Mirza.
If Jason Kidd liked Mirza Teletovic when he coached him in Brooklyn just a few years ago, then he should (still) (really) like him now. Teletovic is coming off the best year of his career.
As a rookie in 2012-13 with the Nets, Teletovic spent most of the year as something of a 12th or 13th man, racking up DNP-CDs in six of his first nine games in the league under head coach Avery Johnson. Just 28 games in, Johnson was replaced by P.J. Carlisemo. The Nets took off, going 35-19 under Carlesimo, and while Teletovic shared in some of that joy, he ended up the season much like he started it – with six straight DNP-CDs in the playoffs against the Bulls.
Kidd came along to coach the next season, and again, Teletovic did not play in six of the first 11 games of the season. Worse, he shot 3-for-20 from the field in the five games he did play. Teletovic had arrived to the States after an accomplished career in Europe (he averaged 21.7 points and 6.0 rebounds in Euroleague in 2012-13, for instance), and while he fared mostly fine when he got on the court, his NBA career was more of a question mark than anything, more than a season in. Then on Thanksgiving Eve 2013, Teletovic went for 17 points, a career-high at the time. Two nights later, he scored 18. After that, he was a regular in Kidd’s rotation. Before long, Teletovic said Kidd would be "the new Gregg Popovich." And by the time the playoffs rolled around, Teletovic was one of the five or six best players on the team during a run to the second round.
When Kidd left to coach the Bucks the next season, Teletovic struggled before missing most of the second half of the season with bilateral pulmonary embolus. But he got a fresh start in Phoenix last season, and that is where we pick up the story, with five things to like about MEER-za Tel-LET-O-Vich.
He shoots a lot of threes.
Last season, in a season when more threes were made than any other in history, in a season defined by the Warriors breaking the regular season record for most wins, led by probably the two best long-range shooters in league history… the Bucks attempted by far the fewest threes in the NBA. And oh, that did not work out. The Bucks ranked 26th in offensive efficiency.
Teletovic? He attempted 460 threes last season. The most by any Buck was Middleton, with 361. And Teletovic did that in 1,000+ fewer minutes. Teletovic attempted almost exactly twice as many threes as Jerryd Bayless last season. Like fellow new Buck Matthew Dellavedova, Teletovic attempted more threes than twos.
On a per-minute basis, Steph Curry is the only player in the league who attempted more threes than Teletovic.
He makes a lot of threes.
The most ever by a player off the bench, in fact. Teletovic shot 39.3 percent beyond the arc for the Suns last season, best on the team.
In each of his first four seasons, he has preferred to launch from side-right and side-left. The shot chart below is for 2015-16.
He just played the best season of his life.
Teletovic posted a 16.2 PER in Phoenix last season. At 30, with four NBA seasons to his name, you don’t figure he will improve a ton at this point, but he was on an upward trajectory with Kidd in Brooklyn, he appears to be acclimated to the NBA, and you also don’t figure he is on the verge of falling off a ton at this point.
He is a veteran on a reasonable contract.
Not that the Bucks suffered through internal strife last season as one of the youngest teams in the league, but along with Dellavedova, the Bucks have added two guys with experience, with reputations as teammates and not individuals.
He scores efficiently off the bench.
Teletovic came off the bench in all but one of his 79 games with the Suns, and he should be a big part of bringing offense to a revamped second unit that had a rough, rough go last season.
In Phoenix last season, Teletovic averaged 20.6 points per 36 minutes. Now, he did not play 36 minutes per game in Phoenix and he is not going to get 36 minutes per night in Milwaukee, so don’t expect him to put up 20 per night. But on a per-minute basis, that was more than anyone on the Bucks scored last season. That helps.
PHOTOS: Mirza Teletovic Through the Years
