Mario Hezonja might have improved quite a bit over the course of the season, but he’s not yet good enough to avoid being part of the “scrub lineups” that losing, tanking teams run at the end of games. However, I would say that in those same scrub lineups where he has to play with the likes of Shelvin Mack, Rodney Purvis, Khem Birch, and Jamel Artis, Hezonja is the best player on the court for the Magic. So that’s progress in a sense. If you’re good enough of a player that your coach can assemble a lineup where you’re the best player, that means you’re actually pretty decent, probably. Maybe.
Soon Hezonja will be on a different team (I’m treating his departure from Orlando as a foregone conclusion here) and we will be able to see whether his strong finish to this season transfers over to next season. On one hand, being on the Magic has screwed up his development and we still might not know exactly what kind of player he is. On the other hand, being on the Magic has opened up minutes for him in the second half of this season that afforded him opportunities to accumulate stats; if he plays for another team, who knows how many minutes he will actually deserve/get?