Washington Wizards Free Agent Target: Mirza Teletovic

2014 – 2015 Season Averages: 8.5 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 32% 3P%



The Washington Wizards are going to add a stretch four this off-season and Randy Wittman recently confirmed the team’s need for spacing.

Washington played small-ball during the NBA Playoffs and experienced a lot of offensive success as a result. While he’s undoubtedly one of the most stubborn coaches in the league, Wittman has realized that the NBA is changing. Teams are going to play a style that’s conducive to winning. We saw the Golden State Warriors thrive when playing small and expect teams to mimic their style of play.

While the Wizards won’t be able to land a Draymond Green or even a Tobias Harris this summer, there’s going to be a number of available forwards that are capable of doing similar things.

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Mirza Teletovic, a former Euroleague star, was expected to provide depth to a Brooklyn Nets squad that had championship goals. With Deron Williams, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Brook Lopez starting, Teletovic was supposed to become a key option off their bench.

Instead, the Nets struggled to mesh and Jason Kidd was forced to salvage a rather disappointing season.

Pierce and Garnett are no longer with the Nets and Billy King has plenty of questions to answer this off-season. They’ll look to re-sign Lopez and Thaddeus Young, but that doesn’t look like a team capable of contending.

Brooklyn recently extended the qualifying offer to Teletovic, meaning they could match any deal from other teams around the league to keep him in a Nets uniform.

However, if the Nets do end up keeping Lopez — a deal that will likely be the max or very close to it — they’ll likely have to lose a few players to free agency.

Washington has the mid-level exception, bi-annual exception and multiple trade exceptions to work with this off-season.

They acquired both Kris Humphries and DeJuan Blair last summer with their trade exceptions. They’ll likely do the same this off-season.

Teletovic, while a solid option, isn’t someone the heavily taxed Nets are going to break the bank to keep.

If Washington wants Teletovic and the interest is mutual, they could likely work out a sign-and-trade with Brooklyn involving one of their exceptions. He was also sidelined with a blood clot issue this past off-season, and that could potentially lower his stock.

So, how would Teletovic help the Wizards on the court?

The 6’9″ Bosnian forward is a prototypical stretch four. His shooting numbers aren’t great — he made less than 40 percent of his field goals — but Brooklyn’s system was poor this past season.

Playing along side a true point guard and a team with willing passers would help Teletovic showcase the scoring abilities that earned him numerous honors in the Euroleague. He’s not someone who simply spots up and waits for the ball. For a player of his size, Teletovic is mobile and not afraid to mix it up inside. He’s also shown an ability to score off the dribble, as long as he doesn’t get forced into desperation isolation plays.

He’s had a few high scoring games in his two seasons with the Nets, including this one against the Dallas Mavericks:

Teletovic was used incorrectly in Brooklyn.

If you’ve watched the skilled forward play in the past few seasons, chances are you saw him spotting up, hoping to get the ball with no defenders around him. Deron Williams and Joe Johnson aren’t the guards Teletovic should be surrounded with. Neither player is known for their passing ability, and quite frankly, they’re ball dominant and incapable of running a basketball team.

John Wall and Bradley Beal are the opposite.

Both players are fantastic distributors and Teletovic would no longer have to worry about not receiving the open look.

He’s not a pick-and-roll threat, but Teletovic is a great outside shooter. Wall would have another target to dish the ball to off the dribble and Teletovic would be ready to knock down the open looks. If Martell Webster and Rasual Butler can play well with Wall, I’m certain Teletovic would benefit from playing along side the best passing guard in the NBA.

Along with Kris Humphries, Teletovic is someone who could play with the starters. A lineup consisting of Wall, Beal, Otto Porter, Teletovic and Marcin Gortat could potentially be great on the offensive end of the floor.

If he’s available, I think the Wizards should sign Mirza Teletovic. He’s a cheap, solid option and someone who could solve their stretch four problem.