"This is the concept of strength: a player is strong when he brings the team positive things, no matter whether he scores or not. And we are talking about rebound the ball, the 1 on 1 defense, the help defense, the direct screen on help side, the screen itself, a good use of spaces, keeping a collective sense of the game, to pass the ball properly, not turn it over, and so on. Strength. And this is the thing that sometimes can be problematic for young players. A young player at the beginning of his career gives things when he scores and only few ones when he doesn’t. And after the first year, Àlex [Abrines] is now a player who brings the team those things, even though he doesn’t score.”

After these words of Barça coach Xavi Pascual from the interview published last Saturday in L’Esportiu de Catalunya (link), Àlex Abrines (1m97, 1993) put himself on a shooting clinic against Madrid. It was the last game before the Euroleague 2014 semifinal which will be, precisely, against the Spanish archrival. In the 86-75 win, the swingman fired up to 20 points in just 17 minutes, with 7/8 from the field including 4/5 threes plus 2/2 from the charity line. Also, and as we have seen now it’s not a trifle, he grabbed two rebounds and added two block shots on the stats line. Not only this, but also he outplayed Rudy Fernandez (0/7 from the field plus 4 turnovers) who, coming from a little clash between them after one of Abrines’s block shots, got ejected –yeah, you are right, it’s neither new nor extraordinary–. 

Does this great performance mean that Abrines is going to play an important role in the Milano final four? Nobody knows, and the game itself will show it. But let’s remember for a while what happened in the last Spanish Cup final, of course, with Barça and Madrid facing each other. After an unhealthy 0/7 team effort from the downtown, Pascual gave Abrines a chance in the second quarter. He responded with 2/2 threes, and the Catalan coach put him on the starting five in the third quarter. But less than two minutes after the second half started, Abrines was benched and didn’t return. Why? It’s easy: he ran a stop behind the screen and Rudy got a three. Strength, remember? From this Spanish Cup final played in February until last Saturday game, Abrines has grown as he did from the last season until this one. 

Let’s take a look at Abrines last (and the first) season in Barça at this point of the season, at the beginning of May. In ACB League he had played 297 minutes in 27 games, meanwhile in Euroleague he had 144 minutes in 13 games. With 19 years old and in a injury plague scenario with Juan Carlos Navarro and Pete Mickeal out, and also (and it is not irrelevant) with no opportunity for Brad Oleson to play in Europe due to legal restrictions. You know, the minutes were there and no matter if you deserved them or not. 

Now, let’s see Mario Hezonja’s numbers in his first season as a member of Barça roster. Until today, the Croatian sensation (2m03, 1995) who turned 19 last February has played 229 minutes in 19 games in ACB League, plus 73 minutes in 13 games in Europe. Keep in mind that he was playing all these minutes meanwhile all the perimeter players were healthy, and only Oleson was missing at the very beginning of the season. So, when minutes were available it was the worst moment to enter the rotation, with the team in process looking for its identity. Are Hezonja’s minutes not enough according to his talent? Before answering it, just remember who is fighting for these 80 minutes two spots per game: Navarro, Oleson, Abrines and Papanikolaou, needless to mention that Pullen is also playing sometimes on the shooting guard position. 

Yeah, Hezonja is the number 1 in Eurohopes top list for several months already, above Dario Saric, just named MVP of the Adriatic League final four. When Hezonja is on the court something good happens. Always, giving enough stuff to all those ‘Top 10 plays of the week’ editors. But, with all the respect, he is not playing in Cibona or in the factory of young players called Partizan. He is a member of Barça, the team that, it doesn’t matter how the world is going on, must win every single game playing at its best. Every-single-game, no matter if you like it or not –mostly, think here about Barça coach staff–. 

Who was the last “Blaugrana” sensation coming from the youth Barça teams? Well, we can say it was Juan Carlos Navarro or Pau Gasol. Precisely, thinking about Hezonja’s near future horizon, we may check Gasol’s biography. And then, you notice that the two time NBA Champ turned 19 in July 1999 and played 385 minutes in 26 games in the Spanish 99/00 League. From the first to the last game of that season, he was a 19 years old youngster sharing minutes with Derrick Alston, Efthimios Rentzias and Francisco Elson. And nobody else. 

“The right Hezonja’s progress is learning to practice and take advantage of the minutes on the court. And we are glad, because in everyday trainings he practices as the best one. Next year we’ll see Mario on a very high mode. He grows very fast and he lacks some of the strength component which I’ve mentioned before, but we believe that he’ll get it fast .” We began with Pascual’s quote and that’s how we are going to finish. It is not the same to play at the professional level or to be a professional player. You know, the first can be once in your life while the other should be for the whole life. It’s time to practice now. It’s time to learn the habits, to learn to practice at the professional level in a such demanding club. Understand? Next year there will be the first true season for Hezonja in Barça, and then we could call him Super Mario.