[high floorParticipant]

Just curious to see if anyone thinks super-mario can still turn the corner and become a good player in the NBA. He’s had a rough start to his career, and even though I’ve watched a fair amount of his games… I can’t definitively evaluate his skill-set and how he’ll develop moving forward due to his role changing so much and his minutes getting screwed with.

One thing that’s surprised me is his inability to draw contact or make any moves off the dribble. Prior to the 2015 NBA draft, I thought he would develop that part of his game quite nicely his first couple years in the league with practice and in-game experience. Thus far 85-90% of his buckets are off 1 dribble or less… which has limited his opportunities to score to the occassional P&R sets, cuts, lobs, and outlet passes. He seems to put pretty decent effort on the defensive end of the floor, but he’s prone to a lot of errors on D… which is pretty understanable due to his role / minutes being jerked around so much his first 2 seasons. 

He’s got hops for days… and has great size for the 2 guard position. But he just doesn’t seem to possess many intangibles that good shooting guards / wings have unfortunately… and his elite level athleticism seemed to mask these deficiencies for a lot of his supporters. Anyone else here have an additional take on his future, and can he still develop into an above average 2-guard?

[nill650Participant]

 trade him to the bucks they will use him correctly. 

[Arc12345Participant]

Send him to the Hawks and he’ll be our best wing in a few months.  

He just needs opportunity.

 

[7-9Participant]

All he needs are the minutes IMO. He is not the only one suffering in Orlando, the whole organization needs better management and coaching. 

[negguaryParticipant]

 A huge supporter of Mario which is why I’m comfortable dealing 3 for 6 just as long as Mario is included in the package. I strongly believe after seeing what Brett could do with even a basic roster and what saric was able to do that Mario in our system with ben, embid and whoever we pick will be successful! 

[omphalosParticipant]

I could see him working out for the Spurs.

Could be groomed to replace Danny Green.

But yeah, Orlando was a terrible situation for him.

 

 

[Robb_CParticipant]

 Hezonja would be perfect in Atlanta, obviously the Spurs come to mind as well.. Hes very talented needs to be coat though still immature.

[OhCanada-Participant]

 Was never super high on him. Not to say I thought of him as a bad prospect just never seen him as a superstar talent like many on this forum. Him and Ben Mclemore were vastly overrated. Hes always lacked the ballhandling and creative abillity. With that said hes never gotten a fair shot in Orlando behind Oladipo and Fournier. Theyve also had tons of turnover and made thier main priority Gordon. If you were high on him before there really shouldnt be much to change that opinion as his role with Orlanda has been very similar to the one he had with Barcelona before coming the NBA.

[jerb2011Participant]

 Key word is POSSIBLE move that OKc could make

[XYRYXParticipant]

 would be a nice pickup by the Thunder but OKC has not really something to offer and I really don’t think the Magic will do any trades with Presti after the Ibaka robbery. 

[Anton123Participant]

I still believe, he’s got all the tools and can play anywhere from PG to PF, he just needs a coach that will decide what he wants Mario to do and not play him as a facilitator one game, as a small ball big man the other and as a scoring wing the third. For such a fledgling talent that’s an incredibly hard situation to adapt.

As far as I’ve heard Mario has also been struggling with life in the US, he has turned down his chance to play in Eurobasket 2017 to stay in the US and get better acclimated to the culture and to work on figuring out his game and NBA role.

 

[HitsterParticipant]

Orlando moved Oladipo and used Gordon out of position at SF but have not really given Hezonja major playing time. Though to be fair he was drafted very much on upside from Barcelona where he hadn’t seen much time on court. There is a case for the Magic to give him a solid 20mpg plus and see what he can do or if they aren’t convinced by him maybe a change of scenery would do him good.

As said above the likes of Spurs, Atlanta, Bucks would be good fit for him and may part with a protected first rounder. Also Brooklyn need to rebuild and could do worse than maybe offer one of their later first rounders for him. There he could see major minutes from day one.

[iguapops420Participant]

Not sure his star is able to shine quite as bright as projected, but I still think he could be a 16/5/2 guy with nice transition game and shooting. Problem is, he plays for Orlando. As others have already stated the kid has been jerked around and doesn’t know what his role is from day to day. I remember Vogel saying something about how he wanted him to play the 4 and that, that may actually be his more natural position. IMO, the kid will probably ly breakout on a team looking to run and drain threes. PHX, comes to mind.

[TheTruth86Participant]

I agree with the comments above, the unfortunate situation Mario is in comes because of 2 facts – 1. He has no experience as he was playing garbage time for Barca before going to the nba (maybe he should have stayed overseas a couple more years) and 2. He ended up in Orlando, a franchise not  known for its good management in recent years, so this organisation fails to develope him and at 22, Hezonja is already considering signing in Europe -this is SAD and wrong. A couple of years ago I was one of those guys barking that Hezonja will end up the best of his draft class. Well, Id probably end up wrong about that but gimme a break, guy’s 22 so if he get the chAnce to play for another system, let say the Spurs 4 expml, things can get interesting. We all know what Pop is capable of, he has transformed way less talented players into high level starters and champions!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Andv1 WaitingParticipant]

..Personally I would tell Vogel to make it work somehow as you can’t waist two top 5 picks for nothing-Oladipo and Mario(as he did a bit set in some of his rotations at times).

 

Here are the teams I could see him working on if Magic can’t make it work though:

Nets-They would have plenty of mins to go around he would have an opportunity to be either 6th man or a starter with them.

Nola-They need shooters around their bigs.

Detroit-He might thrive under Stan if he does his 4 out offense.

Dallas he could get minutes due to rebuild stage..

and 

Maybe one of Atlanta,Sacramento or Washington could make sense if there is any player movement on their part..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tdc320Participant]

I was listening to Bill Simmons Podcast. He said “After Hezonja’s contract is up with Orlando. He will probably play a season or two overseas, and end up on the Spurs being some what of a Ginobili 2.0

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