NBA Rookie Breakdown: #4 Milos Teodosic

Welcome back for the 4th edition of NBA Rookie Breakdown! In this edition we will take a look at Los Angeles Clippers guard #4 Milos Teodosic.  Teodosic is definitely an interesting rookie for this season.  Standing at 6’5” weighing 195 lbs, he is a PG/SG from the Euroleague.  To give you a quick background on him, He has spent the last 10 seasons overseas playing in the Euroleague.  He played for Olympiacos, and most recently CSKA Moscow, for the last 6 seasons.  In 2010 he was named the Euroleague MVP, and in 2016 won his first Euroleague Championship.  He was entered into the 2009 NBA Draft and went undrafted, so he decided to stay overseas until July 10th, 2017 when he signed his first NBA deal at the age of 30, worth $12.3 million over 2 years.  

After watching his Euroleague highlights and his first two preseason games, I was thoroughly impressed with the ability that he possess.  Although, he is tall for a point guard, that is really his true position, and there is a reason why they call him “The Magician” overseas.  He passing ability is unmatched throughout the rookie class for two reasons.  One, he has much more experience playing the game against the second highest competition in the world at the Euroleague, and two, because he’s just that much better at passing. His passing style is very unorthodox and he plays the game almost like its street ball and it is extremely enjoyable to watch.  In his most recent preseason game he threw a three-quarter court under hand scoop pass to a player who finished it down the other end.  That is something that you just don’t see very often, especially in the NBA.

He not only is an unbelievable playmaker but, he is also a great shooter.  In his best season in the Euroleague this past season, he posted 16.1 ppg, 2.1 rpg, and 6.8 apg, while shooting .444 from the field, .381 from three point range, and an astounding .897 from the line.  To put those shooting percentages into perspective, those were almost absolutely identical to that of Damian Lillard’s from this past season.  While watching film and inspecting his jump shot, I found that his shot is extremely smooth and one fluid nice motion and his release is at a pretty fast rate as well.  He made shots that I didn’t think he would really get off with a much larger defender in his face, and he also can hit shots while being fouled at a high rate.  He is essentially a knockdown three point shooter and can hit it from a good amount deeper than the three point line.

Teodosic has an unbelieveable ceiling in the NBA, although his career length will not be on his side.  Since he is 30 years old, I estimate he will spend somewhere between 8-12 years in the NBA because generally players from overseas tend to have a lengthy career.  Players such as Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobili, and even Pau Gasol have held their value well and have had good lengthy careers in the NBA.  Teodosic has some great abilities and he is in the prime of his career at age 30, so it will be interesting to see how he plays this season.

ROLE PREDICTION: If Milos is not an opening day starter look for him to rise really quickly as a starting guard for the Clippers.  He generally plays around 26-28 minutes per game overseas and I would say the Clippers will keep him at that rate.  

He has the ability to be Rookie of the Year, but due to his lack of minutes and the overall star power on his team in Gallinari, Griffin, and Jordan, he will not win the award.  Although, I feel that he will be apart of the All-Rookie First Team and will post great scoring and assist numbers this season.

Written by Nick Kazandjian