Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller get to rewrite their Hoosiers script with Heat reunion

The perfect circle of basketball life would have delivered the Miami Heat to Indiana instead of Milwaukee for Friday night’s start of their three-game trip.

Then it truly would have come full circle for once-and-again teammates Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller.

Still, the reunion created with Monday’s Heat signing of Zeller is one that hit home for the former Indiana Hoosiers who, now 10 seasons into their NBA careers, get to call themselves teammates again.

“We’ve obviously been through a lot together,” Oladipo said ahead of Friday night’s game against the Bucks.

Including through a ride of NCAA dominance soured only by elimination in the Sweet 16 of the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

“To be able to have my brother here is dope,” Oladipo said.

The two spent 2011-12 and ‘12-13 as teammates in Bloomington, their play not only elevating the Hoosiers, but also their draft stocks, with Oladipo the No. 2 pick in the 2013 NBA draft and Zeller the No. 4 selection.

In closing at 29-7 that season under Tom Crean, who previously had coached Heat icon Dwyane Wade at Marquette, the Hoosiers were never ranked below No. 7, finishing the season at No. 4, after holding the No. 1 ranking for 10 weeks.

Since then, it has been an uneven ride for both.

It wasn’t until last season’s Heat run to within one victory of the NBA Finals that Oladipo made it out of the first round of the NBA playoffs. Zeller has never even done that, one-and-done in his two NBA playoff series, both with Charlotte, both against the Heat.

“It’s going to be cool to have him here,” Oladipo said.

There also has been a common bond of injury for both. Oladipo again missed time at the start of this season due to a knee issue, while Zeller is only now making his season debut after knee surgery last season with the Portland Trail Blazers.

“It means a lot first and foremost for him to just have a chance, because I know what he’s capable of,” Oladipo said. “Unfortunately, you can’t control injuries and some of the stuff that comes along with the game. But he has the talent. He has the ability.”

In some ways this also is a family reunion.

“I’m just looking forward to seeing his family, his parents,” Oladipo, 30, said. “I haven’t seen ‘em in so long. So I’m looking forward to seeing them and getting to catch up with them, too.”

With six weeks left in the season, there should be ample time for reminiscing.

“It’s pretty special,” Zeller, 30, said. “Vic and I are really close. We obviously spent a lot of time together back in college. We try to see each other. Even last year, I was in Portland and he was in Miami, we saw each other once during the season. We try to get dinner the night before if we play against each other.”

The Heat have had a variety of college teammates on their roster over the years, including Syracuse’s Rony Seikaly, Sherman Douglas and Pearl Washington, Kansas State’s Michael Beasley and Henry Walker, Iowa’s Brad Lohaus and Kevin Gamble, Florida’s Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller, Marquette’s Jae Crowder and Jimmy Butler, and Kentucky’s Bam Adebayo and Mychal Mulder last season.

Foremost with Zeller, it was a business decision by the Heat that led to the reunion, not based on Hoosiers 2012-13, but what Zeller potentially can deliver with his bulk that failed to resurface this season with Dewayne Dedmon,

In that regard, coach Erik Spoelstra sees a player who can enter for Adebayo at center and function in many similar aspects, something not quite the case with Dedmon, who was dealt in order to open the roster spots and salary-cap room to add Zeller and Kevin Love.

“I think so,” Spoelstra said if Zeller could serve as a similar fulcrum to the offense as Adebayo. “He played a lot of similar actions in Charlotte, top of the floor, running delayed actions off the elbow. I think he’s really good at dribble handoffs. He’s an underrated passer.

“He’s not underrated anywhere in the league as a screener, as a guy that has a great feel for screening, slipping, getting out of things fast‚ sometimes holding a screen to get guys open. And he’s big and tough. We’ve felt his screens in previous years. But the package, yeah, it will be very similar to what we run when Bam’s in the game.”

All, of course, once Zeller gets back to speed, without NBA action since January 2022.

“Cody was just a matter of making sure he’s healthy and ready,” Spoelstra said of this week’s signing. “He was in shape. It’s a different thing from live game action, but he’s definitely in shape. You can tell he’s been working. And he’s been a starter for a lot of his years.

“And I think this is a great opportunity for him just to kind of reintegrate into the league, do it at a rate that makes sense, that he can stay healthy.”

At Indiana, Oladipo and Zeller provided a one-two punch, Zeller leading the Hoosiers in scoring and rebounding in 2012-13, with Oladipo second in both categories.

This time around, there is the possibility of anchoring the second unit during a playoff push.

“I’m looking forward to plenty more time with Vic,” Zeller said.