Dante Exum: The Future is Not Now

[utahjazzz]

As far as highlights are concerned, the video that opens this thread is probably one of the least exciting ever. Exum has done very little this season, as in his rookie year. There were some improvements in his game during the last three years, but nothing to get excited about, IMO. If he was playing for another team, half of his supporters here on Jazzfanz would not want to trade for him: "Hell no! This guy can't do anything! Thanks but no thanks!" - many would say. That being said, he is still quick, long and a good ball-handler for his size, so there's still hope. If by the end of next season he doesn't show a clear improvement by becoming at least a somewhat reliable rotation player, I would say "Trade him!"

Regarding the fact that he was considered a long-term project: being one cannot mean that Exum will become a decent player for a good team only after his rookie contract expired. The idea behind contracting someone for whatever job is that the person can actually perform the tasks associated with this job. If the person in question, even after an adjustment period, cannot to so, we are talking about a failure. It is as simple as that. By the way, Exum was picked 5th in the draft. We are not talking about a second-round pick who may be kept around by the team because he has shown flashes of ability and perhaps may be someday useful. Exum is supposed to be a talent. He better begin to show it.

It took John stockton 3, 4 Nba seasons to become a decent player for the jazz. Stockton also started his nba career at 22 years of age, much older than Dante. John stockton was also pathetic in his first 3 years as a three point shooter, with 18%, 13%, 18% 3 point shooting % with very minimal contribution for the team. And some morons here think that Dante' s 30% 3pt shooting for his 2 nba seasons is bad!

Show some patience and Give the kid some time to develop his skills, instead of bitching all the time.

 

[utahjazzz]

Even if he still isn't what everyone hopes next year I think we need to persist as he will only be 22yrs old and on a cheap contract.

All time greats like Michael Jordan, stockton, Gary Payton entered their first NBA at age 22.
These Dante haters have no bloody clue.

 

[silesian]

This is for you and Wes:

If Lindsey thought Gobert was going to be half as good as he has turned out to be, he would have drafted him at 9 and not Burke. Or 12.

You would draft a player early, even if you could get him later in the draft?

This is why every team has a "team board" (value to them) and a "market board" (value to the rest of the league).

Example, take the Jazz pick 24 and 30.

Player 1: team board = 20, market board = 40
Player 2: team board = 25, market board = 25

Since you think Player 1 will still be available at 30, you take player 2 with the 24th pick and Player 1 with the 30th pick.

 

[green]

For the two who quoted me:

I'll say it again:

I don't care if nobody knew Gobert's name. If you thought he'd be half as good as he is turning out to be, you'd be stupid not to take him at 9 or 12.

Lindsey was lucky. He wasn't some shrewd drafter who outsmarted the league. He was lucky.

He was wrong on evaluating Trey Burke, Giannis and Gobert. He lucked out that Gobert was still available late.

Gobert is not proof Lindsey is a good drafter. If anything, Gobert proves he is not very good at evaluating young talent (because if he was good at evaluating Gobert, he would have drafted him at 9 or 12 or 14).

 

[Quin's Murderface]

For the two who quoted me:

I'll say it again:

I don't care if nobody knew Gobert's name. If you thought he'd be half as good as he is turning out to be, you'd be stupid not to take him at 9 or 12.

Lindsey was lucky. He wasn't some shrewd drafter who outsmarted the league. He was lucky.

He was wrong on evaluating Trey Burke, Giannis and Gobert. He lucked out that Gobert was still available late.

Gobert is not proof Lindsey is a good drafter. If anything, Gobert proves he is not very good at evaluating young talent (because if he was good at evaluating Gobert, he would have drafted him at 9 or 12 or 14).

I think this is too extreme. Buying back in to get Gobert was a great move, and a little bit unprecedented for Jazz culture as well. From what I remember he had been trying to buy in earlier than the 27th pick, so he definitely valued Gobert fairly highly. Just give him credit for that pick. It was a good one, and as many have pointed out there were reports that the Burke thing was heavily influenced by the old regime anyway before DL had consolidated his power.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I'm not sure if I'd give a ton of credit for Gobert. That was a lucky pick. If Lindsey really loved Gobert, he would not have passed him up twice for Trey Burke.

Now, I LOVE that pick. Gobert may move above Deron as my favorite current player, but to give DL a ton of credit for that pick? I'm not so sure about that.

Now, if DL would have taken Giannis and Gobert instead of Burke...then he'd get credit. He'd be the best drafter ever.

At the very least he deserves the most credit of any GM in regards to Rudy Gobert.

 

[framer]

Jazz have also had the misfortune of getting their best picks in mediocre drafts. The Wiggins draft may be one of the most overrated ever.

I still believe in Exum.

 

[stitches]

People make a mistake by looking at the players drafted AFTER our picks. You cannot do this. This is typical hindsight is 20/20 situation. When 5 years after the draft you look at the list of players drafted after our pick, you are playing the field vs single pick. The field is almost always going to win. You have 50-60 chances to be wrong and only 1 to be right. Much better way to evaluate the drafting abilities of a GM is by comparing the expected value of a the picks to the value we got from the players we selected. I think DL has done a pretty good job overall.

 

[akirac73]

The real tragedy was how badly we screwed up in the 2011 draft. We had two lottery picks and could've drafted Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler or Isaiah Thomas, but instead we ended up with Kanter and Burks. The Jazz franchise wouldn't be in such a precarious situation right now worrying if Hayward will re-sign, if we had one of these guys on our roster...

 

[David Stern]

The real tragedy was how badly we screwed up in the 2011 draft. We had two lottery picks and could've drafted Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler or Isaiah Thomas, but instead we ended up with Kanter and Burks. The Jazz franchise wouldn't be in such a precarious situation right now worrying if Hayward will re-sign, if we had one of these guys on our roster...

I agree with this, but there's a decent chance Kawhi wouldn't have developed well under Ty Corbin. After watching Kyrie against Boston last night, I wish we had won that lottery really bad.

 

[fishonjazz]

I agree with this, but there's a decent chance Kawhi wouldn't have developed well under Ty Corbin. After watching Kyrie against Boston last night, I wish we had won that lottery really bad.

And IT and butler were 2nd round picks iirc.
They weren't on anyone's radar and would have been HUGE reaches.

 

[akirac73]

And IT and butler were 2nd round picks iirc.
They weren't on anyone's radar and would have been HUGE reaches.

I get what you're saying, but I only mentioned those four names because they are current all-nba/franchise players. There were a bunch of other players we missed on (that were all projected 1st rounders) that are better NBA players than Kanter/Burks, for instance:
Tristan Thompson
Jonas Valanciunas
Kemba Walker
the Morris Twins
Nikola Vucevic
Tobias Harris
Reggie Jackson

Any one of these players would be better on the Jazz than a constantly injured Alec Burks and the ghost of Enes Kanter.

It's been talked about a lot here..for a small-market team that has difficulty attracting free-agents like the Jazz, you absolutely cannot strikeout in the draft. To have two lottery picks in a loaded draft and get basically NOTHING for it, is inexcusible.

 

[fishonjazz]

To have two lottery picks in a loaded draft and get basically NOTHING for it, is inexcusible.

Or unlucky.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using JazzFanz mobile app

 

[elan_prodigy]

For the two who quoted me:

I'll say it again:

I don't care if nobody knew Gobert's name. If you thought he'd be half as good as he is turning out to be, you'd be stupid not to take him at 9 or 12.

Lindsey was lucky. He wasn't some shrewd drafter who outsmarted the league. He was lucky.

He was wrong on evaluating Trey Burke, Giannis and Gobert. He lucked out that Gobert was still available late.

Gobert is not proof Lindsey is a good drafter. If anything, Gobert proves he is not very good at evaluating young talent (because if he was good at evaluating Gobert, he would have drafted him at 9 or 12 or 14).

You may not care but you also have no idea.

 

[green]

You may not care but you also have no idea.

So, what All Star did Lindsey take with his lottery picks? Who did he pass over with his lottery picks?

Believe whatever ******** you want, but reality is reality. He passed over Gobert three times. David Locke said before the draft that Lindsey loved Giannis and Gobert. He traded those two for Trey Burke. He passed over Klay Thompson, Leonard, Booker, etc.

He lucked into Gobert and had Gobert not been available, DL would have maybe one good draft pick (Hood). And that is a big maybe, because Hood is a very mediocre player.

He gets too much credit for Gobert and not enough criticism for his other picks.

 

[Ron Mexico]

So, what All Star did Lindsey take with his lottery picks? Who did he pass over with his lottery picks?

Believe whatever ******** you want, but reality is reality. He passed over Gobert three times. David Locke said before the draft that Lindsey loved Giannis and Gobert. He traded those two for Trey Burke. He passed over Klay Thompson, Leonard, Booker, etc.

He lucked into Gobert and had Gobert not been available, DL would have maybe one good draft pick (Hood). And that is a big maybe, because Hood is a very mediocre player.

He gets too much credit for Gobert and not enough criticism for his other picks.

Again its been widely reported that he got vetoed on his choice in that draft. Burke was not his pick and not his choice. Thankfully the front office bought a pick so he could get his guy, Gobert. But keep being that guy that won't give credit where its due. He picked Gobert when no one else in the league was interested.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Again its been widely reported that he got vetoed on his choice in that draft. Burke was not his pick and not his choice. Thankfully the front office bought a pick so he could get his guy, Gobert. But keep being that guy that won't give credit where its due. He picked Gobert when no one else in the league was interested.

What? I'm pretty sure that was never reported. It was reported the Corbin lobbied for the pick, but I find it very hard to believe DL did it because Corbin wanted it to happen. It felt more like DL was just throwing Corbin a bone so he could look good.

 

[Ron Mexico]

What? I'm pretty sure that was never reported. It was reported the Corbin lobbied for the pick, but I find it very hard to believe DL did it because Corbin wanted it to happen. It felt more like DL was just throwing Corbin a bone so he could look good.

Yep sounds like DL an undersized unathletic player. He didn't have full control that draft. Corbin and Kevin wanted Burke. We got Burke. Snyder wanted Gobert and Giannis.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Yep sounds like DL an undersized unathletic player. He didn't have full control that draft. Corbin and Kevin wanted Burke. We got Burke. Snyder wanted Gobert and Giannis.

You going to have to provide links to this malarkey. DL has drafted plenty of sub-par athletes while in Utah, Hood and Lyles come to mind. Just because he has drafted some long and athletic players doesnt mean he isn't prone to falling for a guy like Trey Burke. If all you have to go on is "After Trey Burke he hasn't drafted anyone undersized so that means he couldnt possibly have wanted Trey Burke" then cmon man. I dont even know how you can possibly say who Snyder wanted when he was probably just getting done with his Euroleague season when those guys were drafted.

 

[elan_prodigy]

So, what All Star did Lindsey take with his lottery picks? Who did he pass over with his lottery picks?

Believe whatever ******** you want, but reality is reality. He passed over Gobert three times. David Locke said before the draft that Lindsey loved Giannis and Gobert. He traded those two for Trey Burke. He passed over Klay Thompson, Leonard, Booker, etc.

He lucked into Gobert and had Gobert not been available, DL would have maybe one good draft pick (Hood). And that is a big maybe, because Hood is a very mediocre player.

He gets too much credit for Gobert and not enough criticism for his other picks.

I'm not talking about any other picks. I'm talking about your 'logic' behind taking someone early in a draft when you can get him later. Makes no sense. If you KNOW you can get him late in the 1st round, then why take him with a top 10 pick?