Between his evident swagger and Lionel Messi quote, Mario Hezonja is a noisy player in the most entertaining way possible. You have to be built in a special, irrational confidence way to be an effective high usage wing scorer. The question is whether Hezonja has the skills and ability to back it up and if he can't, whether he can dial it down from his default of 11 to fit in an NBA locker room at an eight.

Hezonja is nothing if not a cocky player and that shows in his jumper with a quick high release and the way he keeps his hand up on a lot of his shots. Hezonja seems to like higher degree of difficulty shots and looks mores impressive shooting off the dribble or on a screen than on standstill catch-and-shoot situations. Nick Young had similar free throw and three-point percentages at USC as Hezonja and that’s of course a logical comparison in terms of the talent/confidence mix. Swaggy Mario would be an appropriate nickname, though he hopefully doesn’t devolve into the cartoon version.

Hezonja has a really good physical profile for a wing with his length and athleticism. The ability to slash and attack the basket and actually finish at the rim in traffic serves as an excellent complement to his shooting, though he doesn’t really play that way as often as he could at this point. Hezonja is mostly a shooter and had an extremely low rate of drawing fouls, which is an indicator of his approach and also the limits of his handle. The jump from Hezojna being a very good player to a potentially great player will be largely determined by how he develops his handle because that would open up his playmaking.

Paul Pierce is an apt comparison for his all-around game and he’s a player who all of a sudden went from a 15.7 assist rate in Year 4 to 24.2 in Year 5. For Pierce, that was the difference between an occasional All-Star and being a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Hezonja has a good foundation in his on-ball defense with the way he gets into a defensive stance and uses his arms to get into the passing lanes. The same swagger he approaches the game on offense will appear on the defensive end of the floor and he can become a special two-way player if he channels that consistently. Hezonja’s help defense is unsurprisingly an issue both in terms of staying mentally engaged and also learning the fundamentals. Hezonja won’t be able to stay on the floor unless he picks this up quickly. 

Hezonja can become an approximation on defense of somewhere between DeMarre Carroll and Trevor Ariza. Hezojna has the same height and reach as Carroll and could be his closest overall comparison for his entire game if he develops a more workmanlike approach. Carroll is going to get a huge contract in free agency after blooming late so there’s very clear value in becoming even that type of player as a high lottery pick.

Hezonja can play either wing position, but he’s probably best suited at shooting guard initially. The long-term potential of him playing a lot of a small-ball 4 the way we’ve seen Pierce evolve or Harrison Barnes emerge may be the most appealing part of his game unless he does become the superstar he expects to be. Barnes has a lot of great physical tools, but doesn’t have that confidence of Hezonja as a scorer and is similarly limited with his handle. Barnes was unable to become the superstar he was touted as early in his development, but his adaptability is what has made him an invaluable player for the Warriors. It is often difficult for players with Hezonja’s mindset to first accept and then become effective a lesser role and there’s a good probability he won’t be an All-Star, so that could end up being something he figures out with his second team rather than the one selecting him.