One day after his Indiana teammate Victor Oladipo announced he was entering the NBA Draft, 7-foot sophomore forward Cody Zeller is following suit, according to multiple reports.
Zeller averaged 16.5 points and 8.1 rebounds for Indiana, which was ranked No. 1 for several weeks this season but fell to Syracuse in the East Region semifinals in Washington, D.C.
Draft Express has him as the No. 6 overall pick in the NBA Draft.
“I think Cody is highly skilled, has a very good understanding of how to play and can impact the game in a lot of ways,” one veteran NBA scout told SNY.tv. “[He’s of] the highest character. It’s important to him to do well.
“He’ll improve and he’s a top 10 pick. On some boards he’s a top 5.”
In his final college game, Zeller went 3-for-11 for 10 points and 10 rebounds and was smothered by Syracuse big men Rakeem Christmas, Baye Keita, James Southerland and Jerami Grant down low. Syracuse had 10 blocks in the game.
“I think once again it hurt with some teams,” the scout said. “With others they go by the body of work.
“Any time you give the range in the draft it depends on who gets the pick.”
