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Portland Trail Blazers: Mario Hezonja puts together excellent preseason

Austin Carroll|
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - OCTOBER 16: Mario Hezonja #44 of the Portland Trail Blazers looks on during a pre-season game against the Utah Jazz on October 16, 2019 at vivint.SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - OCTOBER 16: Mario Hezonja #44 of the Portland Trail Blazers looks on during a pre-season game against the Utah Jazz on October 16, 2019 at vivint.SmartHome Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE via Getty Images)

Mario Hezonja has been the biggest pleasant surprise thus far for the Portland Trail Blazers heading into the 2019-20 season.

Back in late June, Mario Hezonja surprised many when he opted to come to the Portland Trail Blazers on a minimum deal instead of seeking out more money on a short-term deal with a tanking team. It should have been obvious then that Hezonja was serious about improving his game, but he was still a huge question mark.

So far in his very short stint with the Blazers, ‘Super Mario’ has looked like a man on a mission. While everyone has had their eyes tuned in on Zach Collins and Anfernee Simons to be the x-factor in the upcoming season, so far it’s actually been Hezonja who had the biggest on-court impact.

Last night, he led the Blazers in points, assists, and tallied the third most rebounds. He shot an efficient 6-for-11 from the field and hit three shots from deep on four attempts. Hezonja has proven to be a competent defender off the bench and stepped up big time to help cover up Simons’ faults as a playmaker.

Hezonja has successfully sliced through opposing teams to get easy looks for himself and get better shot opportunities for his teammates when he dishes out after the defense crashes down on him.

Across five preseason games, Mario has been the Blazers’ fifth leading scorer while coming off the bench. He has put up a respectable average of 10.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. As a player that was signed to a minimum contract and expected to be a deep rotation player, that is fantastic production.

One of the biggest criticism’s of Hezonja’s game has been his inability to shoot the ball, hitting only 27.6 percent of his 3-point attempts last year. But those years came under incompetent systems in Orlando and New York. Under Terry Stotts system, Mario has already seen a remarkable improvement — hitting 35.7 of his shots from beyond the arc on a healthy sample size that would be the second largest of his career if extrapolated over a full season.

This is just another among many reasons to be excited for the Portland Trail Blazers in the upcoming season. Whether or not Hezonja can maintain this high level of play may be a key determining factor in just how far the Trail Blazers can push come time for the postseason.