CroatianSports.com caught up with 21 year-old Croatian national basketball player and Orlando Magic shooting guard Mario Hezonja Tuesday night in Los Angeles. The Lakers defeated the Magic 107-98 with Hezonja scoring six points in 16 minutes of play.
The 2015 overall #5 pick discussed the current state of Croatian basketball, his rookie season in the NBA and Croatia’s chances at qualifying for the 2016 summer Olympics.
Hezonja stated that he is not happy with recent Croatian results and that it is “on his back” to return Croatian basketball to glory.
Nah, I just like off the ball questions and reactions from athletes and celebrities
^^^^^…..woah kinda suspect suggested questions there bud, that a topic that interests you? Are you jock sniffing……literally?
The only people who care about what you just posted are us nerds who follow basketball and advanced stats/analytics.
95% of the people who post here don’t care for that and wouldn’t pay attention to it. Asking him what crnac has the biggest dick in the NBA would get way more page views or asking him which city has the best slumpbusters would have more page views.
@ ante
Next time with bogut you should hype him up to get back on the good side. The guy has had some truly other worldly advanced stats. Namely, in espns real adjusted plus minus which is a fancy algorithm to truly isolate a player’s contribution on both ends of the court, bogut lead the league last year in defensive rpm and continues to be amongst the leaders. In addition in his season in Milwaukee before his big injury, i believe he combined block shots and taken charges At a rate never before seen. You should ask him if he follows these stats and what they mean to him…. Also make sure his agent knows about them!. Also curious on his transition to this defensive level
I haven’t been around much to have noticed if this has been a topic before…just curious if anyone read that biography on Gotovina, The Warrior?
I would lovd to see a Trump vs Mamic debate
Kasich just said if it wasn’t for immigration he’d probably wouldn’t be here, I’d be running for president of Croatia national tv hahaha
This week in jocksniffing………..
http://sportske.jutarnji.hr/nogometas-granade-obozava-hrvate–necete-vjerovati-kako-je-nazvao-svoju-dvojicu-sinova/1537974/
I think this might be even worse than wearing a jersey with another man’s last name on the back or of someone younger than you.
I was on the resale portal yesterday……most croatia tix got snatched up pretty quick
@ CSR
These interviews are AWESOME!
I feel for the kid, but know he has to mature through this struggle with Skiles etc…
He may want to open up a can of whip ass this July.
He has actually improved his game this year in many ways:
He is stronger physically.
Handle is tighter.
Jump shot as always been there but can get it off quicker against better defenders.
Emotionally has less court tantrums.
For the Magic he is 2/3 tweener at present for the repka he can dominate at the 2 or the 3 and even play the 1.
Classic disadvantage for him with the Magic and advantage for the Repka.
God bless another multi – millionaire Hrvat , the more the merrier. We need to start winning as a people to the level of our natural talents.
Croatia is changing that is for sure.
In other news…. Cilic wont have to face Djokovic until the final(if he were to make it that far) at BNP Paribas Indian Wells.
Good chance Cilic faces a Serb in second and third round.
Djokovic was sitting courtside at Lakers-Magic game. Novak happened to walk by me to his seat. Dude wasn’t interested, left at halftime.
What does having a few Gotovina posters have to do with anything?
By the way, how is everyone’s favorite fisherman doing these days?
How many of you actually go to these places and expirence these sentiments……or is this something someone once told you……Croatia is changing pals…..and it might not be for good
The whole Dubrovčani thinking Dubrovnik is its own thing is a bit of a myth.
If you actually go there, you’ll see a lot of Gotovina posters there and a museum dedicated to calling out the Serbs and Montenegrins for shelling Dubrovnik with rockets.
There are lots of Hercegovci there too. Probably why, lol.
Man, it sure doesn’t take much from you guys to get a rise when Trump is mentioned.
He will make American Great Again……..but, Bush made it great as well by positively influencing the stock price of defense contractors to explode while he was in office.
@Armada………..Dubrovnik its it own land or republic if you listen to the oldtimers.
Dubrovnik is as much part of Dalmacija as Istra is part of Italy. Ummmmm, wait a minute.
jesus christ, you Dalmo’s don’t consider Dubrovnik a part of Dalmacija?
is it just northern Hercegovina at this point???
Ziva, jesi ti lud, ili ti noge smrdu? pusti politiku, ti ne znas dalje nosa!
I try not to talk politics….but this is all I have to say on Trump…
If he wins the GOP vote, it’ll be the easiest win for the Democratic Party in the history of the United States.
No way America, as a whole, votes him in.
His minutes been cut past couple games……went from 30 to 15 real quick
PC world indeed. That is why all diaspora hrvati in the US of A need to vote Trump. A vote for Trump is a vote for Croatia.
@ Ziva,
It’s a ridiculously sensitive PC world we live in my friend. It’s disgusting sometimes.
But if you want these guys to answer the good stuff, they have to trust you first. You gotta build a relationship…blah blah blah.
If they think you’re in there to slaughter them with tough questions…it’s bad for business.
They simply go “no” and leave. Saw it last with my own two eyes with Orlando’s other young dude. I forgot his name. Funny hair. Fantasy basketball worthy.
I get it……just fucking around a little. I know how the game is played.
Easy answer to the first question. Curry all day and every day. No knock against Petrovic, but he only had 2 plus seasons of success in the NBA.
@ ziva
Asked Bogut:
Who’s the better shooter? Curry or Petrovic? Curry was standing right next to him.
What’s more important to you? Owning the best record in the NBA or an Olympic gold with Oz?
He didn’t want action on either of those.
My issue with having access to players is that I don’t want to ruin the relationship we’ve built. It’s nice when these guys come up to you in the locker room and say what’s up because you’ve been cool with them.
re: Hezonja
Had a bad night on the floor. Was bummed after the game. Starting a new relationship with him. Baby steps.
Not that I have to justify my questions but Denis and I are the only reporters in the locker room that don’t talk about the game and their stats. We’re a bit more “personal”.
@Ante…….Too bad regarding Bogut. These athletes today have their ass kissed all the day time and get pissed off when the topic is not to their liking. Its their right not to answer it, but they shouldn’t be able to control the questions being asked.
What were the questions anyway?
And who cares if they don’t like the questions. Trust me, you would get way more page views if you did ask tougher questions they were uncomfortable with only because of the reaction they would have on camera. At the end of the day you are not their friend. Your friends are those of us who visit this website.
Great guy, sounds like he got many things to do.
I guess he would be more succesful with another team, this Orlando Coach is crazy…
Thanks boys and girls…
@ Ziva,
Not on the first one. Trying to build a relationship with this guy.
I learned my lesson with Bogut on Sunday. Asked him 2 moderatley tougher questions which he didn’t like…he didn’t answer them. Wasn’t too happy with me. We’ll see what happenes playoff time if he comes back to LA.
@jm,
i was behind the camera last night. Ante, Mario and I were the last ones out of the locker room last night. Orlando PR was rushing us out of the locker room because the bus was close to taking off. We chatted with Hezonja on the way to the bus. Nice kid.
Funny, I did ask him about the dunk contest. He said that the NBA sends out invitations and he didn’t receive one. He would be interested one day.
Mario sounded a little down after a not so great performance.
I was going to ask him about Skiles but we ran out of time. He did say that he got along with his teammates.
Haircut…. He just turned 21.
@Ziva,
I did ask him about Partizan…. I will tell you what he said if we meet one day. 🙂
Off camera, Hezonja sounded as if hes playing for Croatia in the qualifiers. I’m not sure if the Magic talked to him about it.
Some people in Dubrovnik extend Dalmacija a little to the south, only when Hajduk is winning. 🙂
What???? No questions about being a Partizan fan?
Off the camera, did you ask him if Orlando will allow him to play in the Olympic qualifiers.
Did he say Dubrovnik is part of Dalmacija? Since when?
nice interview
i would’ve asked
1) were you approached about the dunk contest at all or did you petition to be in it?
2) how is it to play for a painful coach like skiles and how much is it messing with your development that they are attempting to win now without the pieces
3) what is with the haircut
is it me or does he have an Australian English accent?
nice job Kvartuc
you can tell his english lessons are mostly the slang he hears at practice hahaha
cool interview
nice job Ante!
Nice to hear him for the first time. Interesting to hear that he keeps in touch with Alen Halilovic. Kid is going to be an all-star.
Hoping he makes it to Chicago one day to play for the Bulls. Thanks for posting, Ante!