During the preseason, he was still 21 years old and maybe not expected to play a huge role on one of the competition's most successful teams all decade. With a quarter of the regular season gone, however, Tau Ceramica forward Mirza Teletovic has grown up fast. Teletovic is not only the Euroleague's top rebounder after four games, but he has played more minutes than any single player in the competition. Tau, meanwhile, is 3-1 and tied for the Group A lead despite losing its opening game on the road. After losing its signature player, Luis Scola, in the offseason and seeing two of his replacements, James Singleton and Linton Johnson, miss all Euroleague games so far due to injury, Tau has relied on a player it had waiting in the wings - and found him more than ready. If everyone knew that Teletovic was one of the best-shooting big men anywhere, his transformation into a top rebounder has been a surprise to many - perhaps even him! "One thing we didn't have was a proven rebounder," Teletovic said. "Once I started to think about it and started really going for rebounds, it happened. I have no special tactic for it. It's just a matter of aggressiveness and going hard for the ball."
Mirza, you just turned 22 and now you're playing 33 minutes a night for one of the most successful teams in the Euroleague: were you expecting that to happen this season?
"Not really. I was expecting to play more than last year. Then we got here for the preseason and with all the injuries we've had, the game time came to me. Luis Scola left, James Singleton came to replace him and got injured, then his replacement, Linton Johnson, got injured too. So that's how I cam to be playing the most minutes, because we don't have so many players at my position."
Did you know you were ready for so much playing time?
"I knew I had to help my team out every time I got on the court to play. It's was very important that I was able to start off good offensively, scoring points. Soon, I understood I had to help with rebounding, too. I did that because I had to help the team even more. Now, I am first in rebounding in the Euroleague, and I'm scoring good, too. It's all from just trying to help as much as possible while I am on the floor, because for Tau, it is necessary always to win games."
Your Euroleague rebounding lead has surprised some people, because in your best season until now, your average was under 5 per game. How did you improve so suddenly in rebounding?
"When we played our first friendly game of the preseason, our coach Neven Spahija talked to me about it. He said, 'Mirza, you're a young, big, athletic guy who can jump. You could be the most amazing rebounder in the league. But you have to go for the ball every time. You've got to try.' The first couple of games, I took only two or three rebounds. But he kept pressuring me, saying I had to get better to help the team, because the one thing we didn't have was a proven rebounder. Once I started to think about it and started really going for rebounds, it happened. I have no special tactic for it. It's just a matter of aggressiveness and going hard for the ball."
You also lead the Euroleague in offensive rebounds, with your teammate Tiago Splitter close behind. Is this a strategy that Coach Spahija has developed?
"He has been telling us since the beginning of the season that throughout his career as a coach, whenever an opponent has taken over 10 offensive rebounds against his team, he has always lost. And the opposite is true, that when his team get 10 offensive rebounds, it always wins. Now, we don't let the other teams rebound under our basket and we try to get that many ourselves. And so far, we have been winning."
Your shooting everyone knew about, and sure enough, you're the tallest three-point threat in the Euroleague, statistically, right now. But how can you be shooting threes and getting offensive rebounds? It seems you would need to be in two places at once.
"First, in our team, our strategy, when we play offense, I have to be outside, leaving Tiago or Will McDonald inside to go one-on-one. If there's no help, he shoots, but if there is, he kicks the pass to me and I shoot from outside. It's impossible to defend and we're doing good with that. No one has stopped it yet. Now, when I am outside on the three-point line and someone else shoots, I go from there for the rebound, and what happens is I see the ball better. I mean, I can see better where the rebound is going when I am coming in from the three-point line than I do underneath, boxing out. Underneath, you are finding someone to box out and don't see the ball until it hits the rim and goes somewhere. From my position outside, running in, I can predict better where the ball is going to go, and when I see that, I go after it."
Let's talk about Tau's season so far. After the five-point home loss on the road at Olympiacos in Game 1, you have won the last three games by 15 points or more. Is Tau's objective to take first place in Group A?
"That's always our goal at Tau, to play well enough to be the best in any group or any competition. Last year, the same thing happened to us: we lost the first game at Olympiacos and then got our rhythm. I think it's just that we needed more time together. After some Spanish League games and that one, we started improving a lot as a team. We started defending a lot better, especially. You see our games now and other teams aren't getting many points, in the 60s most times. That defense is very important for us and our confidence that we can be first."
Another favorite that you haven't seen so far in Group A is CSKA, which visits Vitoria in a couple weeks. Are you looking forward to that?
"Of course. I never played against CSKA, and I knew it's a very good team that is coming to see us. I would consider them the top team in Europe, but facing them at home I think we have a good chance to win against them if we play like we have played until now."
Some people expected Tau to have a tougher time after Luis Scola left for the NBA and James Singleton was injured. Do feel like you are proving those people wrong now?
"Of course, when Luis left, he is such a good player that it was natural to think it would be difficult to replace him. But when one player leaves, other guys got more minutes, in this case Tiago, Will McDonald and me. And I think we have shown that we can play. Now, we're doing very good. When some guy is not there, I'd say, there will always be others to replace him, and it depends on how those others do."
When Scola left and Singleton was injured, your role in particular became bigger. Did you recognize this as an unexpectedly big opportunity?
"Yes, I did. Especially when we had the problem of James Singleton being injured, people were thinking 'What now?' and 'Who can Tau bring in with so many players already signed for different teams?'. Nobody put any pressure on me, but Coach Spahija told me, 'Mirza, you have to step up for us. We need you.' And until now it is going good, but I know that I can do even better."
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