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Nets sign Spanish league star Mirza Teletović to deal

Kurt Helin
Jul 3, 2012, 1:02 PM EDT

2 Comments

AP You may not know who Mirza Teletović is, but he has been on the radar of NBA teams for a while — the Bosnian power forward has been one of the better offensive players in Europe for a few years.
And he is coming to the Nets, he has inked a three-year deal to play in Brooklyn, confirms Howard Beck of the New York Times.
Nets are using midlevel exception to sign Teletovic to 3-yr deal. Means: 1. they cannot go over $74 mil payroll. 2. Can’t use MLE for KiddThat’s a pretty big investment. It means they are limited in what they can take back in a Dwight Howard trade. What are the Nets getting for their money? The blog Nets are Scorching talked to someone who has followed his career through Europe, including in the elite Spanish league the last few seasons.
Mirza Teletovic is a stretch four with a mean streak. He’ll walk into the NBA and right away have one of the smoothest long distance strokes. His jumper is his most lethal weapon. No matter how close you think you’re guarding him, Mirza will find space to get off his quick release shot. His confidence is always sky-high.
Teletovic shoots in a wide variety of ways; coming off screens, pulling up, or his specialty, off the pick and pop. Say Deron Williams does stay with the Nets. Williams’ offensive prowess will make teams double him off the pick so much that Teletovic will murder defenses popping off of them….
Defensively he’ll have trouble against stronger post players who want to bang but he should do a better job against more mobile power forwards. Rebounding isn’t one of his strengths because of how much time he spends outside the paint, but if given the assignment, his decent hops and strength can gobble up some boards.The player comparison used is Ryan Anderson and Channing Frye. If the Nets get that kind of production out of a stretch four it could be of real value (especially if Deron Williams is running the show and Dwight Howard is shoring up the defense and rebounding in the paint. But that’s another issue.
Bottom line, good signing for the Nets. They were far from the only NBA team with their eyes on Teletovic.