The Brooklyn Game

Nets sign free agent center Tyler Zeller to two-year deal

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The Brooklyn Nets have signed free agent center Tyler Zeller to a two-year deal, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports. 

The addition caps off Brooklyn’s roster of 15, not counting Brooklyn’s two-way contract signings of Yakuba Ouattara and Jacob Wiley. 

Zeller is coming off a three-year stint with the Boston Celtics, where last season he averaged 3.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in 51 games played. 

The deal with Brooklyn is reportedly guaranteed for the 2017-18 season, and not guaranteed for the 2018-19 season. Brooklyn will be Zeller’s third NBA team, as he started his career in Cleveland.

Tyler Zeller -- Restricted Free Agent The skinny: Zeller took a step back after improving through three fledgling seasons in Boston, seeing sharp declines in minutes per game, field goal percentage, and an uptick in turnovers. Zeller was squeezed out of Boston's big man rotation of Kelly Olynyk, Jared Sullinger, Amir Johnson, and Jonas Jerebko, but still put up over 18 points and nine rebounds per 36 minutes. Zeller a fit? Possibly. Zeller showed flashes of the player the Celtics picked in the first round back in 2012, but his lack of playing time means that he could be had on the cheap. But Zeller will likely seek a team that will give him playing time after playing a career-low 710 minutes this past year. Worthy pursuit? Doubtful. Zeller's in the middle ground where he's good enough to likely secure a starting spot elsewhere, not good enough to move Lopez to make that worth it, and his restricted status means that any contract that would give the Celtics pause to match would probably be too rich for Sean Marks's blood. -Devin Kharpertian Also check out: Point Guards | Shooting Guards | Small Forwards | Power Forwards

The 27-year-old brings some depth at center and will likely play minutes behind Timofey Mozgov. 

Brooklyn’s next moves may include adding more players to the team’s camp roster, with three spots still remaining. 

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