Mario Hezonja’s most recent stretch glued to the Knicks’ bench has him wishing he had a time machine.
Not so the small forward could have signed elsewhere in free agency last offseason, but so he could have entered the NBA with the coaches he has now.
“I wish they were my coaching staff in my rookie year,” Hezonja said. “We’d be talking a different story right now.”
Before playing in the final three games of the Knicks’ six-city, 13-day road trip, Hezonja had played just twice over his last six games, and only for a combined 8:23. But the former Magic No. 5 pick used it to his advantage, seeing the game through different eyes for the first time and staying in the ear of assistant coach Keith Smart, among others.
“I think as much as you play and as much as you learn on the court, I think it’s the same amount you can learn off the court,” Hezonja said Thursday after practice, ahead of the Knicks’ Friday matchup against the Pacers at the Garden. “That matters… Right now when I wasn’t playing, I see globally, as a team, how we move and all this stuff. So I learned a lot.”
Hezonja said he kept on asking Smart questions about what he would want him to do in certain situations on the court, how to better manage the game, what plays opposing teams were running. When Hezonja finally got back on the floor, he noticed the difference. The things he had talked through with Smart and assistants Kaleb Canales, Pat Sullivan and Jud Buechler were coming into play.
“When you pay attention to details like this, they become your habit,” Hezonja said. “So now it’s coming automatically to me to control the game more so I don’t have to — I’m always waiting for the game, but once it comes, I control how the pace is going to go. It’s very important.”
On Friday in Los Angeles, Hezonja entered the game for the first time with 1:30 left in the third quarter, with the Knicks trailing the Lakers 88-86. Kevin Knox had just picked up his fourth foul and Noah Vonleh was already on the bench with four. Hezonja stayed on for the entire fourth quarter, when he scored all 10 of his points and added a key steal and a block down the stretch to pull out the 119-112 victory.
Monday he played 31:11 – his second-highest minutes of the season – and responded with 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Then in mostly garbage time against the Warriors, he scored a season-high 19 points to go with six rebounds and three steals.
Hezonja had started 11 straight games earlier in the season, when he drew praise from coach David Fizdale for his defense, but his offense lagged behind, averaging just 5.4 points per game over that stretch.
The 23-year-old Croatian said “nothing” was different in his last three games, other than taking the court with a newfound education from his coaching staff.
“I think when I was out for a couple games it really opened my mind even more about the game of basketball,” Hezonja said. “It’s really benefited me. It didn’t ruin me at all. It wasn’t messing with my rhythm or anything.”
Hezonja is playing on a one-year contract, and while he knows his future is uncertain, he’s sure of one thing.
“I love this team. I love everybody over here, man,” Hezonja said. “I’m focusing only on here. And this is not typical B.S. stuff, like, ‘I’m only thinking about this, I don’t know what’s going to be in the future.’ I know. But this is it. I love this. I want to be in New York, that’s it.”