Better Orlando Magic team means Mario Hezonja can come on slowly

The Orlando Magic will not have to throw Mario Hezonja right into the fire as it has with recent lottery picks.

Mario Hezonja is a supremely gifted basketball player who has been playing professionally in some form since he was 11 years old, but just because he is experienced does not mean he needs to be rushed into game action.

Quite counter-intuitively, the Magic can do just the opposite with Hezonja this season.

Tobias Harris is re-signed to the tune of $64 million for the next four seasons, and that financial commitment will warrant his seeing immense court time. Hezonja will not necessarily be lost in the rush, but with Harris arriving as an NBA player, Hezonja can wait in the wings and develop at his own pace.

Because Hezonja can play both shooting guard and small forward comfortably, the opportunity will be there to relieve both Victor Oladipo and Harris, while learning all the while from both of them.

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That may even be the best part of all of it for Orlando: Hezonja is athletically gifted enough to thrive at the wing in the NBA, and the Magic can groom him exactly as the team sees fit with its pre-existing pieces.

That is to say there is no sense pretending Oladipo and Harris have not worked. Both have had their moments in pinstripes.

Harris immediately showed in Orlando he was a major talent the Magic had stolen from the Bucks at the low cost of an expiring J.J. Redick contact. Since that time, Harris has sought to establish himself as an NBA talent, while just about everyone has fretted over what position he really is.

We are now seeing definitively that it likely really does not matter — because the Magic have a lot of hybridized talent both alongside Harris in the starting lineup, and in the second unit.

Hezonja’s versatility will be much like Aaron Gordon’s and Harris’.

With the Magic having so many pure basketball talents, the real emphasis may be on finding which units function best together as teammates, with the positions sorting themselves out post facto.

The end result may be Hezonja simply finds himself backing up Oladipo equally as much as Harris, with Evan Fournier being the other piece in that strong rotation of shooters. Hezonja and Fournier could both light it up and play alongside one another on the wings, as interchangeable 2s and 3s.

Hezonja’s versatility will be his greatest asset in evolving as an NBA player because it will put him in line for the minutes where they do open up.

And that is a fluid thing: some games Hezonja may find himself matched up favorably at small forward with either Gordon or Harris on the court with him, while other times he will find himself playing alongside either Oladipo or Payton in the backcourt. Oladipo and C.J. Watson will both see time handing the ball while Payton sits.  Just because the Magic now have a legitimate backup point does not mean Oladipo will never run the offense again.

That is the beauty of what is coming together in Orlando: guys will have the chance to learn multiple roles, and that helps them grow as players.

Hezonja will have the chance with a young, talented cast of teammates to become what he is best suited to be as a basketball player. Harris, Oladlpo and Vucevic are all coming into their own as offensive talents, and that will give Hezonja time to adjust to just being an NBA player before he has major scoring responsibilities thrust upon him.

We saw Hezonja take that approach early in summer league, just getting a feel for the court before beginning to strike at the defenses. He settled in that first game, before finally picking a few spots to strike from, including his first clutch game winning three-pointer.

That is really what we saw last year with Nikola Mirotic in Chicago, who did end up making the First Team All-Rookie squad. With better teams, rookies are not expected nor asked to do as much early on.

Presumably Orlando is going to be a better team this year. The Magic have some guys now who are proven: Harris, Oladipo and Vucevic all would be non-surprises if they made an All Star appearance.

That type of talent casts itself into more than 25 wins, and Scott Skiles should be able to mold this group into a team that knocks on the door for the postseason.

As Hezonja picks and chooses his spots, he could be a part of a postseason club while playing a major role.

That is the situation the Magic have been wanting to be a part of: a team good enough that it brings its rookies along slowly, not having to interject them into the starting unit before ready.

We saw Payton struggle badly last season at times because he just was not ready to be a NBA starter, and Hezonja will have the benefit of not having that thrust upon him.

Hezonja may be super, but he can be brought on at a reasonable pace so that he finally assumes his starting role, he is ready to stay there.

Next: Aaron Gordon and Mario Hezonja's Chemistry Builds Excitement