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When the Orlando Magic drafted Mario Hezonja fifth overall in 2015, he seemed more like a mythical beast than a tangible basketball player. Since then, however, his performance has removed any mystique and replaced it with all-too-familiar feelings of doubt and uncertainty.
The player that Magic fans were sold on draft night may exist somewhere, but he has yet to show his face inside the Amway Center – or anywhere west of the Atlantic Ocean.
So far, Hezonja has been a 101 class on the perils of drafting pure potential – on hoping for the best without a safety net.
The Croatian-born swingman was billed as the next European sensation from the time he turned pro at age 12. Though he played sparingly in the second tier of the Spanish league before declaring, his length, athleticism, and pure shooting stroke combined for a set of skills that could transcend to the highest competition in the world.
ESPN basketball expert Fran Fraschilla had this to say about Hezonja, who was seen as a sure lottery pick by the time the 2015 NBA Draft rolled around:
"Hezonja is the only player in this draft that could win both the three-point contest at NBA All-Star Weekend and the dunk contest. He's that gifted. He's a 6-foot-8 wing player that could play the 2 or the 3, a dynamic athlete, outstanding shooter.
"If he were playing at Duke or Carolina, he'd be in consideration for the top pick. I'm not saying he would be [the top pick], but we would have our mouths agape more often than not during the college season."
But all of that aside, the most interesting thing about Hezonja wasn’t his 6-foot-8 frame or his 6-foot-10 wingspan, it was his mouth.
In an article which called Mario “the cockiest NBA Draft prospect in years”, SB Nation’s Kevin O’Connor found this nugget on the teenaged phenom’s trash talking prowess:
"Respect? No, I never had respect to anybody on a basketball court," Hezonja told Sportando. "I heard about, ‘If they smell blood, you get eaten.' I'm not like that. I don't care. Whether it's a veteran or a young player standing in front of me I always have the same goal. I want to run over everybody."
But that Mario Hezonja never arrived in Orlando.