Phenom wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2026 2:47 pm
I'm hoping the Wolves are in on Hezonja now.
That's an interesting name. I was looking at his stats and his 3 point shooting the last couple years is around 34% he is an excellent FT shooter. I also don't know if he is big enough to play PF or even a SF compared to other guys we already have. It seems a few teams have interest though and he has been playing for typically one of the best teams in Europe in Real Madrid where he was teammates with Lyles and former Nugget PG Facundo Campazzo among other former NBA players or draft picks.
Why on earth does it make sense to sign Hezonja? If the Wolves roster problem is the lack of a true PF, Hezonja certainly doesn’t solve that. He’s a SG/SF with good length for those positions but he’s not a PF. If the point is to add shooting, he doesn’t help much in that area either. In his five NBA seasons he averaged 32% from behind the arc on only 2.5 attempts per game. His NBA career FG shooting was around 41%, which is really bad for a 6’8” SF/SG. He’s not a great athlete and is well past the age where he might have any upside in his game. If we’re just looking for an end-of-been filler, then I guess signing him at the minimum is OK, but there are lots of choices at least as good as him to fill that role. Otherwise, if we’re looking for a rotation PF or possibly a starter ahead of Trey Lyles, Hezonja isn’t it.
I already made the case for Hezonja but apparently no one noticed.
"I was just thinking about Hezonja. He is reportedly a target for teams that miss out on LeBron. Has apparently been playing both forward spots. He's been around 37% from 3. Real Madrid has him listed at 240 lbs so he's bulked up from his nba days. His rebound % during his NBA time was 18.45%, which is quite good. He is probably the next best option."
That's why on Earth. He's not a scrawny wing anymore.
EuroLeague Breakdown:
2022–23: 10.6 PPG | 3.0 RPG | 43.3% 3FG
2023–24: 13.5 PPG | 4.6 RPG | 43.1% 3FG | 92.1% FT (All-EuroLeague Second Team)
2024–25: 14.9 PPG | 5.3 RPG | 1.5 APG
2025–26: 13.3 PPG | 4.0 RPG | 2.4 APG
Liga ACB (2025–26 MVP Season): Averaged 17.5 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.9 APG across 44 domestic appearances.
Key Takeaway: Moving inside to the power forward position in Europe allowed Hezonja to exploit slower heavy bigs with his 3-point range while using his athleticism to crush glass and push the pace in transition.
Phenom wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2026 10:11 am
I already made the case for Hezonja but apparently no one noticed.
"I was just thinking about Hezonja. He is reportedly a target for teams that miss out on LeBron. Has apparently been playing both forward spots. He's been around 37% from 3. Real Madrid has him listed at 240 lbs so he's bulked up from his nba days. His rebound % during his NBA time was 18.45%, which is quite good. He is probably the next best option."
That's why on Earth. He's not a scrawny wing anymore.
Sundog wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2026 11:53 am
From Gemini on Mario Euro stats:
EuroLeague Breakdown:
2022–23: 10.6 PPG | 3.0 RPG | 43.3% 3FG
2023–24: 13.5 PPG | 4.6 RPG | 43.1% 3FG | 92.1% FT (All-EuroLeague Second Team)
2024–25: 14.9 PPG | 5.3 RPG | 1.5 APG
2025–26: 13.3 PPG | 4.0 RPG | 2.4 APG
Liga ACB (2025–26 MVP Season): Averaged 17.5 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.9 APG across 44 domestic appearances.
Key Takeaway: Moving inside to the power forward position in Europe allowed Hezonja to exploit slower heavy bigs with his 3-point range while using his athleticism to crush glass and push the pace in transition.
All of this sounds like a solid option to me. If that's the move they make, I won't hate it. In generally I'm really curious what they are thinking right about now.
Phenom wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2026 10:11 am
I already made the case for Hezonja but apparently no one noticed.
"I was just thinking about Hezonja. He is reportedly a target for teams that miss out on LeBron. Has apparently been playing both forward spots. He's been around 37% from 3. Real Madrid has him listed at 240 lbs so he's bulked up from his nba days. His rebound % during his NBA time was 18.45%, which is quite good. He is probably the next best option."
That's why on Earth. He's not a scrawny wing anymore.
Sundog wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2026 11:53 am
From Gemini on Mario Euro stats:
EuroLeague Breakdown:
2022–23: 10.6 PPG | 3.0 RPG | 43.3% 3FG
2023–24: 13.5 PPG | 4.6 RPG | 43.1% 3FG | 92.1% FT (All-EuroLeague Second Team)
2024–25: 14.9 PPG | 5.3 RPG | 1.5 APG
2025–26: 13.3 PPG | 4.0 RPG | 2.4 APG
Liga ACB (2025–26 MVP Season): Averaged 17.5 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.9 APG across 44 domestic appearances.
Key Takeaway: Moving inside to the power forward position in Europe allowed Hezonja to exploit slower heavy bigs with his 3-point range while using his athleticism to crush glass and push the pace in transition.
All of this sounds like a solid option to me. If that's the move they make, I won't hate it. In generally I'm really curious what they are thinking right about now.
Leave it to LeBron to drop his decision Friday afternoon and dominate the news cycle all weekend when normal folks aren’t in the office to work the phones and get the NBA offseason machine back up and running.(I know that’s not how it works).
Maybe the transactions start flying by at start of business Monday. Wolves Have to sign someone ya? Like legally roster size wise? Mario sounds good, played with Try Lyles? Who played with Rudy? So the familiarity breadcrumbs are there…the warm fuzzies are and comfortability for the new signees? Like bringing in Green to help Lamelo transition to a new team. Or Connelly to tell everyone how to play with Rudy.
After looking at various undrafted or late round guys that have played some decently legit minutes in the league that are at least a little interesting I thought maybe I should look a little more at trey kaufman renn since I'm guessing most of those guy weren't supposed to make it at all and some of them have 3-4 years of NBA service time.
First thing was when I watched back game 1 of Summer league I thought he looked a little better than I remembered. I wasn't wildly excited with what I saw from him in summer league but to be fair he often didn't get a ton of run. Compare that to his Big 10 counterpart Reink Mast who ended up getting extended run for the pacers and did some good things. Maybe TKR would have been as impressive if he had gotten those opportunities. Then I looked at TKR's summer league stats. 6.6 points 3.8 rebounds and a steal in just under 13mpg and zero turnovers. Even double that production to 26 mpg and that's pretty productive. 13 and 7.
Then I watched some more college highlights. Keep in mind this guy put up numbers against Michigan this year twice. The highlights that got interesting was the passing one. The guy was whipping one handed cross court passes often out of double teams and there were multiple lob passes. These weren't just oh he threw these passes to the area where the guy was many of these were absolute dimes. I'm not suggesting this guy is someone the Wolves should run offense through or anything but it looks like there is some legit passing skill there to make a 5 minute highlight reel out of. That can matter if you have r someone that can make quick decisions (he moves the ball quickly) and actually has the vision and skill to make passes. That's not something everyone can do.
His junior year he lead all of NCAA in FG and 2 point shots made. Yes you read that correctly. He wasn't even playing a ton of minutes he averaged 30.8mpg. That push shot or whatever it is is really interesting. It feels like you could just throw him the ball somewhere in the paint and he could at least get something up that might hit the rim if not fall in. It's pretty unique but he definitely has some touch. Watching some highlights it looks like it extends farther out than you would expect with him taking shots with it at least FT line extended all over the court. It would be interesting to see what he shot in some different zones but I'm not going any farther.
He is a guy that majored in philosophy and seems like he pretty much plays basketball, reads and sleeps. I watched an interview when he was a younger player at Purdue and he looked more like a rugged SF combo forward type. Maybe he could get a little sleeker and move a little better. I'll say though it looked like he did just fine and had a number of excellent closeouts at the 3 point line which wasn't always the case in summer league which I guess isn't that terrible id rather have a guy going a little too hard in that context. Anyways he isn't a guy with big upside or whatever but he might be a worthwhile roster guy at some point which would be great for a guy picked #59. I still think the plan is for him to end up in Iowa as an affiliate player but he could work his way into a 2-way deal.
I think the Wolves will have opportunities to add various PF options that might be reasonably asked to play rotation minutes. The Sixers will need to let go of some guys maybe someone like Jabari Walker would be worth signing to a non-guaranteed deal. I know some of these players are bottom of the barrel but sometimes those players end up being pretty good players. We just traded a former undrafted FA as the centerpiece of a deal for a possible all star level PG.
TKR reminds me of the type of offensive glue that Kyle Anderson brought in his first stint with the Wolves. He did little to criticize in Summer League other than missing a game with a face contusion ( looked like maybe losened a few teeth? might have been worth errring on the side of a guys safety).
Worse players have been given leeway as developmental bench guys here. TKR is a finished college product and we won’t need to take a three year look at him. We will now by 2028 if he’s worth an extension.
