Now is the time for Mario Hezonja to perform. Due to the Magic’s tragic injury situation, minutes are being given to him no questions asked. If he is going to prove that he is not a bust, he has to do it now. There’s no pressure, no expectations. He’s starting from the bottom. Nowhere to go but up. Just go out there and play basketball. As Shia LaBeouf said, JUST DO IT! JUST! DO IT!
I think Magic fans have given up on him. Undoubtedly in Croatia there are still plenty of people who think he’s being misused/marginalized/held down, and that may be slightly true, but here in the USA I’m not detecting much hope for him. He’s still young, but not THAT young, and he hasn’t shown much except for a few flashes in his rookie season. Maybe if you combined everything he did last year you could get another single flash out of it.
Hezonja got 30 minutes last game and didn’t exactly make the most of it. Tonight, though, he went out there and did stuff. A lot of stuff. 17 points, 4 assists, and 3 blocks worth of stuff. The kind of stuff where if he was still a rookie there would be a lot of excitement for the stuff. Hell, I’m actually a little excited right now. No lie. If he can, somehow, defying all previous evidence, build on this performance, maybe he can start living up to his draft slot.