Mario Hezonja is doing his best to be Mr. Nice Guy with the Knicks.
The 23-year-old forward, whom the Knicks signed to a one-year, $6.5 million deal this summer, has had a quiet preseason but explains that it is because he is going out of his way to gain the trust and build chemistry with his new teammates.
"It's not about me trying to show off immediately and do some crazy stuff," Hezonja told Marc Berman of the New York Post. "I'm being overly patient, trying to play for my teammates, trying to see who I fit with. It's a new kind of team. I don't want to be an a--hole to anybody. I'm just trying to figure out my own team. I know I can hold myself up easily. I was trying figure out the environment."
Hezonja, also known as, "Super Mario," did not quite live up to the expectations of the fifth overall pick in three seasons with the Orlando Magic and failed to win the starting power forward job with the Knicks, which went to Lance Thomas.
Hezonja averaged eight points, one assist and 2.2 turnovers in 20 minutes per game this preseason off the bench but insists he is in a good spot.
"It's exactly where my mindset was," he said. "I wasn't like: 'Here, guys, this is me and I'm going to show you who I am.' I feel we have great people in the locker room who hang out off the court. I don't want to be bad chemistry. We're all friends and the veterans are trying to help me."
Hezonja appeared to show some improvement last season in Orlando --averaging 9.6 points per game compared to 4.6 the previous season -- and credits the help of veteran Mo Speights.
The Knicks forward says he has received the same kind of veteran leadership from Thomas, the man who beat him out for the starting power forward job.
"(Speights) and Lance are my favorite veterans I've had," Hezonja said. "We expect Lance to talk. When I'm back on the bench, he always comes to me. We share the majority of minutes at the same position. He says: 'This is what this guys does, this is what I see here.' With Mo last season, every time I came to the bench, I'd sit next to him and he's talking to me. When you play the game, you [usually] see one angle. When you sit at the end of the bench you see a lot of things."
