Mario Hezonja - NY

[KnickFan33]

I see the potential in him. Offensively, I think he has the highest potential ceiling of anybody on the Knicks roster. Whether he reaches it or not is something different altogether. His shot has been pretty wet, but his drives to the basket are a cluster****, no consistency in them at all.

Can't say I've really watched him when he was in Orlando. Can I get some perspective? Has he always had a habit of taking bad shots? If not, then I'd have more hope for him.

Umm, it can depend on who answers you lol. He's a mixed bag of goodies. If you have time here's some discussion to consider.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1674422

this one sort of evolves through a couple of years here. (like i said, if you have time lol)
https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1426550

Not going to read through all that. But here's what I've seen so far...

Money with his shot when feet are set
Not afraid to drive to the basket, though he seems to have tunnel vision when he does
Oftentimes a chuck, but he's also made some good passes
Good size for a 2/3
Very fluid with his movements
Not bad as bad when defending man to man as I thought he'd be, but help/team defense is horrid
Often makes boneheaded plays. But that might be due to lack of a defined role?

I think he'd flourish if given Hardaway's role on offense.

[magicman112]

I see the potential in him. Offensively, I think he has the highest potential ceiling of anybody on the Knicks roster. Whether he reaches it or not is something different altogether. His shot has been pretty wet, but his drives to the basket are a cluster****, no consistency in them at all.

Can't say I've really watched him when he was in Orlando. Can I get some perspective? Has he always had a habit of taking bad shots? If not, then I'd have more hope for him.

Umm, it can depend on who answers you lol. He's a mixed bag of goodies. If you have time here's some discussion to consider.

https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=1674422

this one sort of evolves through a couple of years here. (like i said, if you have time lol)
https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1426550

Not going to read through all that. But here's what I've seen so far...

Money with his shot when feet are set
Not afraid to drive to the basket, though he seems to have tunnel vision when he does
Oftentimes a chuck, but he's also made some good passes
Good size for a 2/3
Very fluid with his movements
Not bad as bad when defending man to man as I thought he'd be, but help/team defense is horrid
Often makes boneheaded plays. But that might be due to lack of a defined role?

I think he'd flourish if given Hardaway's role on offense.

That's him to a T. Those are exactly the things he did here he was usually good for a boneheaded play or two each game. But there would be games where his talent shined through and you'd be wondering why he can't do that night in and night out.

[407Junkie]

We should’ve taken Willie Stein. Another bust pick by the Magic. He will always be just a NBA player in the league.

[OrlandO]

We should’ve taken Willie Stein. Another bust pick by the Magic. He will always be just a NBA player in the league.

In a vacuum yes, but then we'd be wasting time investing years in him when he's really not that good imo. He's another offensive C... despite the athleticism he doesn't rebound well, block shots or protect the paint. Bamba is a much better C prospect.

[OrlandoMagic]

If we ever get a true starting caliber PG we will be fine

[PrimeThyme]

We should’ve taken Willie Stein. Another bust pick by the Magic. He will always be just a NBA player in the league.

In a vacuum yes, but then we'd be wasting time investing years in him when he's really not that good imo. He's another offensive C... despite the athleticism he doesn't rebound well, block shots or protect the paint. Bamba is a much better C prospect.

Agreed. I was even a big Myles Turner guy but even he has regressed to me these last couple years and hasn't turned into the player I thought he would. Booker wasn't realistic at 5. The pick in that draft was KP and unfortunately for Rob we were one pick away from him.

[pepe1991]

Ugh Turner... dude was best in rookie year, kind a gets worst and worst every year. What makes things even more crazy is fact that Turner is just 22 years old.
Only prospect Magic really missed in 2015 is Porzingis taken 1 pick away from them and Booker .
But every draft from 2014 to 2018 has that one pick before and after Magic were on clock that turned into better prospect than Magic took.
2014 - before Gordon Embiid, after Payton Lavine
2015 - Booker
2016 - traded Sabonis pick, turned into great player
2017 - Fox, Tatum before - Mitchell later
2018 - Dončić before

[Mc-o]

We should’ve taken Willie Stein. Another bust pick by the Magic. He will always be just a NBA player in the league.

In a vacuum yes, but then we'd be wasting time investing years in him when he's really not that good imo. He's another offensive C... despite the athleticism he doesn't rebound well, block shots or protect the paint. Bamba is a much better C prospect.

Agreed. I was even a big Myles Turner guy but even he has regressed to me these last couple years and hasn't turned into the player I thought he would. Booker wasn't realistic at 5. The pick in that draft was KP and unfortunately for Rob we were one pick away from him.

booker wasn’t realistic ?! We picke hezonja , a mystery prospect from the European benches . We definitely could have gotten booker but it was just a mistake by our front office

[ChosenSavior]

Look who's talking some trash on social media...

Read on Twitter

[bargnanimvp]

In a vacuum yes, but then we'd be wasting time investing years in him when he's really not that good imo. He's another offensive C... despite the athleticism he doesn't rebound well, block shots or protect the paint. Bamba is a much better C prospect.

Agreed. I was even a big Myles Turner guy but even he has regressed to me these last couple years and hasn't turned into the player I thought he would. Booker wasn't realistic at 5. The pick in that draft was KP and unfortunately for Rob we were one pick away from him.

booker wasn’t realistic ?! We picke hezonja , a mystery prospect from the European benches . We definitely could have gotten booker but it was just a mistake by our front office

hezonja was highly talked about before the draft though, i don't recall any push for booker

[OrlandO]

Look who's talking some trash on social media...

Read on Twitter

Mario with the 9.6 ppg on 10.3 fga negative efficiency

[Optimus_Steel]

Whether in Orlando or NY, poop is still the same color.

[pepe1991]

Whether in Orlando or NY, poop is still the same color.

Imo he played ok last night , i think he had least terrible +/- but rest of that team , man oh man. Frank Ntilikina ... i'm not even joking i think most of us here could have same offensive stats after 2 months of training camp.

Knox 32,8% FG
ROn Baker 9% FG ( yes, that's nine percent )
Hardaway, Hezonja, Burke 40%

Whole team is such a dumpster fire with Fizdale who was so overhyped for no particular reason but skin color.

[SOUL]

Whether in Orlando or NY, poop is still the same color.

Imo he played ok last night , i think he had least terrible +/- but rest of that team , man oh man. Frank Ntilikina ... i'm not even joking i think most of us here could have same offensive stats after 2 months of training camp.

Knox 32,8% FG
ROn Baker 9% FG ( yes, that's nine percent )
Hardaway, Hezonja, Burke 40%

Whole team is such a dumpster fire with Fizdale who was so overhyped for no particular reason but skin color.

Why do you keep bringing up his skin color as coach?

Tons of overrated white coaches in the league too, same with black lol. Think NBA as a whole likes to hire retreads and guys that are generally ineffective though.

I think Fiz is a top assistant coach, not sure about HC yet. But to be fair, Knicks roster is totally rebuild mode.

[OrlandO]

Whether in Orlando or NY, poop is still the same color.

Imo he played ok last night , i think he had least terrible +/- but rest of that team , man oh man. Frank Ntilikina ... i'm not even joking i think most of us here could have same offensive stats after 2 months of training camp.

Knox 32,8% FG
ROn Baker 9% FG ( yes, that's nine percent )
Hardaway, Hezonja, Burke 40%

Whole team is such a dumpster fire with Fizdale who was so overhyped for no particular reason but skin color.

Mario was garbage. 1/5 fg in the first half, benched whole 3rd qtr... didn't really score until garbage time when we were up 30+ in the 4th. Horrible season for him so far.

[pepe1991]

Whether in Orlando or NY, poop is still the same color.

Imo he played ok last night , i think he had least terrible +/- but rest of that team , man oh man. Frank Ntilikina ... i'm not even joking i think most of us here could have same offensive stats after 2 months of training camp.

Knox 32,8% FG
ROn Baker 9% FG ( yes, that's nine percent )
Hardaway, Hezonja, Burke 40%

Whole team is such a dumpster fire with Fizdale who was so overhyped for no particular reason but skin color.

Why do you keep bringing up his skin color as coach?

Tons of overrated white coaches in the league too, same with black lol. Think NBA as a whole likes to hire retreads and guys that are generally ineffective though.

I think Fiz is a top assistant coach, not sure about HC yet. But to be fair, Knicks roster is totally rebuild mode.

Because whole hype about him and only reason why people viewed him as some great coach was when Lebron ,Wade and SA Smith got upset on twitter how all black coaches were fired. It was them who made all that racial noice, i just point out why he was hyped in first place.

tbh i can't name single thing about his system ( if there is any ) that he is good at.
He got 1 season with Memphis where team was average at best, had feud with M. Gasol and got fired.
In his "best" season with Memphis he won 1 game more than Dave Joerger who got fired in year prior.

[pepe1991]

Whether in Orlando or NY, poop is still the same color.

Imo he played ok last night , i think he had least terrible +/- but rest of that team , man oh man. Frank Ntilikina ... i'm not even joking i think most of us here could have same offensive stats after 2 months of training camp.

Knox 32,8% FG
ROn Baker 9% FG ( yes, that's nine percent )
Hardaway, Hezonja, Burke 40%

Whole team is such a dumpster fire with Fizdale who was so overhyped for no particular reason but skin color.

Mario was garbage. 1/5 fg in the first half, benched whole 3rd qtr... didn't really score until garbage time when we were up 30+ in the 4th. Horrible season for him so far.

Not excuse but it's impossible to look even decent on that roster.
Amount of low IQ players in same spot is just amazing, he fits great

[swarlesbarkley]

Mario looks the same as he did while he was here. Sometimes a pretty shot, but more often pretty disappointing.

[papajoe]

Whether in Orlando or NY, poop is still the same color.

Imo he played ok last night , i think he had least terrible +/- but rest of that team , man oh man. Frank Ntilikina ... i'm not even joking i think most of us here could have same offensive stats after 2 months of training camp.

Knox 32,8% FG
ROn Baker 9% FG ( yes, that's nine percent )
Hardaway, Hezonja, Burke 40%

Whole team is such a dumpster fire with Fizdale who was so overhyped for no particular reason but skin color.

#

[Skybox]

I really thought Mario would blow up in NY with more PT...even if just empty "Vuc stats". Sad for him, but kind of validates our FO decision. Moving forward...