There may not be a consistent spot in the Nets’ rotation for Mirza Teletovic, but he’s doing everything he can to earn as much playing time as possible.
Teletovic had his latest impressive showing in Friday night’s 103-99 Nets road loss to the Pistons, scoring all 17 of his points in the second half on 6-for-10 shooting, including 5-for-6 from 3-point range, and helping the Nets claw their way back to within two points in the game’s final seconds after trailing by as many as 21.
“He was great,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said afterward. “He’s been ready when we call upon him to come in to give us a spark, and that’s what guys do when they come off the bench.
“You never know when your name is going to be called, and we responded in a positive way. He picked his teammates up tonight.”
Teletovic, who is averaging 6.0 points and 3.7 rebounds in 16 games this season, largely has played well this season whenever he has gotten a chance to play, with most coming while Brook Lopez was sidelined with a sprained left ankle. But because the Nets have a four-man big-man rotation of Lopez, Kevin Garnett, Andray Blatche and Mason Plumlee that has worked quite well whenever they all are healthy, that usually means Teletovic sees fewer minutes — it is hard to play more than four bigs consistently.
When the Nets were hampered by several injuries on the wings — especially when both Paul Pierce and Andrei Kirilenko were sidelined — Kidd gave Teletovic some minutes at small forward, but that’s not something the Nets want to do on a consistent basis.
So, with his minutes now coming sporadically and Lopez likely to return to the court Monday against the 76ers, that leaves the 28-year-old Teletovic to have to try and stay mentally prepared and ready to play at a moment’s notice.
“Physically, mentally, you have to be ready,” he said. “You work out and work out and be ready whenever they call you.
“It’s all about basketball. Your whole life you just watch games, and you understand the game and find out where you need to be in the game. When you’re in the game, you just find an open spot, you get the ball and you shoot, and if you make it, you make it.”
Teletovic was making them in the second half Friday night, when he started in place of Reggie Evans, who initially had been tapped by Kidd to start in place of Lopez in order to keep his regular rotation in place. But after the Nets were down 17 at halftime, Kidd went to the floor-spacing Teletovic to inject some offensive firepower into the Nets’ lineup, and he did just that.
Teletovic made his first five 3-pointers of the half to help the Nets cut down that 17-point deficit, until a long 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter just rimmed out that would’ve cut Detroit’s lead to two points.
“It was huge,” Deron Williams said of Teletovic’s performance. “He came in and gave us a big lift. When he’s making shots like that, we can score in bunches.”
Teletovic already has made a bigger impact for the Nets this season than he did all of last year, his first in the NBA after starring in Europe for several years, including the last few with Caja Laboral in Spain. He credited his improvement both to being more familiar with everything about living here and playing in the NBA, while also having some momentum after a strong showing for Bosnia-Herzegovina in Eurobasket play during the offseason.
“It’s a big difference [from last year],” he said. “I really can’t compare it.
“And me playing in Eurobasket, it set up a different mentality [this season] for me.”