Mario Hezonja played a key role in helping Croatia qualify for the Olympics with an overtime win over Italy on Saturday in Turin.
The field for the 2016 Olympics Men’s Basketball was completed Sunday as Serbia and Croatia punched their tickets to Rio de Janeiro on Saturday and France followed suit Sunday in the Philippines.
That means Mario Hezonja will be playing in next month’s Olympic games and, likely, Evan Fournier will join the French national team for the Olympic competition. Fournier said Thursday he would join the France if they made the Olympics and was asked to join the team.
For both players this is an incredible opportunity and both player’s first chance to compete in an Olympic games.
This was the big summer basketball activity for Hezonja. It is the reason why he missed Summer League. It can certainly be debated whether Hezonja was better off playing for the Summer League team, where he would get some “Alpha Dog” reps and display more variety in his offensive game, rather than for the national team, where he is relegated to spot-up shooter standing in the corner. But no one should be penalized or blamed for playing for their country.
Hezonja’s tournament was pretty up and down. His stats are nothing to look at. He averaged 4.5 points per game and 1.8 assists per game. He shot just 6 for 21 from the floor. It was not a pretty offensive performance.
He largely came off the bench and did not have the ball in his hands. In Saturday’s overtime win over Italy, Hezonja largely stood in the corner waiting for someone to pass him the ball. The Croatian offense centers around Dario Saric running pick and rolls and Bojan Bogdanovic isolations. It was not a pretty or imaginative offense, as effective as it was with those two players running the show.
That certainly could frustrate Magic fans. But Hezonja showed plenty of flashes and filled his role well. Saturday he was rewarded with a tournament-high 29 minutes. It appears his minutes were earned on the defensive end.
Hezonja was not tasked with guarding the best player on the other side of the floor, but he showed good team concepts and generally did a good job anticipating help defense and closing out his man. There were still a few times he got caught out of position and got blown by, but he did well to recover and at least contest the shot.
He also displayed a strong passing ability. When he was on the ball, he ran the pick and roll well and found the roller with ease even when he was not looking to score.
It is tough to judge much on his shot. It was a lot of ill-advised pull ups and few drives from Hezonja. He never seemed to be able to find his rhythm at all with so few shot opportunities and a lot of standing around.
This was not the tournament to judge Hezonja much on his offense. It is still unclear whether Hezonja has improved his driving ability and his playmaking. Croatia simply does not use him that way.
His defense though was encouraging to see. That is largely what held him back his rookie year. He slowly was getting better, even as Scott Skiles did not allow him to make mistakes and get playing time. This year should be different, and he should have a better understanding of how to play defense, making him a better player.
Croatia will be in Group B opposite the United States.
France will be seeded in Group A with the United States. If Fournier is called to the national team for the Olympics, he would play Team USA.
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