Cody Zeller was picked fourth overall by the then Charlotte Bobcats in 2013. That was when Cody Zeller had the chance to speak with Michael Jordan for the first time, and according to him, messed up terribly.
In an article for the Players Tribune, Zeller explains the phone call he got on draft night after being selected. He was supposed to talk to three people in order. First was Rod Higgins (then president of basketball operations), then Rich Cho (general manager) and lastly the owner, Michael Jordan.
Here’s what Zeller said happened that night.
“So I talked to Rod Higgins for about a minute. I don’t remember much, I just remember being a little short with him. I wasn’t being rude, but I was just trying to get to #23. “Thanks for the opportunity, I look forward to playing for such a great organization,” etc. Rod said, “Alright, I’m going to pass on the phone. Congrats and welcome to the team.” Next on the phone was Rich, the GM. Rich was the one that I had talked with the most in the organization up to that point, so I recognized his voice. But again, I just said some pleasantries and raced through it — because MJ was next. “Thank you for the opportunity. I look forward to playing for the Bobcats,” etc. Let’s get on with it. I was imagining what I’d say to Michael. I’d tell him he was the best ever. I’d tell him how I watched him my whole life. I’d tell him how I admired his business skills. For the 14-year-old Cody Zeller, it was all a dream.
Then he said “Alright, I’m going to pass the phone on to Rich…”
I froze. That meant it was Michael Jordan on the line. He had gone out of order. I scrambled to say, “Thank you Mr. Jordan” — or maybe I just said, “OK.” I have no idea. I had just rambled on for a minute to the best basketball player ever and I didn’t even know it was him.”
Well that’s unfortunate. Lucky for Zeller, I’m sure he has plenty of opportunities to talk to Jordan, even though the Hornets are looking to trade him.
Zeller also provided some other interesting stories into what the draft process is like. He said one team berated him for 30 minutes straight to see if he could handle it and another team wanted to see if he could come up with two answers for “what’s two and two?”
I have so many questions for that last story, the main one being “why?”
