Zeller says he stayed up to speed by relentlessly chasing opportunities
MIAMI — For someone who had not appeared in an NBA game since Jan. 2022, Cody Zeller’s ability to get immediately up to speed with the Miami Heat is a testament to chasing the dream.
“I was pushing so hard because I had a couple of different workouts with teams,” he said of quite literally attempting to go the extra mile to be readywhencalled.“SoIhadtryouts, and then you’re just waiting.”
There was the training-camp tryout with the Utah Jazz, then one during the season with the Los Angeles Lakers and then one with the Los Angeles Clippers. Then came the Heat opportunity just after the Feb. 9 NBA trading deadline, signed on Feb. 20.
So while it wasn’t quite the metronome of the NBA schedule, it was a vigilance of being ready when/if called.
“To be honest with you,” he said, “I enjoy running and conditioning as much as I can. But there was a lot that was similar to how you do it in the NBA, ‘All right, I’m going to hit it hard for one week, then I’ll wait to heal.’ “
Between those tryout preparations were scrimmages with the North Carolina Charlotte team.
“That was good for me,” Zeller, 30, said from his locker, “They were coming hard for me and I think it was good for them, as well. That was exactly what I needed.”
But he also drew the line as he waited in Charlotte for his next NBA call.
“I didn’t play pickup at the Y,” he said with a smile. “That’s where you can get hurt.”
Entering Friday night’s game against the New York Knicks at Miami-Dade Arena, there had been 62 minutes over four games, more time than Heat captain Udonis Haslem has played this season.
The difference is Haslem has had NBA workouts partners and scrimmages all season, routinely playing pregame 3-on-3 on the Heat practice court.
For Zeller, what drove him was just the desire to get back.
“Just tried to replicate an NBA game as much as possible,” he said.
Coming together
With the Heat entering Friday having lost five of six, guard Tyler Herro stressed it as a time to come together.
“I mean just bringing everybody together,” he said after the morning shootaround. “At this point of the year, we want to stay together, get tighter, be more together than we’ve ever been at our low point in our season right now.”
Guard Max Strus said it is the only option.
“We got to have buy-in from everybody,” he said.
Tenuous times
Forward Caleb Martin joined forward Jimmy Butler as questionable on the Heat injury report going into the weekend, Martin listed with discomfort in his left ankle, Butler with a sore right knee.
Remaining sidelined for the Heat are point guard Kyle Lowry, due to a sore left knee, and forward Nikola Jovic, with a lower-back stress reaction.
Away from the Heat with the team’s G League affiliate, the Sioux Falls Skyforce, are center Omer Yurtseven, who is beginning his playing rehabilitation from November ankle surgery, and forward Jamal Cain, who is on a two-way contract.
Those two had been set for a reunion with guard Jamaree Bouyea, who completed a 10-day contract with the Heat just prior to the All-Star break. Instead Bouyea, the undrafted rookie guard out of the University of San Francisco, has joined the Washington Wizards on a 10-day contract.