Mario Hezonja: Phoenix Suns 2015 Draft Profile

Potential Fit

Pros

Hezonja is an athletic wing who can score and defend, and he is an absolute beast in transition. Hezonja could help with the spacing dramatically, considering that the Suns have more slashers than shooters right now, and he would provide the team with another scoring option down the stretch.

Hezonja is good enough with the ball in his hands that the Suns would be able to go back to the 3-PG style without really having three point guards on the court. Eric Bledsoe-Brandon Knight-Hezonja lineups would feature three playmakers in a similar fashion to the Bledsoe-Goran Dragic–Isaiah Thomas lineups, although the 6’8″ Hezonja could help the Suns on the glass a lot better than the 5’9″ Thomas.

Call it a theory.

Additionally, if Hezonja improved his focus, he could help the team out on defense in a big way. I’m not saying he has to turn into the next Tony Allen, but if Hezonja could continue to improve his fundamentals and focus, there’s no reason the team couldn’t use him to bother certain smaller scoring guards, especially given his quickness.

Cons

This next sentence will be written in all caps, in order to make sure the point comes across:

THE SUNS ALREADY HAVE ENOUGH LOCKER ROOM PROBLEMS.

Hezonja on the Suns would be great in a vacuum, but basketball isn’t played in a vacuum. There is a chance Hezonja could work out, and even become a fine locker room presence, or maybe he turns into the next superstar and a ton of teams end up sitting back and kicking themselves for passing on a guy with that much potential because of his attitude.

However, the Suns need to be confident that if they were to trade up and draft Hezonja, he’s not going to destroy the team. The Suns really need a veteran presence, and without that, Hezonja would be like throwing gasoline on top of a fire.

However

It probably won’t matter. Hezonja will likely be long gone by the time the Suns pick, and unless they manage to trade their No. 13 pick and the Morris Twins to move up to like seven or eight or something, there probably aren’t any reasonable trades that make enough sense to acquire Hezonja.

If the Suns move Bledsoe, it’ll probably be because they’re moving up to three or four (or getting DeMarcus Cousins), and it doesn’t really seem like they can do all that much without any other assets at the time being. I wouldn’t hold my breath to see if the Suns can find a way to add Hezonja.

But then again, who knows with this team?

Next: Conclusion