those kind of contributions have always been overlooked, but don’t minimize their importance. Zeller’s contract is money well spent when he helps win games.