2017-18 Orlando Magic Player Evaluations: Mario Hezonja

The Good and the Bad

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/26/2018.

All Mario Hezonja needed was an opportunity. That is something he struggled to find in his second year with a new coach in Frank Vogel. Some of that was because of a lingering knee injury that probably sapped a lot of his athleticism. It prevented him from doing a whole lot.

Even with that under consideration, it is hard to justify playing a player who is supposedly a good shooter who was shooting 29.9 percent from beyond the arc is hard to justify playing. Especially when all the other parts of his game were lacking.

This was part of the information Magic management had when they stepped in and made the decision about his future. It felt like it was a time to move on and give him a fresh start somewhere else. And seemingly the rest of the league gave up on him too with no team reportedly willing to give up even a second-round pick for him.

Expectations were low for Hezonja, to say the least. And he did not do a whole lot to change that with how he played early in the year.

But as the year evolved, Hezonja’s game changed. It suddenly came alive. Playing time gave him confidence and slowly that talent Vogel insisted he saw in practice — but did not trust entirely in games — began to come through. To the point that Hezonja clearly had to be in the rotation despite his flaws and had gained enough trust to play regularly.

Hezonja’s numbers tell a strange story though.

Orlando Magic

The minutes increase obviously led to a statistical increase. He flirted with averaging 10 points per game and his scoring output profiles as a solid reserve player. Hezonja was a reliable enough 3-point shooter and could get hot on occasion. He would go on scoring tears that would overwhelm opponents. That is what everyone always imagined for Hezonja.

Yet, he still shot just 33.7 percent from beyond the arc. That is hardly encouraging. And his shot selection was always suspect. He seemed determined at times to make sure he got his shot opportunities and took advantage of his time. He knew he needed to make his mark in the game.

Vogel always seemed to be hedging his bets against Hezonja’s weaknesses. He had to try to reign in Hezonja’s predilection toward chucking shots and focus with him on taking better shots. Finishing around the rim was always something he worked on.

Defensively, Hezonja became much more disciplined. But he still had the habit of wandering off his man off the ball and trying to go for steals, leaving him out of position at times.

It was always a struggle to put in some discipline with him while still unleashing that inner nature he had.

To be sure, Hezonja got better at all of this as the season went along. He went from, in Vogel’s words, not looking like a NBA player to being a reliable reserve. That made the season a huge success for him individually.