Mirza Teletovic

[LakerLegend]

Apparently this dude was a beast in Euro and/or international competition. He had 15/6 in 20 minutes including 3-7 three point shooting the other night.

Also a pretty impressive putback jam so he has some athleticism.

Do the Nets have a hidden gem on their hands?

[Trader_Joe]

Most of us pray he gets Evans minutes this year, and with AK and KG there to play next to him, it's a possibility as his defense and rebounding is questionable.

Smart player, good passer and good scorer (more than just a shooter).

He claimed he wasn't prepared last season (major adjustment for him moving his family here and he bulked up which slowed him down) and says he's prepared better for this season.

We shall see.
He's probably the most polarizing player on the team as some have high hopes for him and others expect him to bust.

[ManualRam]

he has no conscience as a shooter which is both a good and a bad thing because he takes a lot of bad shots. he doesn't really do anything well outside of shoot either.

[NyCeEvO]

As a Nets fan, it would be very easy to make the homer claim and say "Yes, everyone's been sleeping on him. He'll be a gem."

However, in trying to think like an non-Nets fan you could find many reasons to doubt that Teletovic will really make it in the NBA.



He doesn't have the physical attributes to overwhelm his opponents and he doesn't have the offensive or defensive repertoire to be a #1-3 option on a contending team.

(IMHO, his absolute ceiling in the NBA would be a top 5 6th man. And in order for to be in consideration as a top 6th man, he'd have to learn how to be a great off-the-ball shooter with a pretty high offensive BBIQ, and his defense would have to improve dramatically so that he can at least hold his own against most big men.)

RHe's a 6'9" stretch PF who has range that easily extends to the 3pt line. However, he's neither fast, overly strong, and his defense needs a ton of work.

Give him 30+ mpg as a starting PF and the top big men in the league would eat him alive, but if you bring him off the bench for 15-20mpg for situational use and a quick burst of offense he can do some damage and get a dead offense going.

Being on the Nets is probably the perfect situation for him because he doesn't need to worry about making an a huge impact instantly. He can take his time and work on his weaknesses while D-Will, Lopez, Pierce, KG, JJ and AK47 do the heavy lifting throughout the regular season.

As long as he's given a consistent 10-15mpg, I believe he will improve. Last season, his minutes were so inconsistent that when he actually played, he felt like he needed to do everything in order to prove himself to the coaches. Instead it backfired because he was often too anxious and tried too hard to make things happen.

Do I think Teletovic is a gem? It depends what the expectations are for him.

Can he be an allstar? No way.
Can he be a good 6th man? Yeah, if he improves on his weaknesses and understands how the NBA game is faster and pretty different than international play.

[DarkXaero]

He is tremendously skilled as far as offensive skills go. He can shoot from anywhere (seemingly unlimited range, excels at shooting off screens like a guard), has a quick release with no hesitation, a smart passer of the ball, he can put the ball on the floor (hasn't shown that in the NBA though), and has a bit of a low post game as well. As far as athleticism goes, he doesn't have the lateral quickness to be a good defender but he has some explosiveness, some good hops, and he can run the floor well in transition.

If he can learn NBA defense (something which I don't think has happened yet), and play with consistency on offense in limited minutes (too used to being a star, #1 option in Europe), he has a chance to be a very good rotation player in the NBA. I think as far as his offense goes, he'll be fine. You could see a renewed sense of confidence in him in the preseason game that wasn't there last year. He is playing with a point to prove and I hope he becomes a part of the Nets rotation. Hopefully, he can improve his defense learning from KG and the new staff. His defensive rebounding isn't too good either but that isn't as much of a concern on this roster.

[Ice Trae]

Hows his defense? I'm really not a fan of bigs who play below average defense.

[Trader_Joe]

Hows his defense? I'm really not a fan of bigs who play below average defense.

He's not really a big.
He's a stretch forward meant to come off the bench and provide offense.

[deepblueday]

he's a high volume 40% 3 point shooter, and an excellent team player in the right offense. unfortunately, the very limited, inconsistent time he's received with us has been alongside scrubs, precisely where his strengths have the least utility and his weaknesses are magnified. his defense is inconsistent, not awful, but generally poor, same with rebounding, but he's also a very competitive player, a fighter and fiery personality. he has potential to improve in those areas with more experience in the NBA game. seems a good bench player, but i doubt it's with the nets. we'll continue to play reggie evans over him.

[DarkXaero]

Hows his defense? I'm really not a fan of bigs who play below average defense.

He's not really a big.
He's a stretch forward meant to come off the bench and provide offense.

He's strictly a stretch 4. He's incapable of playing SF and too small to play C.

[Johnny Firpo]

He's a very good player, who was clearly nowhere near his best last season, more than likely because of mental reasons. If Kidd trusts him, he can be a tremendous fit next to Lopez and Garnett.

[Trader_Joe]

Hows his defense? I'm really not a fan of bigs who play below average defense.

He's not really a big.
He's a stretch forward meant to come off the bench and provide offense.

He's strictly a stretch 4. He's incapable of playing SF and too small to play C.

Not so sure. If Novak, Turk, Peja and others have played SF he might be able to in the right match up ..if he has lost weight and quickened.
Regardless my point was he's not a big you sign and play for defensive reasons. If he were a starter one could have that issue with him, but he's not. And generally most teams have at least one "big" who is lacking defensively but still plays and still helps their team. And in some cases like Love, Anderson, old Amare, Griffin they are starters and very good players.
It just seemed like a very generic and refutable argument.

[Apollo64]

He was a wildly inconsistent shooter in Europe, one game he might have gone for 7/10 3-pointers, the next one for 0/9. Also, he was used to let it fly like everytime he touched the ball, obviously he needs to adapt to a different role for the Nets, something Matt Bonner-like i guess.

Thread is not complete btw without this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F50yzJCjiZ4[/youtube]

[Moshi]

Obligatory this year's EuroBasket championship three pointers by Teletović.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujNEJdB3W9c[/youtube]

[BlackFalconGSW]

Imo, his ceiling is homeless man's Ryan Anderson.

[BK nets BK]

He's good at shooting and nothing else. I'm one of the rare nets fans who rather have Evans control the board and hustle then see this guy run around the court doing nothing but jacking 3s

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[Paradise]

Hows his defense? I'm really not a fan of bigs who play below average defense.

He can block shots but his rotations on help defense is inconsistent. He's like 6'9/6'10. Not that big.

[DrazenForThree]

Apparently this dude was a beast in Euro and/or international competition. He had 15/6 in 20 minutes including 3-7 three point shooting the other night.

Also a pretty impressive putback jam so he has some athleticism.

Do the Nets have a hidden gem on their hands?

most of that 15/6 was done in the 4th quarter playing with the nets D-leaguers and against washingtons 3rd string unit, so id take that with a grain of salt....

That said, mirza has some talent. The main issue is he simply has no way to get minutes on this team. he is burried behind KG/Evans/Blatche/Kirilenko in the PF rotation and not being able to play the 3 or the 5 really cuts down on how much time he will see.

His D leaves alot to be desired, but the guy can score, and he can really shoot it from deep. The big issue is, he is used to having the ball in his hands and being a first option. with us, he basically comes in, we run a pick and pop for him to shoot a few 3's, then he goes back to the bench.

i think at worse he is a good role playing 6th/7th man. at best a good starting stretch 4. Very similar to the petrovic situation with portland. guy has game but couldnt find time behind porter/drexler/robinson and eventually demanded out. not sure mirza will demand out, but i think its almost a lock he gets traded at some point

[DrazenForThree]

Most of us pray he gets Evans minutes this year, and with AK and KG there to play next to him, it's a possibility as his defense and rebounding is questionable.

Smart player, good passer and good scorer (more than just a shooter).

He claimed he wasn't prepared last season (major adjustment for him moving his family here and he bulked up which slowed him down) and says he's prepared better for this season.

We shall see.
He's probably the most polarizing player on the team as some have high hopes for him and others expect him to bust.

no, most nets fans prefer evans to him in a bench role... as a starter, sure, no one wanted evans. but with the new team and new dynamic reggie is much better suited to play those 12-15 mpg backing up KG. we have plenty of scoring to make up for him now.

[DrazenForThree]

Hows his defense? I'm really not a fan of bigs who play below average defense.

makes amare look like an all-world defender.

its pretty poor. the big problem is, it isnt one area, its all over. in isolation, on the block, in transition, rotating, etc... its really what keeps him off the floor

[DarkXaero]

Actually wizards played their starters quite a bit in the 4th quarter. They only pulled them off in the last few minutes.

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