He'll be both much better and much worse than Turner - (based on his history) I'm expecting LOTS of "aggressive"/hairpulling/WTF turnovers from Supe.
That’s the best part of Hezonja. Almost no risk. If he sucks we move on. But if he’s good they’ll have the money to pay him and with Nurk around, the Blazers will have an advantage.
Yeah I agree. I would not expect less wtf turnovers either. Especially the first few months while playing with the 2nd unit. Plus ET did not have as many as most fans thought.
When I looked at Hezonja's shooting numbers they were good and pretty bad. But, Hezonja seems to be able to get to the hoop on his own (from anywhere) and finish despite being bumped or fouled, which has been something we have been missing from a guy his size (he's listed at 6'8"). At least that's what it looks like in this video: His passing stats don't look great, but if that really is something he can do well, dribble full court, pass, and finish at the hoop he could be more important than I expect.
Hezonja did a little bit of everything Sunday, pushing the ball on offense, hoisting threes in half-court sets and — more than anything — trying to create scoring chances for his teammates. He finished with four points, four rebounds and a game-high-tying three assists. As Hezonja evolves into his new role as a point-forward, he’s focused on distributing rather than scoring. “I told (Bazemore) and Rodney, ‘When I’m playing with you guys, you’re going to eat a lot,’” Hezonja said. “I’ll be targeting those shooters, because we need them. I can finish the game with zero points, I don’t give a damn. Whatever it takes to impact winning and to bring the championship to this team. I’m doing all the little things and all the dirty stuff for us to be successful.”
I love that in his interview he flat out said he's going to guard the best player on the court every night...and doesn't care if he scores zero pts...this is a dude who's blocked Lebron before. He's frickin' built like a tank...lot of lower core and upper core strength...I think he's an X factor..he's a lot stronger than he looked before...
I know Green is not 6'9" but I see Mario doing the same as Green did against us by pushing the ball to the hoop.
I know we are expecting Hezojna to play mainly with second team but I'm really interested to see how he plays with Dame and CJ. Very intriguing.
I agree. He could be what they envisioned Turner being, minus the $70M price tag. While his shooting percentages are inconsistent, I can almost bet teams won’t be leaving him open and daring him to shoot.
https://sports.yahoo.com/trail-blazers-wing-mario-hezonja-220002612.html Trail Blazers wing Mario Hezonja ready to guard all positions
Yes, I like him this year as the distributer and tempo pusher in the second unit, but I still think there is a hole in the SF spot. Mario could fill that perfectly if he can hit the three at a decent rate. Next season we are clearly not keeping everyone on the final year of their contracts. If Mario could own the SF spot, then you could shorten the 2020-21 rotation to something like: Dame CJ Hezonja Collins Nurkic Ant (backup 1/2) [one of Baze/Hood/Trent Jr.] (backup wing) Skal (backup 4/5)
