The Boston Celtics training camp is expected to be among the most competitive in the NBA this year with only a handful of players guaranteed minutes in the rotation. One guy who might see his minutes take a hit this season due to the depth on the roster is Tyler Zeller. Zeller is eligible for an extension this offseason and the Celtics have had preliminary talks with him but that's about as far as it has gone, according to Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.
This situation for the Celtics and Zeller is an interesting one because it is very hard to determine his true value. Zeller had a solid season last year in his first with the Celtics as he averaged 10.2 points and 5.7 rebounds in just 21.1 minutes per game but this year he isn't expected to get much more playing time. In his short amount of playing time a year ago Zeller was extremely productive but he wasn't given the time to put up really big numbers.
This offseason the Celtics brought in Amir Johnson and David Lee who figure to be the starting frontcourt. This would leave Zeller in a bench role and would likely keep his minutes around 20 per game. The Celtics right now see Zeller as nothing more than a role player off the bench so that's how they want to pay him. Based on his productivity last season Zeller would probably like to get paid more than a role player commands so it seems unlikely these two sides will reach a deal before the deadline.
The salary cap is going to go up about $20 million next season so it might be wise for Zeller to not sign an extension now anyway. If he plays the same amount of minutes again this year and is similarly productive he has a chance to earn a lot of money next offseason as a restricted free agent. On the flip side of that, if Zeller gets buried on the depth chart or has a down year he could also lose himself a lot of money and an extension would bring stability.
It is possible that Zeller could come into training camp and look great and force the Celtics hand on an extension but the most likely scenario right now seems like it will end with Zeller as a restricted free agent next summer making this upcoming season an enormous one for him.
