I figured out why Mario Hezonja has been semi-disappointing as the 5th overall pick.
“Dee Tee Bee, you’ve told us a thousand times. We KNOW that Scott Skiles hates rookies, so you can shut up about it now!”
Wrong. That’s what I used to think. The real reason is totally different, Skiles has nothing to with this.
“Oh please, Dee Tee Bee, not another corny-ass joke about a former Yugoslav country.”
Wrong again. Mario being Croatian has nothing to do with the quality of his play so far this season. You want to know the true reason that he hasn’t been all that great as a rookie?
“No.”
Shut up. Yes yo do. It’s because the Magic commentators don’t comment on how confident he looks often enough. That’s the kind of thing that they have to say every time he makes a shot. Every time. How else is Mario supposed to know that he’s confident if he doesn’t get that positive reinforcement? Sure, they say it sometimes, which is the reason he’s averaging more than 0.0 points per game, but saying it occasionally is not enough. How do you think Kevin Durant got so good? Because when he was in Seattle, the commentators ALWAYS said after he made a bucket stuff like “Wow it’s good to see Durant out there playing so confidently.” and “Good to see him keep shooting after all those misses, nothing shakes his confidence.”