Dame Lizard wrote:I wasn't a fan of this signing one bit over the first couple of days, but then a Knicks fan said (on a Youtube video) to check out his stats at the end of the season when he was playing at PG with the ball in his hands.
He had three consecutive games, shooting 50%+ FG%:
29 / 5 / 9
16 / 11 / 16
30 / 5 / 6.
It's a tiny sample size of only three games (with the fourth game being a 0 point outing for him), but all of a sudden I'm happy with this signing, given the price. Maybe he simply needs the ball to thrive.
yeah, it's way too small of a sample size and it might be worth noting that the Knicks lost 3 of those 4 games by an average of well over 20 points.
I wasn't impressed with the signing at first either, starting with the fact that so far, he's shown to be a poor perimeter shooter....turner flahback kicked in.
but since then: I saw his interviews and he was articulate, poised, and displaying a good sense of humor. And one thing Olshey has been very good at is adding intelligent, high character players. At first glance, Hezonja seems to fit that template
then there's the
swing-for-the-fences dynamic. That's what happened when Nassir Little fell to 25th; the Blazers had an opportunity for a home run swing. Odds are it will be a foul ball but you never know and it's a case of nothing ventured nothing gained.
I think that's similar to the Hezonja signing. It's obvious Hezonja thinks he can provide some PG skills. I think Olshey is rolling the dice that Hezonja can be Portland's Draymond Green. And if that's too lofty, maybe he can be Portland's Boris Diaw. The really encouraging thing is if he does hint at either of those upsides, Portland will actually have enough cap-space next summer to re-sign him
I'd also say we need to come up with a shorter version of Hezonja...that takes too long to type...kind of like Przybilla. Hez?