Monday, May 20, 2013

Former Hoosiers Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller Impress at NBA Draft Combine

Indiana was well represented at the NBA Draft Combine today. Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo were both equally impressive.

It's a testament to the hard work of both players and the training staff in Bloomington.

Both players were kept out of the drills section of the event by their agents. This isn't uncommon and many other headliners and projected lottery picks were held out of this portion of the combine.
  Measurements:

Oladipo

Height - 6' 4.25'' with shoes (no idea why they even bother to measure without shoes, there is no barefoot basketball league)

Weight - 213.2 lbs

Wingspan - 6' 9.25''

Reach - 9' 4.5''

Body Fat - 6.6 percent


Zeller

Height - 7' .25'' with shoes

Weight - 230 lbs

Wingspan - 6' 10.75''

Reach - 8' 10''

Body Fat - 4.75 percent

The takeaways from these numbers are interesting. Oladipo is shorter than he was listed at all season, 6-5, which isn't that surprising. His large wingspan and reach more than makes up for this slightly shorter stature, and explains his expertise on defense. Coach Tom Crean recently stated on twitter that he recorded a deflection every 2.3 minutes.

Zeller has excellent height for his position, some reported that he was closer to 6-10 or 6-11, but this puts that to rest. His weight is a little on the low side, but that's probably due to heavy training to prepare for the combine.

Other measurables:

Oladipo recorded a 33-inch standing vertical leap and an eye popping 42-inch max vertical. We can't wait to see him in the NBA dunk contest next season. Oladipo also told reporters that he benched 185-lbs 15 times, which is excellent for a guard.

Zeller recorded a 35.5-inch standing vertical and a 37.5-inch max vertical leap. According to ESPN's Chad Ford, Zeller was one of the best athletes at the combine, and definitely the most athletic center. No seven-footer has ever had as high of a vertical leap as Zeller recorded and he had the best standing vertical of anyone at the combine. Which begs the question: why didn't he dunk the ball more?

Ford currently has Oladipo going sixth in the draft and Zeller 12th. He felt that if Oladipo did the skills tests and shot well he'd get a boost, but he didn't participate. Ford also said that Zeller would get a bump from a solid day of measurements, which he did.

Both players are locks to be lottery picks, and the combine should just confirm a teams decision to draft either one of them.

We'll keep you posted on how these two players do and where they will end up in the coming weeks.

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