The Charlotte Hornets injury issues keep piling up as Cody Zeller will miss, at least, one week with sprained ligament in his shoulder. The news was first relayed by Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer through a series of tweets.
Per Bonnell, Zeller, who has missed the last two games, had an MRI that revealed the sprain. And his “sprained shoulder is the same one he needed surgery on to repair a rotator cuff.”
Chris Barnwell from At the Hive opines on the loss:
Zeller has been an incredibly important piece for the Hornets this season. Originally he came off the bench, but when Jefferson went down with injury Zeller stepped up and has played very well considering the circumstances. He’s been a high energy guy for them off cuts, and has had moments where he was the most important player on the floor. However, there have been moments where he’s struggled against bigger more traditional centers. Right now, Zeller is averaging nine points and six rebounds per game.
As both Barnwell and Bonell note, the Hornets are in very bad shape for their upcoming road trip. Their options at center are steadily dwindling with Al Jefferson out until February. If it were just Jefferson and Zeller, it might be sustainable for a short time withf Spencer Hawes, Frank Kaminsky, Tyler Hansbrough, and Marvin Williams there to serve ass bigs.
And, according to NBAWowy, the Hornets actually have an offensive rating of 105.8 without Jefferson or Zeller on the court, while they surrender a defensive rating of just 104.0.
However, the Hornets have also been without Nicolas Batum and Jeremy Lamb. The one glimmer of hope in all this is that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who many expected to miss the season, is taking contact in practice, though, his return date hasn’t been set yet.