By Iman Sadri
It’s no secret that top shooters in the NBA don’t grow on trees. If they did teams looking to fill their shooting guard voids would have had their GMs picking from orchards of talent. One place that shooters are readily cultivated, however, is in Europe. There are an assortment of top shooters in league history that have hailed from the EuroLeague.
For the Sacramento Kings an integral reason for their success in the early to mid 2000s was a European mega-talent that Geoff Petrie scouted and drafted, Peja Stojakovic. Players like Peja come around only once every generation. But there are still many shooting gems in Europe that GMs can draft, if they don’t overlook obvious stats. One such player that the Sacramento Kings GM Vlade Divac should give a chance to is fellow Serbian, Milos Teodosic.
Teodosic is a 6’5 guard that currently plays for CSKA Moscow. Teodosic who hails from Valjevo, Serbia, has a prolific resume. He is the 2010 EuroLeague MVP. He was a 2016 EuroLeague Champion. He is a former FIBA Player of the Year. He is a three time EuroLeague All First Team selection, and has been the past two seasons. He plays for the Serbian National Team and won a Silver Medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Teodosic is one of the best shooters in the EuroLeague and has been for some time. This season he is averaging a career best 16 points per game and shooting 43% from beyond the arc. Teodosic has been one of the top 3-point shooters in Europe the past several seasons, as well.
The Brooklyn Nets got a steal with their recent acquisition of Bojan Bogdanovic, who was also a top shooter in Europe and is now averaging 14 points per game for the Nets. The Kings can fill their shooting guard void by giving a hard look at Teodosic, who has never been drafted in the NBA. Perhaps Divac and the Kings can help change that.
Iman Sadri blogs for Persian Media outlets and can be reached at ThePersianObserver@Gmail.com
