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By John DentonApril 11, 2016
ORLANDO – Now that he has the blueprint of his rookie NBA season, Mario Hezonja knows better what he has to work on so that he can come back next season a vastly improved player.
Hezonja, the No. 5 pick in last June’s NBA Draft, was brought along slowly this season because the Magic have a bevy of young players all fighting for minutes at the shooting guard and small forward positions. The 20-year-old Hezonja even moonlighted as a point guard for a time in January as a way to find more playing time for him and get his 3-point shot onto the floor.
The 6-foot-8, 218-pound rookie headed into Monday night’s final home game of the season averaging 5.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists a game. He appeared in 77 of the first 80 games, playing 17.3 minutes a night.
Hezonja struggled at times with the physicality of the NBA, especially on the defensive end. He feels like he adopted to the game and the requirements on the defensive end fairly quickly, but he knows that he still has plenty of work to do – both on his game and his body – to ready himself for his future in the NBA.
“Everything, pretty much because I will have the whole summer, especially (working with) the national team,” said Hezonja, referring to what he will work on while also playing for the Croatian National Team. “I’m not going to point to something (in particular) because I always work on all of the details. I want to get stronger and get stronger with the ball – all of those things that are different in the NBA than in Europe. That’s the objective, but I’m going to work on everything.”
INJURY UPDATES: Already without Victor Oladipo and Aaron Gordon because of concussions, the Magic lost standout center Nikola Vucevic on Monday night because of a right leg injury. The 7-footer is still bothered by the groin injury that caused him to miss 13 straight games early in March and he also suffered a contusion to his leg in Sunday night’s loss in Miami.
Orlando started 7-footer Dewayne Dedmon on Monday, and that will likely be the case on Wednesday night in the regular-season finale against the Charlotte Hornets.
Oladipo and Gordon both suffered concussions last week when they took accidental elbows to the head. Both are subject to the rules of the NBA’s concussion protocol and are progressing slowly, Magic coach Scott Skiles said on Monday. Oladipo, who suffered a gash that required six stitches to close, is almost certainly out for the season, while there is a sliver of a chance that Gordon could play on Wednesday. However, it is unlikely either will play again this season based on the slow speed of their recoveries.
“Better, they’re both better,” Skiles said. “They both did a bike workout and then they’ll both do a little bit more (on Tuesday) provided they handle that OK, which it seems like they have. And then we’ll see (for Wednesday).”
FINISHING WITH A FLURRY: Orlando went into Sunday night’s game in Miami having won five of seven games, beating playoff teams such as the Pacers, Grizzlies and Heat and a Chicago Bulls team that was clawing to get into the postseason.
The solid finish has allowed the Magic to build on their win total – already the highest that it’s been in four seasons of rebuilding – and feel somewhat better about a season that turned sour at the start of 2016. Orlando went 19-13 through the end of December, but a six-week stretch where it hobbled along at 2-15 ruined any shot at making the playoffs.
While Skiles is delighted about the professionalism that his team has shown in working hard to finish on a positive note, he still can’t fathom how his team failed to steady itself when things turned bad.
Skiles said before training camp that he felt the Magic had enough talent to have a winning season and make a strong push to make the playoffs. Because they did neither, Skiles said he can’t truly enjoy a season that had highs early on and late, but disappointment in the middle.
“My Type A (personality) always comes out when I say what I’m about to say,” Skiles said, prefacing his straight-forward analysis of the season. “I don’t know that when you have as bad a January and February that we had that we should be getting a lot of congratulations just for finishing a little bit better. But, again, given the alternative of the players cashing the whole thing and being completely out of it, we certainly don’t want that. So I suppose the guys deserve some credit for going out and at least attempting to finish the season out strong. That’s what we’d like to do.”
