Cody Zeller’s knee holding up after two days of Hornets practices

Charlotte Hornets center Cody Zeller said he was encouraged Thursday after Day 2 of his return to practice.

Zeller sat out contact drills the first two weeks of the preseason with a deep bone bruise in his right knee. Wednesday he was cleared to scrimmage and the question was how his knee would react to that activity.

So far, so good.

"It’s encouraging (the knee) didn’t get sore or swell up," Zeller said following practice. "I actually felt better today than yesterday as far getting back into the flow."

Coach Steve Clifford kept a close eye on Zeller’s movement Thursday. He didn’t see anything of concern.

"He had a little bit of soreness, but Strick (head athletic trainer Steve Stricker) let him do a lot of it again," Clifford said. "He’s moving very much normal – no dragging the leg."

In other injury-related news, point guard Brian Roberts again sat out practice with a hamstring injury. But rookie Perry Ellis (sports hernia) scrimmaged five-on-five for the first time.

"We’re just being ultra-careful," Clifford said of Roberts. "You come back too early (from a hamstring pull) and you could be out a month."

This story was originally published October 13, 2016 at 6:23 PM with the headline "Cody Zeller’s knee holding up after two days of Hornets practices."