Mirza Teletovic is used to being a leading man on the basketball court, something he has been for his entire career before coming to the NBA — as the star of the Bosnian national team and throughout a prolific career in Europe.
So it should be expected the adjustment from being a player who averaged more than 30 minutes a game in Euroleague play each of the past three years — and who scored over 20 points a game in that competition last year — to being a bit player in a new country and on a new team has been trying at times.
"I just have to find the fun in basketball again," Teletovic said recently. "Not think about it too much, and just have fun."
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Mirza Teletovic
For a shooter like Teletovic, thinking too much is dangerous. The best shooters turn their jump shots into a mechanical process, something they do without a thought going through their minds. That is why they spend countless hours putting up one shot after another in an attempt to perfect their shooting strokes, in order to take as much thought out of the process as possible.
"Sometimes I just start thinking too much," Teletovic said. "I think about the mistakes I make, because I'm not a young guy and I've played a long time and I know basketball, so you start thinking about mistakes."
But thinking about things can be hard for a player like Teletovic to avoid, particularly when he is spending large portions of most games on the bench, only to come in for a few minutes and be expected to start hitting shots.
That's the situation Teletovic has found himself in several times recently, as Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo has put him in the game in the fourth quarter after sitting him for the first three. That happened in Tuesday's win in New Orleans, when Carlesimo inserted Teletovic into the game for a couple minutes midway through the fourth quarter.
"I put him in there in a tough situation," Carlesimo said, before going on to add he had hoped to play Teletovic more against the Hornets, but didn't like the matchup against New Orleans' backup big men Ryan Anderson and Jason Smith.
Carlesimo has given Teletovic more of a chance since taking over for Avery Johnson in late December. Teletovic has played in 22 of the past 30 games and averaged nearly 10 minutes a game. But even with the increase in playing time, it still has been fairly sporadic, leaving Teletovic wondering when — or if — he's going to see the floor each night.
"I just want to play hard and help guys out and after a couple minutes you start to feel comfortable," Teletovic said. "After not playing for five or six games, then you get in and play, it's an adjustment."
But when he does get in and play, he has proven he is capable of knocking down shots, which was his reputation when he was signed for the mini mid-level exception last summer. Since Carlesimo took over, Teletovic has knocked down 36 percent of his shots from downtown, which he credits to getting wide-open looks thanks to the attention his teammates get from their opponents.
"This team has a lot of guys who drive and have to be double-teamed," Teletovic said. "So you get a lot of wide-open shots without doing anything. You just stand there and wait for the ball. Between Brook [Lopez] and [Deron Williams and Joe [Johnson], and then C.J. [Watson] who can drive and kick, you just have to knock down the shots."
tbontemps@nypost.com
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