Portland Trail Blazers: Grading their signings in NBA free agency

Portland Trail Blazers NBA free agency signings: 3. Cody Zellar

The Trail Blazers once again lost Enes Kanter in free agency. Once again he signed a deal with the Boston Celtics meaning that the Trail Blazers have to replace the big man who has made a living coming off the bench for most of his career.

Enter Cody Zeller who has played all of his eight seasons with the Charlotte Hornets where he has made more than $73.0 million. This is important as the Trail Blazers signed Zeller to a single season, veterans minimum deal. It is crucial that the franchise get solid players like Zeller for low money as Lillard and McCollum take up a huge amount of their cap space.

Zeller is now the third big man in three seasons’ that the Trail Blazers have used to back up Jusuf Nurkic. The other player was Hassan Whiteside,.who the Blazers relied on for the season after the Bosnian Beast broke his leg in the playoffs.

Zeller is a fundamentally sound center, averaging 8.7 points and 6.0 rebounds for his career. The 6’11” center out of Indiana gives you a solid presence on the floor every time he plays. This will be crucial for the Blazers if they want to move back up the standings.

Grade: B