Brett Davis – USA Today Sports Images
Eurobasket 2013 in Slovenia kicked off on Wednesday morning with one of the first four matchups the day being between Latvia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Though Latvia ended up taking the matchup by a count of 86-75, many eyes were on Brooklyn Nets forward Mirza Teletovic playing for the losing side.
Teletovic was arguably the biggest name taking part in the matchup and he put up the superficial numbers that you would probably expect. In 36 minutes he put up 18 points, the second highest for the Bosnian team, and eight boards, tied for the lead on his team. Teletoovic also added a steal to his effort.
Despite solid scoring and rebounding numbers, though, Teletovic was less than impressive. Against a Latvian squad not studded with stars, the Nets’ power forward struggled to produce efficient offense. Teletovic went just 6-17 from the floor in the contest and hit on only one of his four attempts from beyond-the-arc. For a guy that’s going to be fighting for minimal minutes in Brooklyn this season, that’s not a good sign.
As a rookie in the NBA last season, the 27-year-old Teletovic appeared in just 53 games and saw the floor for just 9.4 minutes in those games. He averaged just 3.5 points and 1.8 rebounds per game and shot only 38.4 percent from the floor.
With the addition of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Andrei Kirilenko to the Nets this summer, it’s hard to imagine Teletovic finding many minutes unless he proves that he’s improved a great deal from his rookie year. Playing like he did in Eurobasket on Wednesday is not a step in that direction.
Cody Williams is a Senior Writer with Rant Sports. Follow Cody on Twitter @TheSizzle20, add him on Google and like his Facebook page.
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