Countdown to NBA Draft: Prospect Talk

[Mattya]

NBADraft.net writeup on Hezonja. This was written in August 2011 mind you and he's only gotten better.

Strengths: Smooth, athletic guard with enormous potential ... Right now at 16: he was born in 1995, he can already play at a high level in Europe ... Probably is the best European prospect at his position since Drazen Petrovic and honestly has more potential: on the court he can do everything ... Prototypical SG size for the NBA with excellent leaping ability ... A natural and aggressive scorer: he has great jump shot, with good spot up/pull up ability ... His long arms and athleticism also make him very efficient finishing at the rim; against opponents smaller than him he also knows how to utilize a post up game ... He can pass: he is tall for the role and he has a terrific vision, so he can even play like point guard or point forward ... He can takes rebound: with is body skills he is a good rebounder for his size thanks to his aggressiveness and athleticism and he plays clutch when the game is close ... He's really an exciting player ... He's also a good ball handler and he runs very well in fast break and in transition ... He also shows good anticipation defensively and has a great knack for jumping passing lanes ...

Weaknesses: Hezonja has incredible intensity, but sometimes that manifests itself in him being too hard on himself and especially teammates. He's been seen getting in the face of teammates when they don't play up to his expectations ... He's a poor student and considered to be a bit of a wild child off the floor. Gaining some maturity and becoming more of a team player should be something that he focuses on ... He's very young so his long-limbed body is perfect for his age, however he must put on some muscle to play in NBA ... In one-on-one defense, he doesn't always exhibit enough intensity, but sometimes that is understandable in order for him to be as prolific as he is offensively ...

So his negatives are he sometimes is too intense, he gets in the face of teammates when they arent playing well and he's a little wild off the court. Sign me up. We could use a crazy European.

ya know two other athletic shooting guards that used to do that? Kobe and Mj... I'm just sayin.

As a Wolves fan they said the same things about Garnett.

[Capn'O]

I wouldn't count Favors out so soon either. He took awhile to adjust to the pace of the NBA but has turned into a very solid big. He won't be Davis but he may hit a few AS teams if he stays healthy.

Yeah - the numbers support it. These guys are monsters. It would be a real shame to miss out on them but you can't really affect what happens on NYK's court at this point.

[Knicksfan1992]

NBADraft.net writeup on Hezonja. This was written in August 2011 mind you and he's only gotten better.

Strengths: Smooth, athletic guard with enormous potential ... Right now at 16: he was born in 1995, he can already play at a high level in Europe ... Probably is the best European prospect at his position since Drazen Petrovic and honestly has more potential: on the court he can do everything ... Prototypical SG size for the NBA with excellent leaping ability ... A natural and aggressive scorer: he has great jump shot, with good spot up/pull up ability ... His long arms and athleticism also make him very efficient finishing at the rim; against opponents smaller than him he also knows how to utilize a post up game ... He can pass: he is tall for the role and he has a terrific vision, so he can even play like point guard or point forward ... He can takes rebound: with is body skills he is a good rebounder for his size thanks to his aggressiveness and athleticism and he plays clutch when the game is close ... He's really an exciting player ... He's also a good ball handler and he runs very well in fast break and in transition ... He also shows good anticipation defensively and has a great knack for jumping passing lanes ...

Weaknesses: Hezonja has incredible intensity, but sometimes that manifests itself in him being too hard on himself and especially teammates. He's been seen getting in the face of teammates when they don't play up to his expectations ... He's a poor student and considered to be a bit of a wild child off the floor. Gaining some maturity and becoming more of a team player should be something that he focuses on ... He's very young so his long-limbed body is perfect for his age, however he must put on some muscle to play in NBA ... In one-on-one defense, he doesn't always exhibit enough intensity, but sometimes that is understandable in order for him to be as prolific as he is offensively ...

So his negatives are he sometimes is too intense, he gets in the face of teammates when they arent playing well and he's a little wild off the court. Sign me up. We could use a crazy European.

The guy is a **** beast bro!!!

I love his intensity & his confidence is sky high. Not to mention his defense continues to improve to the point where he's quite possibly a two way player now. I don't give a fu*k if he's a wild child or he gets in the face of his teammates like you said we could definitely use a crazy player that wants to win & wants his teammates to win.

I saw this video where he made 8 three's and immediately said we need to get this fu*king guy.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKpHYuwEGaU[/youtube]

I got goosebumps watching this...

Even though the comp. looked less than stellar that stroke looks so pure and effortless. And usually foreign guys have the most immediate impact due to already playing professionally. I don't think Mario would be a bad pick at all.

[mpharris36]

were they really up 69 to 19 in that game?

who the f*ck where they playing a high school team?

[NYKnicksTAPE]

Hezonja reminds me of Danilo Gallinari. The stroke is butter tho

[mpharris36]

Hezonja reminds me of Danilo Gallinari. The stroke is butter tho

that is what I am curious though. He seems a lot more fluid that Gallinari did.

But remember gallinari was touted as a big time shooter when he was drafted and he wasn't as knock down as we thought but he had more handles than we thought.

Hezonja seems to have really nice athleticism for his size by his blow buys and then strong finishes (some of those dunks surprised me).

The real tell tale will be how good of a shooter. If he is more of knock down shooter he can be really good in the NBA. If he is gallo inconsistent shooter he will probably fall in line with most late lottery picks.

Does anyone know if he is a better shooter than gallo when they were both young prospects?

[knicknack]

Do you know how many scouts we alone have? Close to 10. Now multiply that by 30 NBA teams. Supposedly 2 scouts chose Towns.. and you word it like it's a referendum. If I might ask are you involved in politics?

Ha it's not just 2 scouts feller. You know this.

Nah.. what I do know is nobody knows. I would say right now.. it might have moved a little from a sure fire lock for Jah to maybe it depends on what team has #1 but I'm iffy on that whole situation. Portland drafted for fit when they chose Oden and how it turned out scared the ish out of everyone. I've went from "I'd be shocked" if anyone but Jah went #1 to "It wouldn't surprise me" if someone other than him went #1 with the disclaimer that GM's do stupid things all the time.

Bottom line.. when a player is that good at one thing and that one thing is putting the ball in the bucket you take him #1 and you worry about the other stuff later because you can make up the other stuff in so man different ways.

You got half these cats on here afraid to draft him because of what's happened in the past and to me that's an extremely ignorant way of looking at things. It's that battered wife syndrome rearing it's ugly head again. Then you got other cats wanting to draft Towns because he "fits" the city more.. Them same clowns would've passed on Tim Duncan.

Right now.. today.. he's the best player in the draft and it really ain't even close (maybe the guard can do something special in the tournament). He's played through injury, he's played heavy minutes, he's been game planned against, and he's played through adversity. You have #1 or we have #1 and you take him. I've even heard analysts say Philly would be stupid to pass on him with their plethora of bigs. What he does great is highly valuable and extremely rare in the league.. it's been keeping Zach Randolph's bank account full and he's the antithesis of this "modern" style of basketball y'all have been pushing. Well let me tell you another thing.. the NBA is constantly changing and I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing more young kids coming up with strong back to the basket games from watching a kid like Jah play ball. It's a lost art form and quite frankly I'd like to see it return with us spearheading the movement.

Yeah, I only partly agree with, "if doing only one thing great and that is putting the ball in the basket then you have to take him..." idea. OK4R ONLY puts the Ballin the basket up close and personal. He can't put the basket in the hoop from mid-rmid-range or further away yet and may never be able to. Now if that that one thing well was from a distance on in, now we're talking. Much easier to stop a in the paint scorer than one with range as well.

[Normalyute]

It appears Phil is scared of getting the 1st pick. Maybe he's afraid of failure. I could be wrong but if there as a clear cut franchise changer Ala LeBron or Shaq I think we would be tanking. But he probably don't wanna pick Ok4 with the #1 and have let say 4th pick (Russell) becomes the better pro. Phil is the GM equivalent of a star player who is scared to take the last shot. I hope I'm wrong though.

And this is based on...what, exactly?

Well he stated " In the present day in the NBA, 19 -20 year olds, coming into the league, it's really hard to project what that player will be in his 1st contract situation...."
To me I sense that he has some reservations about the pick and hence his preference to rebuild through free agency. Again like I stated before I could be wrong I am by no means an expert here, but since there is no guarantee u can get one of the top 4 free agents, why not tank and get the worst record and guarantee yourself one of the top 4 draft picks? I guess he believes the free agents he will sign are gonna be better that the top 4 draft picks because the knicks could potentially play themselves out of the top four and I don't see the logic in that.

[NYKnicksTAPE]

Hezonja reminds me of Danilo Gallinari. The stroke is butter tho

that is what I am curious though. He seems a lot more fluid that Gallinari did.

But remember gallinari was touted as a big time shooter when he was drafted and he wasn't as knock down as we thought but he had more handles than we thought.

Hezonja seems to have really nice athleticism for his size by his blow buys and then strong finishes (some of those dunks surprised me).

The real tell tale will be how good of a shooter. If he is more of knock down shooter he can be really good in the NBA. If he is gallo inconsistent shooter he will probably fall in line with most late lottery picks.

Does anyone know if he is a better shooter than gallo when they were both young prospects?

I agree. I don't know much about him, but I would imagine that Danilo probably looked just as good as Hezonja does when he played against European competition. I peeped the score of that highlight video and saw that the team he was playing against had like 13 points in the 3rd quarter...so the competition looks real suspect. I think he'd average something like 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 1 assist his rookie year if he's not a bust.

[TrueWarrior]

Hezonja plays for FC Barcelona. Not some 3rd tier club team like Giannis did or whatever. He dropped 22 on Real Madrid. Supposedly his coach mainly uses him as a 3 pt shooter but he clearly has much more ability than that. Its hard for young players to break through in Europe.

To me we have to talk about a top 5 with Hezonja added. Not many 6'8 guys with his athleticism, skills, and shooting at his age. Gallo was bigger but not nearly the athlete Hezonja is. They both have that competitiveness you want though.

I just wonder if Phil has the balls to go with a Euro.

[islanders11040]

Hezonja plays for FC Barcelona. Not some 3rd tier club team like Giannis did or whatever. He dropped 22 on Real Madrid. Supposedly his coach mainly uses him as a 3 pt shooter but he clearly has much more ability than that. Its hard for young players to break through in Europe.

To me we have to talk about a top 5 with Hezonja added. Not many 6'8 guys with his athleticism, skills, and shooting at his age. Gallo was bigger but not nearly the athlete Hezonja is. They both have that competitiveness you want though.

I just wonder if Phil has the balls to go with a Euro.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpguQkC8tv0[/youtube]
The dude has loads of potential. Very athletic with a good jumper. Im impressed with his first step driving into lanes. Also his defense looked good. What you think of as a comparison for him?

[NoLayupRule]

NBADraft.net writeup on Hezonja. This was written in August 2011 mind you and he's only gotten better.



So his negatives are he sometimes is too intense, he gets in the face of teammates when they arent playing well and he's a little wild off the court. Sign me up. We could use a crazy European.

ya know two other athletic shooting guards that used to do that? Kobe and Mj... I'm just sayin.

As a Wolves fan they said the same things about Garnett.

Those are the best negatives I've ever read in a player

[NBA Fan 1234]

It appears Phil is scared of getting the 1st pick. Maybe he's afraid of failure. I could be wrong but if there as a clear cut franchise changer Ala LeBron or Shaq I think we would be tanking. But he probably don't wanna pick Ok4 with the #1 and have let say 4th pick (Russell) becomes the better pro. Phil is the GM equivalent of a star player who is scared to take the last shot. I hope I'm wrong though.

And this is based on...what, exactly?

Well he stated " In the present day in the NBA, 19 -20 year olds, coming into the league, it's really hard to project what that player will be in his 1st contract situation...."
To me I sense that he has some reservations about the pick and hence his preference to rebuild through free agency. Again like I stated before I could be wrong I am by no means an expert here, but since there is no guarantee u can get one of the top 4 free agents, why not tank and get the worst record and guarantee yourself one of the top 4 draft picks? I guess he believes the free agents he will sign are gonna be better that the top 4 draft picks because the knicks could potentially play themselves out of the top four and I don't see the logic in that.

I don't think that's him being afraid. It's him stating the obvious.

It's a lot easier said than done to "tank." GMs might want to lose games to get a better pick, but players and coaches don't intentionally lose. Anyone who has ever played any competitive sport knows this.

[TrueWarrior]

Hezonja plays for FC Barcelona. Not some 3rd tier club team like Giannis did or whatever. He dropped 22 on Real Madrid. Supposedly his coach mainly uses him as a 3 pt shooter but he clearly has much more ability than that. Its hard for young players to break through in Europe.

To me we have to talk about a top 5 with Hezonja added. Not many 6'8 guys with his athleticism, skills, and shooting at his age. Gallo was bigger but not nearly the athlete Hezonja is. They both have that competitiveness you want though.

I just wonder if Phil has the balls to go with a Euro.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpguQkC8tv0[/youtube]
The dude has loads of potential. Very athletic with a good jumper. Im impressed with his first step driving into lanes. Also his defense looked good. What you think of as a comparison for him?

Yea the defense is very promising too in that vid. Mario has it all from where I stand, but ive only seen clips and highlights. He has a good motor (ibraheim's fav word) and you can tell hes the opposite of soft.

Idk about a comparison. Some people throw out Drazen. Most Euros arent as athletic as Mario is, and the ones who were like Vesley had no skills. Doesnt have to be compared to Euros though. He just has star swingman potential.

[JBreezeNY]

Hezonja plays for FC Barcelona. Not some 3rd tier club team like Giannis did or whatever. He dropped 22 on Real Madrid. Supposedly his coach mainly uses him as a 3 pt shooter but he clearly has much more ability than that. Its hard for young players to break through in Europe.

To me we have to talk about a top 5 with Hezonja added. Not many 6'8 guys with his athleticism, skills, and shooting at his age. Gallo was bigger but not nearly the athlete Hezonja is. They both have that competitiveness you want though.

I just wonder if Phil has the balls to go with a Euro.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpguQkC8tv0[/youtube]
The dude has loads of potential. Very athletic with a good jumper. Im impressed with his first step driving into lanes. Also his defense looked good. What you think of as a comparison for him?

More athletic Joe Johnson? Maybe Andrew Wiggins?

I really don't know.

It's so hard to make a comparison for him, his skill-set & intensity is unbelievable.

[alphad0gz]

Hezonja reminds me of Danilo Gallinari. The stroke is butter tho

that is what I am curious though. He seems a lot more fluid that Gallinari did.

But remember gallinari was touted as a big time shooter when he was drafted and he wasn't as knock down as we thought but he had more handles than we thought.

Hezonja seems to have really nice athleticism for his size by his blow buys and then strong finishes (some of those dunks surprised me).

The real tell tale will be how good of a shooter. If he is more of knock down shooter he can be really good in the NBA. If he is gallo inconsistent shooter he will probably fall in line with most late lottery picks.

Does anyone know if he is a better shooter than gallo when they were both young prospects?

Gallinari was actually a GREAT shooter until his first time out with the back "spasms". He was shooting 50% from 3 at the time. He was never the same after he came back and after his next back injury he declined even further. Just another guy with super potential whose career got derailed by injuries. He was never in the class as Hezonja as an athlete or as an aggressive player.

[Normalyute]

And this is based on...what, exactly?

Well he stated " In the present day in the NBA, 19 -20 year olds, coming into the league, it's really hard to project what that player will be in his 1st contract situation...."
To me I sense that he has some reservations about the pick and hence his preference to rebuild through free agency. Again like I stated before I could be wrong I am by no means an expert here, but since there is no guarantee u can get one of the top 4 free agents, why not tank and get the worst record and guarantee yourself one of the top 4 draft picks? I guess he believes the free agents he will sign are gonna be better that the top 4 draft picks because the knicks could potentially play themselves out of the top four and I don't see the logic in that.

I don't think that's him being afraid. It's him stating the obvious.

It's a lot easier said than done to "tank." GMs might want to lose games to get a better pick, but players and coaches don't intentionally lose. Anyone who has ever played any competitive sport knows this.

I see your point, but why hinge your plans on top free agents who can choose not to come here as the top draft picks really don't have that choice unless the pull a kobe or a Eli. Do u remember when our too free agent was amare? That's wasn't the plan we struck out on our main targets and I have a feeling we're gonna struck out again. NY with its high taxes, high cost of living, impatient fans, over saturated media coverage on top of a bad team is not an ideal landing place for top free agents.
But honestly I hope I'm wrong because I all I want is to see my team playing good ball. And I think the safe bet is through the draft because free agents eat up too much cap in a salary cap league.

[Normalyute]

And just like draft pick can be bust so can free agents. A player can look good on one team in one system and completely suck in another system, the problem with the free agents becoming a bust is that you become stuck with their bad contracts.

[NBA Fan 1234]

Well he stated " In the present day in the NBA, 19 -20 year olds, coming into the league, it's really hard to project what that player will be in his 1st contract situation...."
To me I sense that he has some reservations about the pick and hence his preference to rebuild through free agency. Again like I stated before I could be wrong I am by no means an expert here, but since there is no guarantee u can get one of the top 4 free agents, why not tank and get the worst record and guarantee yourself one of the top 4 draft picks? I guess he believes the free agents he will sign are gonna be better that the top 4 draft picks because the knicks could potentially play themselves out of the top four and I don't see the logic in that.

I don't think that's him being afraid. It's him stating the obvious.

It's a lot easier said than done to "tank." GMs might want to lose games to get a better pick, but players and coaches don't intentionally lose. Anyone who has ever played any competitive sport knows this.

I see your point, but why hinge your plans on top free agents who can choose not to come here as the top draft picks really don't have that choice unless the pull a kobe or a Eli. Do u remember when our too free agent was amare? That's wasn't the plan we struck out on our main targets and I have a feeling we're gonna struck out again. NY with its high taxes, high cost of living, impatient fans, over saturated media coverage on top of a bad team is not an ideal landing place for top free agents.
But honestly I hope I'm wrong because I all I want is to see my team playing good ball. And I think the safe bet is through the draft because free agents eat up too much cap in a salary cap league.

FA is big no matter what. That's not changing. I just don't see what you are trying to get at...legit, no clue whatsoever.

[islanders11040]

Hezonja plays for FC Barcelona. Not some 3rd tier club team like Giannis did or whatever. He dropped 22 on Real Madrid. Supposedly his coach mainly uses him as a 3 pt shooter but he clearly has much more ability than that. Its hard for young players to break through in Europe.

To me we have to talk about a top 5 with Hezonja added. Not many 6'8 guys with his athleticism, skills, and shooting at his age. Gallo was bigger but not nearly the athlete Hezonja is. They both have that competitiveness you want though.

I just wonder if Phil has the balls to go with a Euro.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpguQkC8tv0[/youtube]
The dude has loads of potential. Very athletic with a good jumper. Im impressed with his first step driving into lanes. Also his defense looked good. What you think of as a comparison for him?

Yea the defense is very promising too in that vid. Mario has it all from where I stand, but ive only seen clips and highlights. He has a good motor (ibraheim's fav word) and you can tell hes the opposite of soft.

Idk about a comparison. Some people throw out Drazen. Most Euros arent as athletic as Mario is, and the ones who were like Vesley had no skills. Doesnt have to be compared to Euros though. He just has star swingman potential.

A rookie ray allen? I may be off. I was pretty young when he was coming out of college