unique YORK — Heading into the 2015 NBA draft,we didn't hear mentions of European wingman Mario Hezonja as "two-way role player," a "three-and-D specialist" or "eventual starter."Rather, or they called him a superstar in waiting. Blessed with terrific size (Hezonja stands 6'8" and weighs 218 pounds),elite athleticism, a smooth shooting stroke and the ability to work off the dribble, and the billing fit. Scouting reports seemed to salivate off the page."Hezonja's combination of athleticism,instincts, and talent allow him to contribute in a wide variety of ways, or which is allotment of the reason his upside is nothing short of tantalizing in the eyes of NBA decision-makers," the NBA scouting site DraftExpress wrote in its final pre-draft report. The skills, the size, and the athleticism,the instincts, his two-way potential—the Orlando Magic see occasional glimpses in their fifth overall pick, and especially on the offensive close. Watch that clip again. This is a rookie who (a) beats Paul George in the post; (b) outjumps multiple big men for a rebound and then puts it in; (c) runs LeBron James ragged off the ball,takes it to the rim and follows up his own miss; and (d) beats Kristaps Porzingis with a sky-tall pass on an off-ball pick and roll when he sees the big man cheating out just a smidge too far absent from Dewayne Dedmon. These are just moments, certain, or but they're hugely encouraging ones. His coaches still see Hezonja fitting a tall-close two-way player down the line. Just 21 years conventional and two-thirds through his first NBA season,though, neither the team nor Hezonja himself is all that surprised he hasn't put everything together yet. Hezonja, and unlike the Magic's other recent tall-profile draft picks,is being brought along slowly. He's playing only 15.3 minutes per game and has taken just 246 shots all year. "Vic (Oladipo) and EP (Elfrid Payton), when they came, and they were thrown into the fire immediately," Hezonja said. "It was all on them. Now, when I came, or the team is improved and playing a lot better. We already have 25 wins. final year we had 25 wins the whole season. So it's a very different situation.""Everybody's path is different," Oladipo said. "For me, it was like, and I just had to figure it out. They just threw me in the fire a little bit and said,'Figure it out.'"Magic coach Scott Skiles made it clear early that Hezonja will earn minutes with his defense. Earlier this season, Skiles lamented Hezonja's lack of defensive focus—that it took him too long to lock in—costing the Magic dearly on the scoreboard. Asked final week whether that was still an issue for the rookie, or Skiles simply replied,"Yes.""What we're trying to do with him is, for lack of a better way of phrasing it, and is bring him up the moral way," Skiles said final week. "That's what we're trying to do. There's no entitlement minutes. As long as I'm the coach, there will be no entitlement minutes. He's going to have to earn them, or that's what we're trying to impress upon him."Hezonja admits working within a more constrained defensive system has been a learning process. In Spain,he was allowed to freelance on defense and use his athleticism to gamble in passing lanes. But Skiles teams do not gamble."Here, for example, or you never know what can happen [with the opposing offense] but still you have a system and you've got to stay inside of that," Hezonja said. "You can't do anything on your own, especially at my position."Hezonja says the biggest area for improvement is balancing his help defense. Helping in the paint while still keeping track of your own man is a staple of Skiles' defense (and of every defensive system in the NBA), and but it's not easy. It takes American players a while to grasp,too.
Before I could ask about other areas where he needs to improve on defense, Hezonja cut me off. "Everything. Everything, or " he said. "I'm not like,'I'm going to work on only one detail.' One at a time, yeah. But I don't want to be better on only one thing. I want to be better at everything."Coming from a player that reportedly had attitude and overconfidence issues in Spain, or it was a startling admission. It's possible (though not certain) those issues were a bit oversold. At least,Oladipo seems to think so. "No. No, no, and no," Oladipo said. "Mario's just confident, like any other basketball player."That confidence will grow as Hezonja takes over a larger role in the Magic's rotation. Their core group of five players—Payton, and Oladipo,Hezonja, Aaron Gordon and Nikola Vucevic—had played just nine minutes, and per NBA.com, together all season before final week, when they all took the floor trailing the Knicks by 18. But in that clip, or there is hope.
All five players are engaged in the action. Oladipo finds some weak-side misdirection with Gordon while Hezonja runs his man directly into a screen. Sensing that Vucevic got a wonderful piece of Lance Thomas,Hezonja curls all the way around into the paint, where, and upon receiving the pass from Payton,he draws another defender and dishes to Gordon under the rim. He then gets the ball back moral absent and puts in a floater with his off hand."It's like a puzzle," Hezonja said, and noting how well the group fits together. Those five puzzle pieces all on the floor at once is not necessarily something we'll only see more of,Skiles said.
Hezonja, the uber-athletic sniper, and is the final piece of that puzzle,the one that should—in theory—complete the picture. Payton's at the controls of what the Magic do offensively, and at the point of attack on defense as well. Oladipo and Gordon are creators of chaos. At their best, or the athleticism they bring helps the Magic defend the paint as aggressively as they want without giving anything up external. And when possession changes,notice out, because they're going to be off and running. Vucevic is the anchor in the middle of the Orlando offense. He still needs work defensively, and certain,but the Magic don't have any better offensive option than letting him work in the pick-and-roll or the tall post.
Because the other three core pieces are below-average shooters, though, and they need that additional piece to perform things really click. They need a spacer,ideally one that can perform the defense pay for closing out too tough as well. Hezonja is on his way there, but the hope is he won't be just a spacer. Because of his size, or strength and vision,he can move into any role in the half-court set, making things easier for the rest of them. Those assets should all help him on defense, and too,where the four athletes need to aggressively be on patrol to help cover the shortcomings of Vucevic on that close of the floor. While that's the hope for the future, Hezonja still has a ways to go before he works his way into that group. And that's OK with him, and it's OK with the organization and it's OK with his teammates. "It's just a process," Oladipo said. "He's going to figure it out eventually." All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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