Mario Hezonja already knows he has immense basketball gifts, but he is not taking anything for granted when it comes to transitioning to the world’s toughest league.
Imagine that you have been playing pro ball since age 14. At a time your friends may have been kicking it at the park or trying out for middle school teams, you are playing against world-class athletes.
Basketball comes so naturally that at age 16 you dominate the best players in Europe at a Jordan camp, and no one doubts the only future that makes sense is the NBA. The penultimate step is being a part of the world’s second best league, the ACB Liga in Spain.
It was ultimately a role that was not that of a star, but now at age 19 he has demonstrated more than enough to take on the world’s elite league. There has been enough scribbling on the wall to paint the picture of a guy who could be an elite NBA swingman in due time.
That is the life of Mario Hezonja, who has been billed as a can’t-miss prospect for the last three years while amassing more fame in his country than anyone since the immortal Drazen Petrovic or Chicago Bulls champion Toni Kukoc.
To be sure, Hezonja’s Croatian heritage only bodes well for his prospects, and most of the players to hail from the Eastern European bloc country have gone on to have successful stints, if not careers, in the NBA.
But there is a bigger task before Hezonja, that of playing with the best 400 players in the world, the greatest athletes of perhaps all of professional sports, and he realizes what a challenge that will be.
Even after Summer League, Hezonja commented guys were bigger, heavier and more athletic. But he has yet to square off against LeBron James, against Carmelo Anthony, or a single premier forward he will encounter potentially this season.
“This is a different sport than Europe and around the world,” Hezonja said. “If you don’t improve every detail of your game, you can’t be here. All of us, all of my teammates, look forward to improve our game as a team and as an individual of course and to be able to compete with those guys.”
Hezonja literally called NBA basketball a different “sport,” and that was not any shortcoming due to speaking his second language.
In a league sporting a team nearly every night that has a 36-plus inch leaper and a seven-footer, Hezonja is going to have to ramp up his intensity and improve every aspect of his game. That even applies to his silky smooth shooting stroke, which fell at a 37.7 percent rate last year in Spain.
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Hezonja has to embrace the need to improve, and all indications are that he is. Most importantly, he realizes basketball is a team game and that without his teammates he will be stunted in his growth.
For his first practice, Hezonja reported no butterflies or nervousness. His experience as a professional helped prepare him mentally for the start of a season. But he said he knows, like he said during media day, this is a different sport and the speed and physicality will only increase.
Hezonja said he and his teammates already click as a team and he was looking forward to playing with them. He said they had given him great advice for adjusting to life in NBA on and off the court. They are already a resource for him.
That will be a key part of Hezonja’s adjustment, as life in the United States will differ greatly from his experiences in Croatia or Spain.
Hezonja does speak good, fluent English, but his comfort with the language will improve further still as he spends time in the league. As he said, “No rush, take your time.”
And that may be the approach the Magic take with the sharpshooter, grooming him to be a key rotation player and eventually a star, but by no means rushing the process. Hezonja’s focus on adding to his game and shoring up all weaknesses is just one part of his commitment, but that to his teammates may be potentially greater.
Hezonja and Aaron Gordon quickly established great chemistry in Summer League and Gordon beamed on meeting a guy with Hezonja’s confidence and swagger. “He doesn’t care, he’s been playing pro since he was like 12,” Gordon said humorously during Summer League.
That might be the best thing about this year’s Magic team. If it wins, the fun level will increase, and when players have more fun, they play better. All indications are that this team genuinely likes one another, and that is far from a given in the NBA, or in any team sport.
They are already helping him take on the responsibility and accountability expected of the entire team this season.
“We are really close to each other,” Hezonja said. “It doesn’t matter who makes a mistake. It’s ‘Come on. Let’s go. No worries.’ We’re really close on the court and off the court.”
Hezonja wants to learn from guys who have already been here in this league, and he is going to commit himself toward doing so. It may take time, but he and the Magic are willing to take that time.
Why? Because the potential reward is absolutely worth it. With Hezonja’s commitment and great attitude, it seems more like a certainty than we are accustomed to assigning to European youngsters.