Woj bomb- Magic decline Hezonja's 4th year Option

[Xatticus]

Stupid move.
None of you sounded alarm when previous tard gm was handing out 7-17 mil contracts left and right (in fact as I remember most of You loved it)and now it seems 5 mil for one more year was a big nono.
He plays a bit better this year and still could have had some value down the road but now he basicly becomes useless expiring contract and his value just went down even more.There no point to play him at this point may as well waive him.
and btw Iwundu will end up same as Marbles/Dequan Jones/Doron Lambs and now Mario's of the NBA.

Again, none of this actually means he will be leaving the team at year's end. He almost certainly isn't going to get a salary of greater value in free agency next year than he would have with that team option. I'm fairly certain that we still have his Bird Rights unless we renounce him to free up cap space next summer or just waive him.

The biggest takeaway from all of this is the report that he and his representatives want out. That alone could've compelled the trade rumors and the team's decision to decline his option. Given the way he has been jerked around by Vogel and the luncheon-gate comments from Hennigan, I really can't blame him for wanting out. At that point, it's difficult to see how the front office can justify picking up the option. I really doubt that this is a financial decision as he isn't owed much money and we won't have much cap space in free agency next year regardless. You can blame the front office, but it's very possible that the decision was essentially made by Hezonja.

[drsd]

It's not a surprise.

Hezonja has lacked the confidence and just never panned out here.

I had hoped he'd be traded as a throw-in to get a better player but it is what it is.

For me all this says is that the Magic think Hezonja's contract worth is less than $5M a year. I am sure all fans agree to that. On the market, I cannot see anything above a 3-year 10M deal. The Magic might do that in a SnT.

I wish The Magic had just taken Cauley-Stein.

Playing out this what-if game, Cauley-Stein as a Magician probably means Orlando never inks Biyombo. That sounds like a win-win to me!

As an aside: I liked Myles Turner. He was a boom or bust type to me, and at five, you roll the dice.

..

[Nemesis21]

So the Kings offered Malachi Richardson and a 2nd rd pick for Hezonja. How about Hezonja and a 2nd rd pick for Justin Jackson? I'd be all over that if they Kings agreed.


http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ycw2d6jj

[Optimus_Steel]

He was advertised as an explosive athlete and dead eye 3pt shooter with extreme confidence. He was neither. The reality is he is an ok athlete but nothing impressive, he is rather underwhelming, lacks lateral quickness, he is not a pure shooter, not even a good one, very streaky shooter and terribly inconsistent, has terrible handles, lack of skills and severe lack of confidence. I wonder if his cocky attitude saying he could do any dunk fooled people into hyping him up. Reality is that bravado was fake confidence, he comes across as an immature kid who was trying to overcompensate for extreme insecurity. Now we see why he was a bench player in Barca. I bet they weren't bothered he got drafted. When the guy who drafted you calls you pooper there is a problem.

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[Gomagic44]

He never panned out and has looked like garbage for years. It’s no ones fault but Mario’s. Let’s move on.


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[Patrick1978]

Never was a fan and knew he was going to be a bust. Unfortunate cause that was a big man heavy draft and we ended up paying Biyombo $17M per year to cover that void. Double whammy.

Yes se should have gone for one of Turner, kaminsky,portis

[fbeye343]

I think the Magic’s development system is more at fault than Mario in respect to his development. Mario looked decent during his first year. He shot the ball at a decent clip and looked athletic. The summer after year one was the beginning of his downfall. The Magic put him on a strength training program and Mario ended up putting on 20lbs of muscle. The extra weight put too much stress on his knees and that’s when his knee problems began. The extra weight and knee problems caused major problems with his shot and athleticism.

Had the Magic let Mario naturally grow into his body we could be looking at a very different player today. What a shame.

[DiplomaticMagic]

He was the guy I wanted to draft, thought he was a sure thing. Thought he was an all-star or a JR Smith player at the very least.

I even remember Mike Scmitz of Draftexpress, saying on a podcast that there was no chance that Mario busts and that he was like Klay Thomas.

I still think he can thrive on another team, but it wasn't going to be here. His rookie year here wasn't bad at all though.

But if his future is not here, no point in playing him anymore. I hope to see Afflalo, Iwundu and Speights at PF over him. We gave him a chance, he failed.

[Nemesis21]

Never was a fan and knew he was going to be a bust. Unfortunate cause that was a big man heavy draft and we ended up paying Biyombo $17M per year to cover that void. Double whammy.

Yes se should have gone for one of Turner, kaminsky,portis

[UcanUwill]

I don’t think you can blame the pick too much. I remember Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress hyping Mario in the weeks leading up to that draft saying he thought he was the most intriguing prospect after Porzingis and how he’d potentially look at him over Okafor (no one else was saying this at the time).

Hopefully we can use him in a trade this season and at least get something back because (it goes without saying) it’s not ideal that a rebuilding team has basically wasted a top 5 pick.

Givony hypes all Euros tho. Every single one.

[magicman112]

Shame that it had to come to this. When we drafted him, I thought we would have our starting SF in the fold and was excited by the upside he was showing in his rookie year. It all went to crap after that year. I still think he has some talent but it is between the ears where he is lacking badly. He is mentally weak and plays with virtually no confidence which I thought was going to be his main strength because he came with extreme confidence and swagger initially. Magic had a deadline on his option and made their decision. Isaac being the gem that he is and Simms City arriving here made Mario expendable. Hopefully we get a tangible asset for him at this point.

He just hasn't been able to adjust to the NBA. That's the risk you take with players from overseas but he was projected to go at 5 where we picked him so it wasn't like he was a reach there. His time here is over barring an almost complete 180 of his game.

[Blue_and_Whte]

Bye bye white mamba

Fran wasn't a bust, just a guy who didn't dream of nba and preferred quality of life over nba business

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Um what? Quality of life my ass. Fran didn't have the nut sack to play in the NBA. Once I learned his girlfriend told him he couldn't come play with his friends I knew he was in trouble. "Quality of life" got to be kidding me. Fran is easily the biggest draft bust in Magic history.


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Clueless

Oh ok...
"Yes, I was a little scared," - Fran Vasquez
http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/interesting-article-fran-vazquez
Fran makes the top 10-15 on the NBA bust list so he's easily the biggest bust in Magic history.

[nymets1]

If we were to trade Mario for Malachi Richardson, Malachi played college ball at Syracuse, Jim Boehim is one of the best college basketball coaches ever. So definitely Malachi had the right coach in college.

[Optimus_Steel]

I think the Magic’s development system is more at fault than Mario in respect to his development. Mario looked decent during his first year. He shot the ball at a decent clip and looked athletic. The summer after year one was the beginning of his downfall. The Magic put him on a strength training program and Mario ended up putting on 20lbs of muscle. The extra weight put too much stress on his knees and that’s when his knee problems began. The extra weight and knee problems caused major problems with his shot and athleticism.

Had the Magic let Mario naturally grow into his body we could be looking at a very different player today. What a shame.

So you are going to blame the Magic? The player has no responsibility here for his lack of skill or mental toughness?

[pepe1991]

Hindsight is 20/20 . NBA draft in 2015 was thought to be 3 players deep. Russell, KAT and Okafor. Among 3 of them one got traded for Brook Lopez, other can't see the floor and third is star. Let's not forget that Okafor was viewed as next Duncan.

Porzingis developed into allstar player but half of teams didn't wan't to take skinny white guy ( Lakers and Philly passed ).
Hezonja, Mudiay, Stein, Johnson, Winslow and Kaminsky all underperformed . Kaminsky is only one who is actually looking like role player in NBA.

Turner had that situation with hip but panned out. Nobody thought Booker will be this good.
Lyles is bust as well, Payne is unplayable ( some guy from Bulls called him worst PG he ever saw ).
Rozier is terrible as well.

You know that draft is odd when in re-drafting guys drafted 11# and 13# would go 3rd and 4th (at worst ).

It's time for Magic to move on from Hezonja. They wanted SF in that draft, they would fail no matter who they picked after all. Winslow, Stein and Johnson who were all his alternatives are all bad basketball players as well . WSC is least terrible but guy who was "next Deandre with DPOY potential " showed non of that. Just like Hezonja was new Klay, or Winslow new Jimmy Butler.

That's draft in nutshell, you can get Ben Simmons but you can also get Anthony Bennett

[Just Plain Mark]

I don't see how people can claim that Iwundu looks better than Mario. Iwundu has played 12 minutes in 2 games, shot 33% and doesn't have an assist.

I understand the FO's reasoning in declining the option as it makes Mario a more attractive trade piece and, in the unlikely event they want him back next year, they can try to sign him for less than $5 mil per year. However, its ironic that Mario is shooting the ball better than he ever has (and in similar minutes to last year). Who knows if he can shoot near 40% from 3 but given the team's much more wide open offensive philosophy and the lack of interest from the rest of the NBA, I'm hopeful that his career can be salvaged here.

And whether its for trade value or just based on production, Hezonja is playing more than Afflalo or Iwundu. Also, if Ross keeps shooting at historically poor levels, I would give some of Ross' minutes to Mario.

[drsd]

So the Kings offered Malachi Richardson and a 2nd rd pick for Hezonja. How about Hezonja and a 2nd rd pick for Justin Jackson? I'd be all over that if they Kings agreed.


http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ycw2d6jj

The Kings has not had a chance to evaluate Jackson. For this trade to go forward the Magic would need to add more assets.

..

[croat25]

Glad this happened, watching that summer league highlights proves he has all the skills, but he somehow just didn't provide. Did he lost confidence under Skiles or he's just mentally dumb as f... no idea. I am sure though that he will be better player once he get traded or sign with another club. There must be some of NBA clubs that will sign him, he can still be solid player under good coach and staff. Maybe expectations were high, but it was expected for a 5th pick, and he just couldn't bare with it. Its like he forced his plays and never went with flow, which explains his pretty low bb iq. Anyways my opinion is that he isn't much worse than Ross. Hope he'll get traded soon so he doesn't have to rot for rest of season. Good luck to him.

[magicman112]

Um what? Quality of life my ass. Fran didn't have the nut sack to play in the NBA. Once I learned his girlfriend told him he couldn't come play with his friends I knew he was in trouble. "Quality of life" got to be kidding me. Fran is easily the biggest draft bust in Magic history.


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Clueless

Oh ok...
"Yes, I was a little scared," - Fran Vasquez
http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/interesting-article-fran-vazquez
Fran makes the top 10-15 on the NBA bust list so he's easily the biggest bust in Magic history.

We've had some doozies like Reece Gaines, Ryan Humphrey (the 6'7" PF), and Jeryl Sasser the Harasser aka The Iverson Stopper. But Franny Boy trumps them all because the previous guys at least were here and on the team.

[fklt]

Spoiler:

and there was this. he really teased us in his first pre-season.


man, it's weird that he doesn't even have harkless level of value top 55 protected pick.

And in Summer League when he was dunking in traffic, catching alleys and splashing 3's.

yep, that cold blooded game winner 3. could not ask for a better summer league.

btw, it went unnoticed i think but vogel changed his 9 man rotation to a 10 man one in pelicans game by inluding mario. before that he was playing one of ross and fournier at all times, but he switched back from that by including mario as the shoother in the 2nd unit. looked like coaching staff appeciated his play this season, but in the end it didn't mattered.