Minnesota Sports Forum

Would you say no?

ORL gets Bazz

Minn gets Hezonja

I think Hezonja can score effectively when given the chance. In 9 starts last year he averaged 11.1/3.1/2.4 on 47/38/100 shooting splits in 31 MPG's. I don't know why he is in the dog house getting 10 MPG's this year, but I think he could be the type of scorer who could thrive for us off the bench and you can play him next to all our guards and wings. I honestly have no idea how he looks defensively, but I think he is the type of offensive fit we need on the wing and he has to be on the cheap being in their dog house like he is. He had a 16.8% assist rate last year as well which is double any Bazz year. And on top of all that he's just 21 years old with a lot of room to grow. It's a switch the furniture to see if a new situation helps both guys type of trade. Low risk, medium reward type of deal.

khans2k5 wrote:Would you say no?

ORL gets Bazz

Minn gets Hezonja

I think Hezonja can score effectively when given the chance. In 9 starts last year he averaged 11.1/3.1/2.4 on 47/38/100 shooting splits in 31 MPG's. I don't know why he is in the dog house getting 10 MPG's this year, but I think he could be the type of scorer who could thrive for us off the bench and you can play him next to all our guards and wings. I honestly have no idea how he looks defensively, but I think he is the type of offensive fit we need on the wing and he has to be on the cheap being in their dog house like he is. He had a 16.8% assist rate last year as well which is double any Bazz year. And on top of all that he's just 21 years old with a lot of room to grow. It's a switch the furniture to see if a new situation helps both guys type of trade. Low risk, medium reward type of deal.

I wouldn't say no but I doubt that Orlando would say no. But since they have made some head scratching moves in past it would be worth to ask.

I remember when Brando Jennings told that he is much better than Rubio during Ricky's rookie season and all people (inluding me) in Wolves board were laughing. I remember thinking that those players are about as far from each other than any players playing same position can be. Jennings was high usage low efficiency volume scorer, not much a floor general and bad defender and Ricky was low usage floor general and efficient defender. So it was a bit shock for me when I looked their stats today:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&hint=Brandon+Jennings&player_id1_select=Brandon+Jennings&player_id1=jennibr01&y1=2017&hint=Ricky+Rubio&player_id2_select=Ricky+Rubio&player_id2=rubiori01&y2=2017 Rubio vs Jennings comparison

So this year their stats are almost identical. Of course Jennings has still little higher usage but he has much lower usage than in beginning of his career. Both players are bad shooters from any other place except free throw line and their other stats (per 100 possessions) are almost identical too. Pretty shocking.

Mikkeman wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:Would you say no?

ORL gets Bazz

Minn gets Hezonja

I think Hezonja can score effectively when given the chance. In 9 starts last year he averaged 11.1/3.1/2.4 on 47/38/100 shooting splits in 31 MPG's. I don't know why he is in the dog house getting 10 MPG's this year, but I think he could be the type of scorer who could thrive for us off the bench and you can play him next to all our guards and wings. I honestly have no idea how he looks defensively, but I think he is the type of offensive fit we need on the wing and he has to be on the cheap being in their dog house like he is. He had a 16.8% assist rate last year as well which is double any Bazz year. And on top of all that he's just 21 years old with a lot of room to grow. It's a switch the furniture to see if a new situation helps both guys type of trade. Low risk, medium reward type of deal.

I wouldn't say no but I doubt that Orlando would say no. But since they have made some head scratching moves in past it would be worth to ask.

A couple weeks ago there was some tweet that said Orlando was looking to make a move and they were looking to package Hezonja and it sounded like they were basically dumping him. I wasn't sure I believed that but like you said it's the Magic who knows. I just read a couple articles and the reports are the guy is working hard doing all the right things which is important since his attitude was a question coming into the draft. I liked him in that draft as a book or bust pick with diverse skill set. I'd probably do the deal for him based on what I know but that's not much. Supposedly they are done with Elfrid Payton too. The Market for starting level but not overwhelming PGs could get pretty murky. Rubio might be here for a while.

monsterpile wrote:

Mikkeman wrote:

khans2k5 wrote:Would you say no?

ORL gets Bazz

Minn gets Hezonja

I think Hezonja can score effectively when given the chance. In 9 starts last year he averaged 11.1/3.1/2.4 on 47/38/100 shooting splits in 31 MPG's. I don't know why he is in the dog house getting 10 MPG's this year, but I think he could be the type of scorer who could thrive for us off the bench and you can play him next to all our guards and wings. I honestly have no idea how he looks defensively, but I think he is the type of offensive fit we need on the wing and he has to be on the cheap being in their dog house like he is. He had a 16.8% assist rate last year as well which is double any Bazz year. And on top of all that he's just 21 years old with a lot of room to grow. It's a switch the furniture to see if a new situation helps both guys type of trade. Low risk, medium reward type of deal.

I wouldn't say no but I doubt that Orlando would say no. But since they have made some head scratching moves in past it would be worth to ask.

A couple weeks ago there was some tweet that said Orlando was looking to make a move and they were looking to package Hezonja and it sounded like they were basically dumping him. I wasn't sure I believed that but like you said it's the Magic who knows. I just read a couple articles and the reports are the guy is working hard doing all the right things which is important since his attitude was a question coming into the draft. I liked him in that draft as a book or bust pick with diverse skill set. I'd probably do the deal for him based on what I know but that's not much. Supposedly they are done with Elfrid Payton too. The Market for starting level but not overwhelming PGs could get pretty murky. Rubio might be here for a while.

Monster, I don't think Hezonga's work ethic was the question...it was his ego and inability to get along with teammates. The guy was really disliked in Europe. I have to admit I haven't heard anything about his personality since he made it to the NBA. Perhaps not getting minutes has humbled him a bit, or maybe he finally grew up. Regardless, I would be wary about bringing in a guy with his reputation.

DO IT!

I would take him and she should be as good as Shabazz as a bench scorer and has more upside.

While I understand and acknowledge the potential that particular deal (Muhammad for Hezonja) presents, I wouldn't do it. The one thing about Bazz that he has going for him is that his personality is easy to root for. His game is another story, but we're focusing on the individual. At the very least, he doesn't rock the boat and agitate teammates from what I can tell. I've never been around Hezonja, obviously, and I already can't stand his arrogance and overly cocky persona. I didn't like it pre-draft and I've seen nothing that would make me feel differently about him.

It's worth noting that it was reported by several worthwhile media sources that the Wolves and Magic have had several discussions recently. There's no way to know what they were about, but part of me wonders if a Rubio for Vucevic deal (perhaps with other moving pieces involved) makes sense for both teams.

Mikkeman wrote:I remember when Brando Jennings told that he is much better than Rubio during Ricky's rookie season and all people (inluding me) in Wolves board were laughing. I remember thinking that those players are about as far from each other than any players playing same position can be. Jennings was high usage low efficiency volume scorer, not much a floor general and bad defender and Ricky was low usage floor general and efficient defender. So it was a bit shock for me when I looked their stats today:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&hint=Brandon+Jennings&player_id1_select=Brandon+Jennings&player_id1=jennibr01&y1=2017&hint=Ricky+Rubio&player_id2_select=Ricky+Rubio&player_id2=rubiori01&y2=2017 Rubio vs Jennings comparison

So this year their stats are almost identical. Of course Jennings has still little higher usage but he has much lower usage than in beginning of his career. Both players are bad shooters from any other place except free throw line and their other stats (per 100 possessions) are almost identical too. Pretty shocking.

Interesting comparison. Perhaps Jennings has matured and realized that he can use his quickness and ball handling to set up others more.

I think the biggest difference here is "Games Started". Rubio is having to battle against the big boys night in and night out whereas Jennings gets a lot of bench minutes. Although I could see the day where Rubio ends up being a backup PG on a very good team (could even be us if Dunn clearly outplayed him and we were winning big-time).

I wonder if this team needs that cocky attitude. Either way Shabazz is not back next year and it would be a good way to get a glimpse of another player.

Vucevic would be awesome. I would probably be willing to trade Dunn for him if that was what it would take. He is the type of guy Rubio would setup for lots of easy buckets and he would draw a lot of attention. Plus he is a very good rebounder.

I wouldn't swap Bazz for Hezonja. My reasoning is the same as Cam's. The Vucevic trade idea intrigues me, but as I've mentioned before, I think trading Ricky this season would set us back substantially in the near term and prevent this team from making forward progress in the win column this season. As I've mentioned before, I just think we've reached a point where we have to develop a winning mentality and show tangible significant progress in the win/loss column for sake of fan support and team chemistry -- especially with both Wiggins and Zach up for contract extensions next Fall.

I wouldn't trade any of what I consider to be our top six guys this season -- KAT, Zach, Andrew, Gorgui, Ricky and Dunn. I wouldn't have included Dunn in the no-trade group a month ago, but his defensive potentially is enormous and he's starting to show signs of a solid offensive game although he's not ready by any stretch to lead this team as our starting PG. I'd be wide open to trading anyone else on this team before the Feb. trade deadline, but I don't see a significant "game-changing" deal out there for us involving those non-core players.

I think the time for any major deals is next June (draft day) when we can consider swapping our 1st round pick as part of a package that might include Ricky or others. At that point, I would have KAT and Zach on my absolutely no trade list. I'd be very reluctant ot trade Wiggins or Dieng.

As for Dieng, I think he's been extremely undervalued by a lot of fans. He is a true glue guy who tends to almost always be in the right place at the right time. He's a smart player whose motor is always running. He takes the game seriously and is all business all the time. He's just entering his prime with lots of peak seasons ahead of home and he stays healthy.