The version of Mario Hezonja that we have now is tentative, scared of making mistakes, and not shooting especially well, even for a rookie. What happened to that cocky Croatian kid from before the draft? The one who was ready to tear up the league and dunk all over everybody? Actually, I don’t need to ask. I know what happened to him. And you do to, so I’m not even going to say it. If you really need a hint, the reason starts with “Ski” and ends with “les”.
This career-high game for him is hopefully a sign of things to come. He played the most minutes out of any player on the Magic roster tonight, which probably means that Skiles doesn’t hate Hezonja as much as he did at the start of the year. There was even a promising section of commentary where they said that Skiles was disappointed with him on the last defensive play, WHILE HE WAS ON THE COURT! That mean’s Skiles didn’t immediately bench him for making a mistake! Smell that, friends? That’s right: it’s the smell of progress.