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The Nets, using the 29th pick of the first round, have selected Dzanan Musa, the 19-year-old Bosnian small forward.
Musa has been slated in most mocks in the late teens or early 20s. Sean Marks personally scouted Musa in March. Here’s how ESPN explained his game last month when he declared for the NBA Draft...
His tremendous scoring instincts, combined with his size, make him an attractive prospect in today’s NBA, as he has proved capable of sliding into different lineup configurations, operating anywhere from the shooting guard to power forward positions.
Musa, a native of Bihac, Bosnia, is expected to join the Nets next season, according to both Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony of ESPN...
Nets will keep Musa, source say. @Mike_Schmitz calls him "a Bosnian scoring machine." https://t.co/SQ6nptMwJb
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 22, 2018
Mike Schmitz, also of ESPN, said that Musa has a $1 million buyout agreement with Cedevita , the Croatian team he played for last season. The Nets will be able to contribute $675,000 to the buyout.
The Nets take Dzanan Musa. I'm told he would have been taken much higher had he agreed to be stashed in Europe next year, but his insistence on coming to the NBA right away caused him to slip a bit. I like this pick for the Nets. Musa gets buckets, is competitive and super young.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 22, 2018
Musa, who was personally scouted by Sean Marks in March, is also seen as an emotional leader and can play a little bit of point guard. NBADraft.net calls him “one of the best scorers of his generation in Europe, if not the best.”
As his highlight package shows, Musa is indeed an aggressive, skilled shooter.
Musa is just the sixth player in Adriatic League history to average more than 20 points per 40 minutes as a teenager, joining Goran Dragic, Nikola Jokic, Dario Saric, Ante Zizic and Jusuf Nurkic.
“I decided to declare for the NBA draft because I think it’s a great opportunity to make my dreams come true, and I think I’m ready for it,” Musa told ESPN in April. “It was not a difficult decision, because I have my goal and the goal is to play in the NBA.”
Musa will be the second Bosnian to play for the Nets, joining Mirza Teletovic who played for the Nets during their first year in Brooklyn.