Indiana Basketball: Thomas Bryant continues hot start, others falter

The NBA season is starting to get into full swing and many former Indiana basketball players continue to make their mark in the league.

The Indiana basketball program continues to see some of its former players compete at a high level in the NBA and prove to be crucial members of their respective teams.

While most of their teams are struggling to gain much traction, it is still extremely early in the season so much of that is to be expected.

Romeo Langford, who was sent down to the Boston Celtics G-League team last week, was recalled over the weekend after star forward Gordon Hayward broke his hand. Langford has yet to record a point in his NBA career, but did go for 27 points in his G-League debut.

Victor Oladipo continues to make progress but is still at least a month away from returning to the court.

Let’s take a look at how the other former Hoosiers fared in the NBA this past week.

Thomas Bryant (Washington Wizards – 14.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists)

One of the few former Hoosiers that has had a terrific season thus far, Bryant continued that streak this past week.

With two games of over 20 points, all three of his games during the week came with a 60+ field goal percentage.

Continuing his career year, Bryant has been one of the few bright spots for a Wizards team that has struggled, and will continue to for most of the season.

Noah Vonleh (Minnesota TImberwolves – 4.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists)

Continuing to be a crucial member of the Timberwolves rotation, Vonleh still adds effective minutes no matter what situation he is thrown into.

Averaging 14.3 minutes per game this season, Vonleh did see his minutes slip a bit towards the end of the week despite two games going into overtime.

Going from a starter with the New York Knicks to a very much role player with the Timberwolves, Vonleh could give the Timberwolves a bit more versatility if he can consistently knock down the three, something he has tried to work on in his young career.

Yogi Ferrell (Sacramento Kings – 2.4 points, 0.6 rebounds, 0.6 assists)

It was another week in which Ferrell barely saw the floor. The Kings played two games on the week, with Ferrell appearing in just one game for five minutes.

At 3-6 on the season, you’d figure the Kings may try to adjust the rotation, but that has yet to be done.

There’s not much more to say about the third year guard; his time in Sacramento should be over soon.

Whether or not he stays on the roster through the deadline, I don’t expect him to be back next season as he is way more valuable to a team than in his current role.

Eric Gordon (Houston Rockets – 10.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, 0.8 assists)

Once again, it was another week in which Gordon struggled to find his shooting touch, something that has been an issue all year for him.

It seems like a broken record now, but Gordon just has not been able to find any sort of consistency with two very ball dominant guards in Russell Westbrook and James Harden

Though he shot a bit better from deep, 38 percent in the Rockets’ two games, he shot just 30.7 percent overall on the week.

Right now, Gordon just isn’t able to help the Rockets out that much. Without making his shots, he isn’t much of a rebounder or playmaker for his teammates, so there is a lot that the Rockets are losing out there.

OG Anunoby (Toronto Raptors – 13.0 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists)

Anunoby continued his good play in another week where the Raptors won every game, including going into the Staples Center and taking down the Los Angeles Lakers.

With two games of above 18 points, Anunoby continues to fill the box score in many different ways outside of his scoring.

He continued his streak of every game this season where he has had at least one block or one steal, making it nine straight games.

His defense was on display when he took on some of the duties guarding LeBron James on Sunday, holding him to 5-of-13 from the field.

Cody Zeller (Charlotte Hornets – 12.9 points, 9.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists)

After four straight double-doubles to start the season, Zeller took a step back this past week, not recording a single one.

Seeing his numbers decrease a bit as the Hornets lost three of their four games, Zeller bounced back nicely on Sunday with a 24-point outing against the 76ers.

Zeller remains one of the staples in the Hornets organization and continues to have a solid year thus far.