Mario Hezonja: Better Than A Horse (I swear)
Context: https://youtu.be/tcUh_InsSUw?t=216
There aren’t many who still believe in Mario Hezonja, the Orlando Magic’s 5th overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft. In fact, before writing this piece, I reached out to Basketball Reference, asking them to give me a reason to “get hyped” about Mario Hezonja. This was the response I got:
Rave review.
But I realized something. Over these past two years, I’ve watched roughly thirty three hours of Mario Hezonja on a basketball court. I didn’t need Basketball Reference’s twitter account to prove anything. I needed their stats. I needed my own observations and I needed countless hours of game tape. And most of all, if I was to embark on this journey for the truth, I needed confidence. I wanted Bleacher Report, Kevin Durant, prospective GMs, and countless others whose faith has wavered in the Church of Hezonja to know that their doubts were baseless when put against a true, thorough examination of the 6'8 swingman out of Dubrovnik, Croatia, to whom doubt has never been a concern. I can say with confidence that Mario Hezonja still has the capability to be a very special player in this league if put the right situation.
I’ve decided to break down every aspect of Mario’s game, to try and help restore faith in those who have found themselves lost.
Situation
I guess I’ll start with coaching and playing time, two reasons Mario has prematurely and incorrectly been labeled a bust. Hezonja has not gotten consistent minutes on a basketball team since his 2012–13 season, where he played on FC Barcelona’s second team in the Spanish LEB Gold league. Mario averaged 14.5 points, 3.4 rebounds., 1.4 assists. and 1.9 steals in 24.5 minutes per game as a 17 year old. After a productive season from the young Croatian, he got sent up to FC Barcelona’s first team. However, Mario didn’t reap the benefits of getting called up. He rarely played, receiving 12.8 minutes per game in the 3 years leading up to draft. These minutes are not reflective of Hezonja’s talent at all. In fact, minutes are not reflective of any young NBA prospect playing in Europe. Almost completely regardless of skill, young basketball players in Europe do not crack rotations, especially on the top teams. In contrast to the increasingly one-and-done heavy NCAA, elders take priority in the European game. This is especially true of players who are on track to get drafted in America, as Mario was. Hezonja’s 12.8 minutes per game on the ACB’s 3rd best team are comparable to another young NBA player from the same league, Kristaps Porzingis, who averaged 17.8 minutes on 15th best team. Veterans, for better or for worse (for worse), have a monopoly on playing time. The average age of FC Barcelona Basketball is 30 years old. The average age of an NBA team? 26. (Maybe I’m expecting too much out of Europe. After all, Mario played for “FC Barcelona Basketball”. AKA “Football Club Barcelona Basketball.” Football Club. Basketball.)
Things didn’t get much better when he came to the States. Mario was drafted to the Orlando Magic, where he was set to play under new head coach Scott Skiles. Skiles was a notorious hot-head known for neglecting youngsters, and Hezonja’s situation was no different. Hezonja played a measly 17.9 minutes per game on a team that had no clear direction and won only 35 games. Skiles consistently played veterans over Hezonja (See: CJ Watson). He made pushes for questionable trades such as the one that sent Tobias Harris to Detroit for Ersan Ilyasova and Brandon “People used to think I was good” Jennings. Orlando’s win-now attitude only worsened things for Hezonja, never getting the freedom to play through his mistakes as the rest of Orlando’s youth movement previously had.
Ecstatic would be a word to describe Orlando’s fanbase when Skiles resigned in the Summer of 2016 and was almost immediately replaced by widely respected head coach Frank Vogel. Sadly, however, this new Magic team tried to zig when the rest of the league zagged (more on this later) and, while Vogel gave Mario more freedom while on the court, he also played him even fewer minute than Skiles had (14.8 minutes per game) in 14 less games. Not a single game missed was due to injury.
But it isn’t just the minutes. It is what Mario is allowed to do in them. And it isn’t much.
Under Scott Skiles, Mario would, as previously mentioned, get quickly pulled after making even the most minute mistakes. For any player, a short lease is damaging to their confidence, even one as self-confident as Hezonja. When in, the “Croatian Kobe” was relegated to standing in the corner in order to space the floor (Scott Skiles does not know how to run an NBA offense). Hezonja would be scared to shoot, for the possibility of getting yanked, and so when he touched the ball he would often forgo easy looks for passes that didn’t lead to points. You’d be hard pressed to find 5 plays ran through Hezonja all season. Not only was this detrimental to Hezonja’s growth as an all-around player, it also hindered the success of the team, as A: having Mario moving around the floor, making cuts, and setting screens would improve the overall offense of the team, and B: Mario, while a semi-successful sharpshooter, actually shoots his worst from the two corners (more on this later).
Under Vogel, Mario got a slightly longer leash, but it became apparent that Vogel was not sure how to use him as a ballplayer. Throughout the season, Hezonja spent time at SG, SF, and PF, never spending enough time at one position to be able to get into rhythm. It did teach Mario more about playing multiple positions in an increasingly positionless league, but it might have been nice to just stick to 2 positions for the young gunner. Mario rarely complained, claiming he was just happy to be there, but he did admit there was some frustration.
But Hezonja’s coaches and minutes have not the only problems with his situation. The Magic ran an inefficient offense incompatible with the modern game. This season, they would often run three big guys out on the court, none of whom could reliably shoot from outside the arc. The team as a whole was last in the league in 3 point percentage. This left Mario very little room to work on the court. In addition, the other Orlando Magic ballplayers would refuse to pass him the ball when he was wide open, leaving Mario to stand around on offense, similar to his first year in the league. Here is a list of NBA players with a usage rates comparable to Hezonja.
Usage rate is a stat that calculates what percent of plays on offense end with that player (Either through a shot, trip to the free throw line, or turnover). Hezonja ended up with the likes of Ben Bentil, John Jenkins, and Luis Scola. In fact, this spot on the list might have even been a bit generous, when you consider that oftentimes the minutes Hezonja would get would be in garbage time when he was relied on as the primary shotmaker. So when placed in with regular rotation players, I’d expect this number to be around 10%.
To further prove my point, we can look at the number of touches each rotation player got per game. Among players who got regular or semi-regular minutes on the magic, Hezonja was dead last in touches. Even for the amount of touches he received per minute played, he ranked 3rd to last on the team. Yet his points per touch, while lower than team average, were not horrid.This shows how infrequent chances were that Mario really got to be an NBA player, even if his advanced statistics showed he was not that bad after all.
Summary of his situation: Skiles embraced veterans, Vogel embraced big ballers, as a team shot 33.9% from 3 over the last 2 seasons with the starting lineup regularly including players such as Elfrid Payton, Victor Oladipo, Aaron Gordon, and Bismack Biyombo. 16.5 mpg on a team that has gone 64–100 over the past 2 seasons, under coaches that don’t put him in a position to win, rarely with the chance to play consistent minutes.
Shooting
Mario “Crobe” Hezonja’s shot is wet.
It’s one of the main reasons he was regarded so highly entering the league. With a high and quick release, he can get it off over just about any defender in the league. Mario shot a league average 35% from 3 his rookie season. Not as high as some may have hoped, but also understandable for a player who saw limited reps and would get yanked for shooting threes. But that percentage dropped to horrid 30% in his 2nd season. Some of this can be attributed to an alleged new shooting coach, who he worked with over the summer, and who may have changed his shot a bit. However, a lot of this can be attributed to Mario taking even less shots than his first season, and, as a result, reduced chances to get into rhythm. While his overall shooting from beyond the arc worsened, it was actually around league average everywhere except the corners, from where he shot a horrid 6 for 25.
Ultimately, it seems inevitable that with time and increased reps Mario’s picture-perfect release soon leave defenders scared to give Hezonja even an inch of space.
To Frank Vogel’s credit, it seems he has been working more to run plays for Hezonja. One set that Vogel began to run frequently towards the second half of the season involved Mario Hezonja running around screens to get open for a mid-range shot. Shots like this. And this. This:
However, a mid-range shot is extremely inefficient, and Vogel did not run these plays enough to get anything resembling consistency for Mario. Mario experimented a bit with working in the post, but ultimately did not end up utilize this aspect of his game. Hezonja is decent at shooting off the dribble, but certainly needs to work on it in the gym on his own time.
However, 3 pointers and mid-range J’s aren’t the only important spheres of shooting. There is another, more boring aspect of the game, and it is one that Hezonja has quietly excelled in over the past two seasons. That would be his free throws. Mario has shot an excellent 85.6% from the charity stripe over the past two seasons. Mario needs to work a bit more at getting to the line (averaged 0.8 fta per game in 2016–2017), but through his career, he has gone to the line at a slowly increasing rate. I am aware it keeps coming back to his situation, but it what it comes down to is how often the Magic put the ball in Hezonja’s hands, and give him chances to draw fouls. He has worked, through his drives, at drawing more fouls. It’s up to Orlando to encourage this.
I looked at how frequently Mario was important to a play (using minutes in a week and usage percentage) vs. his true shooting percentage.
I am aware it doesn’t look like much. But let me explain. What this essentially tells us is that when Mario gets a larger role in the offense, his shooting numbers don’t seem to drop much, as it possibly would for other players. It’s consistent.
Summary of his shooting: Perfect release in no need of tweaks, midrange game needs work, has shown real potential off the dribble, automatic from the charity stripe. Needs to be more involved by his teammates. Oh yeah, and his shooting improved slightly in April.
Passing
This is the most underrated aspect of Mario Hezonja’s game, and probably the most exciting right now. Mario’s accuracy and court vision earn extremely high praise from everyone who watches him. Even Scott Skiles, noted puppy-kicker and joy-destroyer (and also a man well versed in the art of the assist), felt compelled to compliment Hezonja on his passing: “Mario has, if not the best, vision in seeing the floor and where people are and reading situations” (I didn’t say he was well-versed in the art of sentence structure). He earns frequent praise from Magic fans who authentically say that Hezonja has elite court vision.
I threw together a little compilation of some of Mario’s passes over the past 2 years.
Right now, the only problem with Hezonja’s passes are the people they are to. Mario has too much faith that his teammates will catch his passes. For example, Hezonja threw frequent lobs to teammate Bismack “Bricks for Hands” Biyombo. It turned out okay sometimes. But often, it meant alley-oop attempts that would bounce off Magic hands and towards the other team. Mario often puts too much zip on passes for the D-Leaguers that the Magic place on the floor with him. Sometimes, he gives his teammates passes they simply are not ready for. This was probably the most painful example I could find.
Sometimes, Mario will get a bit too fancy, and turn the ball over. However, this happened much less frequently in his sophomore season than his rookie one.
But, as you can see from the stats, Mario still turned the ball over quite a bit in another category: lost ball. Which brings me to…
Ball Handling
If Hezonja wants to make the leap next year, this is the area of his game that needs the most work. As previously mentioned, he loses the ball a lot while dribbling. He has a good first step that allows him to blow by players easily, and while his handles are nothing special, they are certainly serviceable. But back to the turnovers. The majority of these are on drives to the basket. One way that Mario has worked on fixing this is by adding eurostep-esque moves to his game. While driving, Hezonja has gotten much better at keeping the ball off the floor for as long as possible, like this:
Occasionally, he can use his his handles to get opposing players leaning, but for the most part, they aren’t anything to sneeze at. Think Klay Thompson. If Mario was to become a skilled ball handler, he would be able to free himself up for more shots, potentially allowing the Magic to run more plays for him and to entrust him more.
Summary of ball handling: There isn’t much there anyway. But basically he gets stripped too much while driving ;), but is improving. His dribble moves are pretty basic, and he can help his overall offensive game a ton if he works on these a lot over the summer.
Physical Attributes
Mario is listed at 6'8, and 218 pounds. He has a great frame for an NBA player. The scary thing? He’s likely bigger.
Here’s Hezonja looking about the same height as 6'9 Bismack Biyombo. Go through scores of other photos, and you’ll find out Mario is probably about an inch or two taller than the 6'8 he’s listed at.
As for his athleticism?
He’s one of the most athletic players in the league. He’s fast. He’s strong, and getting stronger (He won weight room MVP for the Magic. More on this later). He has excellent leaping ability. Remember the 2015 dunk contest?
In addition to his stunning athleticism, Mario Hezonja has not missed a single NBA game due to injury. Plenty of DNP-CD. But he’s remained healthy, and, hopefully, will continue to do so for the rest of his career.
Summary of physical attributes: Destroys worlds.
Defense
There’s levels to it. Mario excels in certain aspects of the defensive game, and is legitimately concerning in other areas on that side of the floor. Mainly, he struggles with team and help defense. Since before his time in the NBA, Hezonja has had the problem of being too anxious on defense. Most notably, he frequently doubles opposing players, leaving his own guy wide open. This video could just have easily been made a month ago. He allows cuts to the basket a tad bit more than one would like. He struggles immensely to fight through screens on defense, however, that is mostly a positioning and technique issue, not an effort one. But there are many positive signs regarding Hezonja’s defense. He had the 4th best Defensive Field Goal Percentage on the Magic. His athleticism is a main factor behind his insane defensive potential. Just look at these two blocks against the Brooklyn Nets.
Mario, while struggling as a team defender, is great in one-on-one situations. He can use his length and lateral quickness to stop just about any player from getting by him. He’s stopped LeBron in transition. He’s willing to go up against superstars. He’s blocked the Greek Freak. Against the pick and roll, one of the most important and frequently used plays in the NBA, Mario Hezonja is in the 91.4 percentile defensively. If Mario gets better off-ball (which he will be able to improve upon if given more playing time and if he maintains his work ethic in the gym) and continues to work on his one-on-one defense, there is no telling what he can do defensively.
Summary of defense: Needs to work on doing the right thing, helps too much defensively, good isolation defender, good hustle and effort, high potential.
Rebounding
Almost nothing to say here. He was about average at for players around his height. He wasn’t asked to crash the boards, and was capable when he had to be. Nothing good or bad.
Attitude and Work Ethic
Mario Hezonja checks off all the boxes on this one. His approach to the game is one just about any coach would salivate over. He’s confident, competitive, with just enough cockiness to let you know he’ll never shy away from the limelight. Just check out this (unsuccessful) nutmeg attempt that left Scott Skiles flabbergasted. Was it the smartest play? Probably not. But it’s fun. It’s creative. Would your favorite player do it? Of course not. He’s not afraid to stare you down if he hits a shot over you or dunks all over you. In fact, he doesn’t even seem to know what fear is. The Magic played a prank on their players during a photoshoot by placing a fake King Cobra under the clothes they would pick up. Many of the players jumped back. Mario casually went on with what he was doing, before making the remark: “I was supposed to be scared? We eat those in Croatia.” He has said his favorite athlete growing up was Kobe Bryant, and that he watches old tapes of The Black Mamba to work on his own game.
All this translates to a player who is cool in the clutch. In his very first summer league game playing for the Magic, he made the game winning shot without hesitation. Over the past 2 years, Mario Hezonja has shot 9 of 18 from the field (50%!) in clutch situations (defined as in the 4th quarter or overtime, 5:00 or less left in quarter, scoring margin between -5 and 5 points). It’s the best mark on the Magic. Surprisingly, it was not Vogel, but Skiles, who recognized Hezonja’s ability in the clutch. Hezonja attempted five times as many shots in clutch moments in his rookie season as in his sophomore one. This was the result of playing more in clutch moments. For example, he single handedly took over a game against the Atlanta Hawks in his first year, bringing the trailing Magic to victory.
On top of his ability, he’s got a great motor. So great, in fact, that it might be hurting him. Frank Vogel said “I feel like sometimes he’s going too fast — not the game — and he’s got to slow himself down…He tends to press a little bit, but that’s not the worst thing for a young kid — to play too hard — and he has a really good motor. He plays extremely hard and part of young players growing is learning how to settle themselves down.’’ His play is sure to increase if given more minutes, and as he becomes more acclimated to slowing down and playing at a similar speed to everyone else. He rarely lets his play get him down, saying: “I’m too good of a shooter to keep missing, and be inconsistent. (I will do) maximum repetitions, until my arms fall off.” Sometimes, this can even be a bad thing: “I know what the reason was for (Wednesday’s) misses — I was shooting too many (practice shots) and I was sore as (heck)…I was asking myself, `How am I going to finish this shot because I have no energy or power or anything?.” Whenever he begins to play well, and people ask him how he is playing, he never says he’s satisfied, only that he needs to continue to work and get better. When asked what he needs to improve upon, his answer is always “everything”.
Hezonja is not only a physical workhorse, but a mental one too. “When it comes to basketball, Hezonja is a deep thinker who regularly analyzes everything from the rotation of his shot, to his potential position matchup to his place on the team with his teammates. He regularly returns to the Magic’s practice facility at night to get up extra shots — something he often does in solitude because “we don’t play games with music.’’ If it’s meant that his spot on the Magic is at power forward as opposed to small forward, Hezonja said he is more than capable of making that adjustment to a position that requires more of physicality.” He’s willing to do whatever it takes for the team and whatever it takes to get on the court, even if that means switching to a position he has never played before.
When he has been asked what he does when he isn’t playing basketball, Hezonja responds “playing basketball”. It isn’t a translation error. Mario speaks almost perfect english. It’s just that he is always working on his craft, bringing to the limelight just how good his work ethic is.
This year, he won the “Iron Magic” award, given out by the coaching staff to the player who shows the most work and improvement in the weight room. Gains.
Summary of work ethic: It’s great, it will be the greatest factor other than Mario’s situation to help him become the player he can be. He’s not afraid of anything, and is always working on his game. Finally, a quote: “Respect? No, I never had respect to anybody on a basketball court. I heard about, ‘If they smell blood, you get eaten.’ I’m not like that. I don’t care. Whether it’s a veteran or a young player standing in front of me I always have the same goal. I want to run over everybody.”
End/The Future
At the end of the day, Mario has not been a extremely successful NBA player. But he still only has two years under his belt. We have yet to see what the new front office does with this team, whether it be building a group of guys that can play in the modern NBA, or keeping the (horrible) team they have right now. Or maybe, they’ll trade Hezonja to a team that can better develop him (Just about any team. But please, Colangelo and Popovich. Hey, Brooklyn! Just consider it.). Over the past two summers, Mario has not gotten much of a chance to work on his game in Orlando, instead opting to play international ball with Croatia. He hasn’t gotten much playing time there, either, and hasn’t had time to work on aspects of his game in practice, as he has to learn Croatia’s playbook. This summer, however, he’s committed to working in Orlando, which should benefit him greatly.
If you’re lazy and want a condensed version of everything I wrote about, watch this video of Hezonja at the U.S. vs. World Game from 2016. Take it as is, and imagine him with some midrange shots added to his arsenal.
If put in the right situation, Mario could be this good as soon as next year.
Fin.
Bonus pic
