NBA Draft Combine: Cody Zeller with impressive vertical, stock is rising

Apr 10, 2013; Bloomington, IN, USA; Cody Zeller at his press conference for NBA draft. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowksi-USA TODAY Sports

Today at the NBA Draft Combine, former Indiana Hoosier big man Cody Zeller stole the show with an impressive workout.

Zeller posted a standing vertical jump of 35.5 inches, which is the highest recorded by a player 6-foot-9 or taller in the last decade.

Zeller then posted the fastest sprint time among all big men at the camp at 3.15 seconds.

What does all this mean? Hard to tell right now but this is the kind of thing that causes a player’s draft stock to really rise.

Zeller has been up and down over the last year with where scouts projected him to be selected in this draft. At one point, he was thought of as a top three pick and potential number one overall selection. After a pretty weak showing in the NCAA Tournament, some are now saying that Zeller won’t get taken until the very end of the lottery.

Zeller is one of a handful of names that has been linked to the Thunder as a potential selection with their first round pick that they received from the Toronto Raptors in the James Harden trade.

The Thunder may be thinking big because they will likely need to replace Kendrick Perkins some time down the road and Hasheem Thabeet wasn’t exactly the greatest backup center ever last season.

Zeller is looking like an incredible athlete, which is a description that will always follow the Thunder so he may start to be considered an even better fit than before now after the combine.