Los Angeles Clippers: 5 goals for Milos Teodosic in 2017-18

5. Conquer the inevitable learning curve

Milos Teodosic has spent years playing in the best leagues in Europe. The rosters he has faced feature NBA draft prospects, former NBAers, undrafted college stars, and international players that love the continent too much to cross the Atlantic. Teodosic saw his fair share of competition, and dominated against it for over a decade.

Despite his accomplishments, Teodosic will likely endure an adjustment period. Players in the NBA are, on average, bigger and faster than what he had to deal with overseas. He will have to get used to this fact on both ends of the floor.

Teodosic did have a taste of the NBA when he took on Team USA twice at the 2016 Olympics. He scored 18 points, shot 4-for-7 from three and dished a game-high six assists in the group stage matchup, a 94-91 USA victory.

The teams met again in the gold medal game. The USA prevailed again, winning 96-66. Teodosic came away with only nine points and three assists on 4-of-11 shooting.

Teodosic will also have to adjust to the workload of an NBA season. While the professional life is still challenging overseas, teams tend to not play as many games in a year as the NBA. Teodosic played 50 total games last season, split between Euroleague (29 games) and the VTB United League (21), Russia’s top-tier league since 2013. According to RealGM, the most games Teodosic has played in a season in the past six seasons were the 63 he played in 2015-16.

Dealing with the additional regular season games in the NBA, and any playoff series, is going to take some getting used to. That’s the case even for an accomplished veteran like Teodosic.