Exclusive Hezonja to the Blazers

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hoopsjock said:
I understand speculation is part of the forum but to me this is just made up bs.
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I guess? He did say he liked playing Center. Your opinion is just as much conjecture as mine though.

Like I said, we’ll find out soon enough.
 
If Collins takes the next step and some, he will be able to play whatever position he wants, and it could be with the Blazers and maybe not.
Can you image once Nurk gets back and healthy the battles in the low post!
 
IMO the only reason that Collins said he preferred to play Center is because he can get more blocks in that position. It wasn't because he was going to try to leave someday if he didn't get to. The dude is the ultimate team player. He didn't start a single game in College.
 
hoopsjock said:
To me this is the same as a national reporter saying Dame wants to play with LeBron in LA.
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I don't think Dame ever said that though...I heard Collins respond to a question of what position do you prefer and he said center.
At this point I'm sure he'll do whatever the team ask of him.
 
hoopsjock said:
To me this is the same as a national reporter saying Dame wants to play with LeBron in LA.
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The guy literally said he preferred playing center though. No one has said he is leaving tomorrow or wants to. The speculation and the question is really, is playing center a big enough deal to Zach that if he is tagged as the teams PF will he accept that or want to go somewhere he can play Center?
This isn't a national writer trying to speak something into existence which is why every good player is “linked to the Lakers or Knicks”, this is just our opinions on how big of a deal is playing Center to Zach.
I dont know him, I have no idea whats important to him.
Maybe he stays here his entire career and loves it the whole time, who knows...
 
Hoopguru said:
I don't think Dame ever said that though...I heard Collins respond to a question of what position do you prefer and he said center.
At this point I'm sure he'll do whatever the team ask of him.
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And that in no means implies that he is unhappy or will demand a trade if he doesn't play center.
 
TorturedBlazerFan said:
The guy literally said he preferred playing center though. No one has said he is leaving tomorrow or wants to. The speculation and the question is really, is playing center a big enough deal to Zach that if he is tagged as the teams PF will he accept that or want to go somewhere he can play Center?
This isn't a national writer trying to speak something into existence which is why every good player is “linked to the Lakers or Knicks”, this is just our opinions on how big of a deal is playing Center to Zach.
I dont know him, I have no idea whats important to him.
Maybe he stays here his entire career and loves it the whole time, who knows...
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If you asked me that question when I was Zach's age I would've said I'd like to play PG, ha ha. That doesn't mean anything in terms of me being unhappy playing other positions.
 
hoopsjock said:
And that in no means implies that he is unhappy or will demand a trade if he doesn't play center.
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I agree with that..Players in the league now days pretty much try and coordinate what kind of team and where they want to play at some point, not all, by many do. Its a players driven league more so than years past.
 
hoopsjock said:
If you asked me that question when I was Zach's age I would've said I'd like to play PG, ha ha. That doesn't mean anything in terms of me being unhappy playing other positions.
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But if had a father that trained you as a post player that could also have a bearing on his aspirations as a pro.
 
hoopsjock said:
If you asked me that question when I was Zach's age I would've said I'd like to play PG, ha ha. That doesn't mean anything in terms of me being unhappy playing other positions.
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Fair enough, Im not predicting he’ll leave because of it. Just think its also not out of the realm of believability either. My guess is, he starts this year at PF gets to play some small ball Center gets like 12-14ppg 6rpgs and 1.5bpg and makes quite a frontcourt tandem with Nurkic / Whiteside and is happy, but heck I have no idea what makes some of these guys tick. Some of them seem to never quite find what makes them happy.
 
Zach certainly wants to start, but is also realistic about where he is in his skill set. You can't demand a bigger role or leave when you can't stay in games because of foul trouble, and are only averaging 4 Reb/game as a 4/5.
 
blazerfan11 said:
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).
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you're doing an analysis on incomplete context. Turner was signed as a ball-handler/play-maker. Nurkic wasn't. One of Nurkic's primary jobs is to set screens. That's not a primary job of Turner

but diving a little deeper into the numbers:

* Turner had 283 assists and 114 turnovers. A 2.48 assist/turnover ratio

* Nurkic had 233 assists and 168 turnovers. A 1.39 assist/turnover ratio

* Turner had 108 turnovers from ball-handling and bad passes (6 from offensive fouls). That left an adjusted assist/turnover ratio of 2.62

* Meanwhile Nurkic had 51 turnovers from offensive fouls and other (4). That left him an adjusted assist/turnover ratio of 1.99

yes, Turner was still better but the differential wasn't as big as the numbers would indicate

More then that, Nurkic operates a lot more in the paint than Turner did. He was making passes from there and he was making moves and pivots from there. When he has the ball he's in a part of the floor that's naturally higher in turnover rate. Meanwhile, in the Stotts offense, Turner is moving the ball around the perimeter a lot more than Nurkic and that's a lower turnover area that results in easier assists. Often, when Nurkic is on the perimeter he's attempting screens. That's why he had 6 times the offensive fouls as ET

http://www.82games.com/1819/1819POR.HTM
 
wizenheimer said:
you're doing an analysis on incomplete context. Turner was signed as a ball-handler/play-maker. Nurkic wasn't. One of Nurkic's primary jobs is to set screens. That's not a primary job of Turner

but diving a little deeper into the numbers:

* Turner had 283 assists and 114 turnovers. A 2.48 assist/turnover ratio

* Nurkic had 233 assists and 168 turnovers. A 1.39 assist/turnover ratio

* Turner had 108 turnovers from ball-handling and bad passes (6 from offensive fouls). That left an adjusted assist/turnover ratio of 2.62

* Meanwhile Nurkic had 51 turnovers from offensive fouls and other (4). That left him an adjusted assist/turnover ratio of 1.99

yes, Turner was still better but the differential wasn't as big as the numbers would indicate

More then that, Nurkic operates a lot more in the paint than Turner did. He was making passes from there and he was making moves and pivots from there. When he has the ball he's in a part of the floor that's naturally higher in turnover rate. Meanwhile, in the Stotts offense, Turner is moving the ball around the perimeter a lot more than Nurkic and that's a lower turnover area that results in easier assists. Often, when Nurkic is on the perimeter he's attempting screens. That's why he had 6 times the offensive fouls as ET

http://www.82games.com/1819/1819POR.HTM
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This is the Mario Hezonja thread. My point was that it will be difficult to match the assist production of Evan Turner and that there are many people who put very little value on his passing ability.
 
Thinking about the Hezonja signing with a little distance for perspective:

I wasn't impressed with the signing at first starting with the fact that so far, he's shown to be a poor perimeter shooter....turner flahback kicked in.

but since then: I saw his interviews and he was articulate, poised, and displaying a good sense of humor. And one thing Olshey has been very good at is adding intelligent, high character players. At first glance, Hezonja seems to fit that template

then there's the swing-for-the-fences dynamic. That's what happened when Nassir Little fell to 25th; the Blazers had an opportunity for a home run swing. Odds are it will be a foul ball but you never know and it's a case of nothing ventured nothing gained.

I think that's similar to the Hezonja signing. It's obvious Hezonja thinks he can provide some PG skills. I think Olshey is rolling the dice that Hezonja can be Portland's Draymond Green. And if that's too lofty, maybe he can be Portland's Boris Diaw. The really encouraging thing is if he does hint at either of those upsides, Portland will actually have enough cap-space next summer to re-sign him

I'd also say we need to come up with a shorter version of Hezonja...that takes too long to type...kind of like Przybilla. Hez?
 
People use initials a lot around here.

Half the time I don't even know who they are talking about haha

Took me a week to figure out who the fuck 'Nas' was.

:cheers:
 
blazerfan11 said:
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).
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Most of his career Hezonja wasn't used as a ball handler. Guys playing off the ball generally have higher turnover ratios because they're back is turned more often to the opponent and they are the recipient of sometimes bad passes, etc.

I don't know if he can be a better ball handler than Turner. But I watched highlights of all 3 of those last 3 games he had with the Knicks, and I have a damned hard time imagining Turner doing as well in the same role.

In 200+ games with Portland, I don't think you can point to 3 games where Turner did as well as Hezonja did in those 3 games.
 
Labinot41 said:
I stil don't know what to think about Hezonja
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None of can really know what to think until we seem him playing in Stotts' offense with his new teammates. He could just as easily be a bust as a great get. I like his skill set though and I think he could be amazing.

I was recently watching highlights of Bird passing to McHale and Parish. It was amazing and fun. Not saying Hezonja is anything near Bird, but if he can get minutes at the SF spot with Collins and Whiteside/Nurkic with Dame/CJ/Hood/Simons spotting up that could really be fun to watch. He does have some of those instincts in passing, just needs to clean up the errors a bit.
 
The way I view it is either Hezonja breaks out in Portland or he’s in Europe in two years (he’s got a player option for next year that’s almost $2M, don’t see him turning it down unless he earns a bigger payday. That’d be a significant salary in Europe)

This is his best opportunity. He has a franchise with structure and stability with a coach who empowers his players. The opportunity for playing time is there, and if I had to guess, he’s probably getting first crack at a rotation spot. There’s really no excuse.
 
Scalma said:
The way I view it is either Hezonja breaks out in Portland or he’s in Europe in two years (he’s got a player option for next year that’s almost $2M, don’t see him turning it down unless he earns a bigger payday. That’d be a significant salary in Europe)

This is his best opportunity. He has a franchise with structure and stability with a coach who empowers his players. The opportunity for playing time is there, and if I had to guess, he’s probably getting first crack at a rotation spot. There’s really no excuse.
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Pretty sure you are correct. He will get his shot. Might even be that "Stotts 20 game" thing that he does with players. It's all up to him if he makes it here.
 
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