Exclusive Hezonja to the Blazers

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Fez Forthright said:
I think it's a matter of time when he asks to be traded. He said it himself that he prefers playing center.
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He did say he likes it because he can effect the game more from the center position because centers are involved on more plays. But I believe he also said he knows he needs to get bigger in order to do so and was happy helping the team in any way he can. I think we have a lot of time before he is unhappy
 
Zach has no right to demand anything, he fouls like crazy and is weak in the paint, he wouldn't survive one half against the Embiids, Davis, Jokic, Towns, Goberts of the league as a starting Center
 
Labinot41 said:
Zach has no right to demand anything, he fouls like crazy and is weak in the paint, he wouldn't survive one half against the Embiids, Davis, Jokic, Towns, Goberts of the league as a starting Center
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He never demanded anything, and nobody suggested that he has. Just that he stated that he prefers to play center. Yes, some are making the logical leap that he might want out, but that's just speculation.
 
Scalma said:
https://theathletic.com/1062560/201...-to-make-amends-and-a-difference-in-portland/

As Mario Hezonja made his way through the Trail Blazers’ practice facility on Wednesday, meeting players and employees for the first time since signing a free-agent deal with the team, he said he found himself saying the same thing over and over.

“I’m sorry for last year,” Hezonja said he kept repeating.

Last year, the Trail Blazers recruited Hezonja in free agency, going as far as to make an offer, but ultimately he chose the New York Knicks.

“I kind of rushed,” Hezonja said. “But I made my mind up quick; I wanted to experience New York.”

The Blazers’ interest in Hezonja dates back to the 2015 NBA Draft. The Blazers, with the 23rd overall pick that season, targeted him as a player worth moving up to select, but Orlando swiped him with the No. 5 overall pick.

Since that initial interest, and even the flirtation last summer, there has been a significant gulf between Hezonja’s potential and his production.

“I haven’t put up anything yet,” the 24-year-old said of his first four years in the NBA. “It’s fine. I will.”

That type of confidence is typical for the 6-foot-9, play-making Croatian. In three seasons with Orlando and one with New York, Hezonja plays with a flair — international draft expert Fran Fraschilla once said Hezonja was the only one in his draft class who could win the 3-point contest and NBA dunk contest — but he has been plagued by turnovers, inconsistent shooting and subpar defense.

The Blazers are hoping their reputation for developing young talent and their nurturing environment will be a turning point in Hezonja’s career. Already, Hezonja has noted three factors that have made him feel comfortable: He is reunited with former neighbor Jusuf Nurkic; he has a history with Blazers president of basketball operations Neil Olshey and he is moved by the opportunity to play for the same organization that drafted Croatian legend Drazen Petrovic.

“I’m really, really happy to be here,” Hezonja said. “I’ve heard a lot of positives … I’m really thankful to be here.”

His relationship with Nurkic, the Blazers’ center, spawns back to their teenage days in Croatia, where they both played for the club team in Zagreb. Hezonja said they lived in adjoining buildings, adding that he could literally yell across the way to Nurkic from his place.

“That’s my brother, nothing more to say,” Hezonja said. “He is super, super close to me. And he has told me great things about the city and about this team.”

When Hezonja left Zagreb at age 17 to play at a higher level in Barcelona, he said Nurkic stayed in Zagreb and kept in touch with Hezonja’s family.

“He is probably closer to my father than I am,” Hezonja said.

Nurkic isn’t the only tie to his home country. Upon joining the Blazers, Hezonja chose to wear No. 44, the same jersey Petrovic wore in his two seasons in Portland (1989-90, 1990-91). Although Hezonja was two years from being born when Petrovic died in a car accident in Germany in 1993, he understands the significance of representing the number and jersey of the former sharp-shooting guard. Part of that understanding comes from playing under Drazen’s older brother, Aco, who coached the Croatian national team.

“I asked everybody in Croatia if they have advice,” Hezonja said. “Since I started, there was all these comparisons with him. He’s obviously one of, if not the greatest, European players of all time. So just in respect for him, the journey continues in his name right now.”

As a youth, he said he would pepper Aco with questions every day about Drazen. Questions about basketball. Questions about what he did outside of basketball.

“So this is very special for me. I’m very glad that I can continue this for him, in his name,” Hezonja said.

Signing with the Blazers also finally unites him with Olshey, who has seemingly been chasing Hezonja for the past decade. He first came on Olshey’s radar when he was 16 and playing in the 2011 Jordan Brand Classic. Hezonja is represented by Michael Tellem, whom Olshey has known since he was 12.

“I’ve known Neil since a long time ago,” Hezonja said.

The question now is whether the comfort in Portland, combined with the Blazers’ developmental coaching and Hezonja’s experience will translate into something special. Olshey, for one, thinks it can judging from his gushing of Hezonja in a press release announcing his signing.

“Mario is a prodigiously talented player with a high ceiling and a bright future,” Olshey said in the statement. “He will have a chance to contribute immediately while we work to accelerate his development.”

Hezonja says his development was stunted by “unfortunate situations” in Orlando and New York. There were coaching changes in Orlando, and vacillating philosophies in direction in New York.

“Two rough situations,” Hezonja said.

Through it all, opinions varied on how and where he should play. He played some small forward and power forward in Orlando and by the end of his time in New York, he was playing point guard. He said he had never played power forward until then Orlando coach Frank Vogel used him there.

“I was asking Frank Vogel at the time, ‘What is this coach? I’ve never played this?”’ Hezonja said. “They test me a lot, especially in Orlando … and in New York. But I’m thankful for that.”

Thankful, he says, because those experiences made him tougher.

“It tells a lot about my character, that I’ve been through a lot of bad situations and bad examples, and I came out as a better person and better player,” Hezonja said. “It shows on the court.”

In Portland, he says he envisions returning to his roots as a point guard, which he played as a youth.

“That kind of ET role where he was the second ball-handling guy,” Hezonja said referring to former Blazer Evan Turner.

He was thankful for New York coach David Fizdale, who late in last season let Hezonja play the point. In April it produced his best basketball of his NBA career, including three consecutive games of 29 points, nine rebounds and five assists followed by a triple-double (16 points, 16 rebounds, 11 assists) and then a 30-point, six-rebound, five-assist game.

He said he knows he will be asked to play some small forward and power forward with the Blazers, but one of the areas Portland is thin is ball handlers. The Blazers currently have Lillard, CJ McCollum and second-year player Anfernee Simons as primary ball handlers, so Hezonja’s skills could be an asset.

“I will talk to Damian about that,” Hezonja quipped.

In the meantime, he is soaking in his new environment and making apologies for delaying the union by a year. He said he relishes his first opportunity to play with a proven winner.

“I just have to fit in,” Hezonja said. “This team was in the Western Conference finals. I’m here to help. My individual goal is to push them even further. I want to be on a successful team and surround myself with players better than myself, because that will help me. That will help me be even better and become that top-tier player eventually.”
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Great article. Thanks for sharing it!

EDIT: DAMN! That was written by Quack. I have to admit that he did a good one there. Finally....
 
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Scalma said:


This was Hezonjas first start as a point guard in the nba. Yeah I think he’ll be just fine.
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A few things.

1. The highlights are from a game where his team trailed by 1000 for most of the game.

2. Not 1 single highlight with him being even slightly pressured.

3. Maybe it's more accurate to say he has nice court vision than to say he's a pg.
 
I just saw the Portland press conference with Hezonja. He’s very impressive: Articulate, thoughtful, and intelligent. Wants to get better. Wants to surround himself with players he can learn from. I liked everything I heard. I think this guy is going to help us.
 
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Scalma said:


This was Hezonjas first start as a point guard in the nba. Yeah I think he’ll be just fine.
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Man, it was really instructive to see how those assists came. Mostly passing into guys around the rim. He's going to set up Whiteside and Collins a lot if he does get that Turner role. This is exactly what we need when they double Dame.
 
I'm guessing there is no PG in the history of the NBA (that played much) that had a 1 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. Hezonja has a 1:1 career assist/turnover ratio.

Evan Turner last season had an assist / turnover ratio of 2.5, almost matching Damian Lillard's 2.6. For some reason (hate/ignorance?) he was known as Evan Turnover instead of Evan Assist guy.

If people wanted to point at someone who had a lot of turnovers and not a great asst/TO ratio, that would be Jusuf Nurkic. He was 2nd in total turnovers (Lillard was #1) with an assist/to ratio of 1.4
Nurkic also had the highest number turnovers per 36 minutes, Lillard was 2nd, and Evan Turner was 3rd on the team in turnovers per 36 minutes.
And the same for turnovers per 100 possessions - Nurkic 4.1, Lillard 3.6 and Turner 3.4

But just like Jail Blazers, Evan Turnover is fun to say, even if Nurkic was the real turnover machine

So my point is, despite some people's perceptions, Evan Turner is a much better playmaker than Hezonja has ever been, so it would be a huge leap for him to go from 1 assist per turnover to 2 assists per turnover (and that's still not reaching what Turner did).
 
Do they keep stats on how turnovers occurred?

Sounds like Nurk had a lot. Were they mostly from passing? Dribbling? Traveling? Getting stripped?

I don't recall that many of his passes resulting in turnovers?

Same question for Hezonja. There were a lot of highlights of him hitting guys around the basket. Are there lowlights of half of those passes not making it through? Does he dribble off his foot? Does he lose the ball driving to the basket?
 
Remember if he is point forward he will be harder to double due he 6'8 and he can see over the defenders. That the problem Dame and CJ they can't see over the top due to there height.
 
Both Mario and Tolliver have given interviews from Blazers' PF. I thought there was a moratorium period on announcing these deals?
 
illmatic99 said:
Both Mario and Tolliver have given interviews from Blazers' PF. I thought there was a moratorium period on announcing these deals?
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They gave interviews and Neil did a media session but they haven't 'officially' been introduced in a press conference yet, have they? Did they do one for Whiteside? Baze got one and Little did after the Draft but any others?
 
TBpup said:
They gave interviews and Neil did a media session but they haven't 'officially' been introduced in a press conference yet, have they? Did they do one for Whiteside? Baze got one and Little did after the Draft but any others?
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no for hassan yet but everyone else, ya. think @Scalma has it right
 
Mediocre Man said:
A few things.

1. The highlights are from a game where his team trailed by 1000 for most of the game.

2. Not 1 single highlight with him being even slightly pressured.

3. Maybe it's more accurate to say he has nice court vision than to say he's a pg.
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I am good with that. As many players on the court as possible who can do the basics. (Shoot, dribble and pass) You would think they would be easy to find but apparently it is not. Hark and Chief were not good at any of them IMO.
As long as Mario is an average rebounder and defender then he is an improvement.
 
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TBpup said:
They gave interviews and Neil did a media session but they haven't 'officially' been introduced in a press conference yet, have they? Did they do one for Whiteside? Baze got one and Little did after the Draft but any others?
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IOW: Have they gone into the press room and stood up holding a Blazers Jersey with their name on it?
 
hoopsjock said:
I've never seen anything from Zach to believe he wants out. His makeup is that of a fighter not a quitter so I don't see him taking that route.

Quit making shit up.
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I dont know, Jimmy Butler is considered a “fighter” and he moves teams about as often as a Kardashian gets a new boyfriend.
I am not at all saying Zach wants out, or will ask out. However if Nurk is the obvious starter and Zach wants to play Center it wouldnt surprise me at all if at some point Zach would like to find a place he can start at center. Yeah its speculation, but this a forum most of the posts here are speculation.

Also while Jimmy Butler is probably a bad comparison, guys change teams all the time, its pretty rare for a guy to be in one team their entire career.

Maybe Zach gets starter minutes at PF and he is ok with that, I dont know.
 
Zach could see some minutes on the 2nd unit for the Blazers. But if he has to go up against a Jokic, Adams, Kanter, Jordan, etc, he just isn't big enough or strong enough yet. I can see him starting for the first 5 minutes, coming out for Skal/Tolliver, and then coming back in for Whiteside .
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
I dont know, Jimmy Butler is considered a “fighter” and he moves teams about as often as a Kardashian gets a new boyfriend.
I am not at all saying Zach wants out, or will ask out. However if Nurk is the obvious starter and Zach wants to play Center it wouldnt surprise me at all if at some point Zach would like to find a place he can start at center. Yeah its speculation, but this a forum most of the posts here are speculation.

Also while Jimmy Butler is probably a bad comparison, guys change teams all the time, its pretty rare for a guy to be in one team their entire career.

Maybe Zach gets starter minutes at PF and he is ok with that, I dont know.
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I think way too much is being made about his center comments. He seems like the type that will do whatever necessary to get on the floor.
 
hoopsjock said:
I think way too much is being made about his center comments. He seems like the type that will do whatever necessary to get on the floor.
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I agree, but thats part of my point, if at some point he determines the best way to get on the floor is to leave Portland that wouldn't shock me at all. I think if he’s starting at PF he’ll probably be content with that, but if his heart is set on being the center Im not sure he’ll be ok with it, but we’ll find out.
 
hoopsjock said:
I think way too much is being made about his center comments. He seems like the type that will do whatever necessary to get on the floor.
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What he needs to do is shoot about 1000 3s a day this summer and get really good at it.
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
I agree, but thats part of my point, if at some point he determines the best way to get on the floor is to leave Portland that wouldn't shock me at all. I think if he’s starting at PF he’ll probably be content with that, but if his heart is set on being the center Im not sure he’ll be ok with it, but we’ll find out.
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I understand speculation is part of the forum but to me this is just made up bs.
 
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