What do the Nets get in Marquis Teague?

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The Nets made official on Tuesday a trade sending Tornike Shengelia to the Chicago Bulls in exchange for point guard Marquis Teague.

Teague is most known for being the younger brother of the Atlanta Hawks' star point guard, Jeff Teague. Marquis found himself struggling under Tom Thibodeau, and eventually found himself in the D-League. A first-round pick out of Kentucky, Teague hasn't found a way to make himself an impactful player on the basketball court in the NBA. His struggles got him to the point where Bulls fans were glad he was traded. Now with Brooklyn, Teague might get an early chance at a fresh start.

Marquis is a 6'2" guard who showed both speed and athleticism at the draft combine. He posted a 40.5" vertical leap, and ran the 3/4 court sprint in 3.19 seconds. Entering the draft, Teague was compared to Kyle Lowry as a best-case scenario, and Will Bynum as a worst-case scenario.

At just 20 years old, Teague still has plenty of time to develop. But after the slow start to his career so far, basketball minds are left doubting if he will ever have an impact like his brother has in Atlanta. In 68 career games with the Bulls, Teague averaged a minuscule 2.1 points, 1.2 assists, and one rebound in just nine minutes per game. With such a small sample size, it's hard to actually judge Teague by his statistics. What is hard to ignore, however, is how much he turns the ball over. He's averaging three turnovers per 36 minutes in his career.

Here's the thing: Sure, Marquis has had his struggles to start his career, but his brother wasn't as good as he is now right off the bat. Jeff Teague was drafted 19th overall in the 2009 draft while Marquis was taken 29th in the 2012 draft. Jeff averaged just 4.2 points in his first two seasons combined, compared to Marquis' 2.1 points. The only difference between the two is that Jeff shot just 41.7 percent from the field in those two seasons while Marquis is shooting just 31.2 percent. Just like Jeff was considered to be an early draft bust, Marquis is now being considered a bust as well.

What about Teague's game impresses the Nets enough to trade for him while they already had a young point guard in Tyshawn Taylor? Maybe it's the fact that he's fast. His numbers sure aren't what has drawn them to him. It might be that they feel he can flourish under head coach Jason Kidd. Whatever it is, they liked it enough to bring him in.

Marquis has a chance to come to Brooklyn, a team fighting to make noise in the horrible Eastern Conference, and prove himself. He may see the kind of playing time that Taylor saw, which was barely any at all, but he is now going to learn under one of the all-time greatest point guards of all time, Jason Kidd. It also helps that he'll be playing behind Deron Williams. Teague has a legitimate chance to turn around his slow start in Brooklyn, but it's up to him to make the best out of this situation.
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