Dante Exum: The Future is Not Now

[gregbroncs]

I was very happy with what I saw from X this season.
More aggression, got to the line more (haven't checked the numbers but it seems like he shot a much better % from the line too ), finished a little better (though still struggles with finishing), played great defense (got hosed by the refs more than anyone I have ever seen in my life though ), and seemed to shoot the deep ball a little better. (Though still struggles there too. )

His speed is kind of mind blowing. Every one knows my love for burks. My favorite thing about burks is his speed. X makes burks look slow. And burks and X are supposedly the same height and length roughly but X looks taller, way longer, and heavier to my eyeballs yet still has that amazing speed.

I'm pretty damn encouraged with X going forward. I just wish his shooting form was much better and I hate his body language.

Body language can change quickly with confidence. This used to be a big knock on Hayward as well.

 

[gregbroncs]

Just saying.


I hope Dante turns out far better than the other projects we have had.

Like Gordon Hayward?

 

[gregbroncs]

Its a real bummer that Favors got injured. All signs pointed to him making a huge jump this season. Hopefully he can get right again although I am about 50/50 on him getting healthy.

I am glad Jazz are focused on Exum though it worked wonders when they focused on and gave Gobert very specific training plans.

Exum and Gobert share a lot in common imo. I think Exum is going to follow Goberts rise over the next few years. In 3 years when Exum is the age of Gobert is now I think he will be good.

Funny, I don't think Jazz fans understand that Exum is 3 years younger than Gobert. Put it this way 3 years ago Gobert was a worse player than Exum is now.

 

[gregbroncs]

His handle looked good in the playoffs when he got a chance. He also got complimented on his handle a couple times by the national announcers. I think his poor handle is partially a myth. He can improve it but he gets by players with it and does not get it stolen from his dribble often. His handle for a player 6'6" and his age is above average.

He needs to improve his pull up jumper. I think more important is just getting a consistent 3 point shot. His shot is slowly improving. He changed his form and it improved the second half of the season and got more consistent.

If people think Exum's handle is bad what do those people think of Mack's handle. It's worse IMO, he routinely gets stripped in traffic.

 

[gregbroncs]

Agree.

I think the "poor handle" narrative run on here is overblown. IMO most of what you see is Dante being tentative and not wanting to make mistakes (because he knows 1 mistake will have him dragged). The majority (I'd guess 80%) of his TO's is when he passes to our bigs in the paint, where either the big doesn't handle the ball or someone reads it well enough to get into the passing lane (happens to all PG's mind you) but its rare Dante gets the ball taken from him.

He's never going to have Kyrie like handles but nor does he need to, his speed is his weapon of choice. I think with more confidence you'll see a different Dante.

#kidFlash

Good post. Rarely do you see Dante get the ball taken from him off of the dribble. His handle is a bit weak in pressure and he backs it out. I have no problem with that but it would be nice if he improved his handle to attack that. Mack on the other hand routinely gets the ball picked out of his control while dribbling. Exum needs to improve, he is a project that is not done and got sidetracked by injury. But I believe/hope he develops like his potential says he should.

 

[tleikheen]

Most Dante doubters on Exums ball handling put it on Exum totally even though he didn't get consistent playing time,because every mistake made he was yanked and benched.Snyder who's suppose to be a good teacher of younger players gets a freebie and that passes for teaching.We rarely saw Exum get to play through mistakes or get to build up confidence by playing better to make up those mistakes,doing in practice isn't comparable as being able to get right back out there on the court.
In the biggest game of Exum's career,Exum at PG played fearless and was itching to attack with every touch.He didn't look like a bumbler or poor ball handler.It's a total false narrative portraying Exum as a poor ball handler,all I saw was a young elite athletic PG needing more playing time to iron out mistakes in real time.Game experience is needed ,not watching MACK f*#K it up and get rewarded for it.

 

[orangello]

This sums up the situation exactly. In his rookie year he didn't play well but did we really expect him too at his age with his lack of experience? I didn't. Nobody really should have. Since then he hasn't had a consistent role or consistent minutes. Hopefully next year that changes because I still believe in Dante. We've seen flashes of great basketball from him. He just needs consistent minutes in my opinion.

Um, in that first season, when Exum was finally made the starter over Trey, the Jazz finished the season on a 50 win pace.

He was just fine his rookie season and then the worst thing possible happened, he missed an entire season due to an injury that was sustained while playing for his national team.

Locke had a great stat that showed that most players finally get comfortable, after sustaining an injury of that nature, after the all star break.

It's really unfortunate that the Jazz don't have Hill under contract for one more season. If do, that would be about the perfect time frame for X to take over.

I still believe.

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[Saint Cy of JFC]

People's hope is based on him being a better option than Trey Burke during his rookie year.

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[Saint Cy of JFC]

I havent given up on Exum, but if I'm the Jazz I'm operating on the assumption that Exum should be the 3rd string PG going into the season. If I can't re-sign Hill I'm looking for a starting PG, and if I can re-sign Hill I'm looking for an upgrade to backup PG.

 

[Jazz4ever]

Funny, I don't think Jazz fans understand that Exum is 3 years younger than Gobert. Put it this way 3 years ago Gobert was a worse player than Exum is now.

I'm going to assume you mean 4 years ago (rookie Gobert), but even that is highly arguable.

 

[Quin's Murderface]

People's hope is based on him being a better option than Trey Burke during his rookie year.

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I don't think that is really fair. I think it is his very unusual height/speed combo, court vision and defensive ceiling that people are high on. At least that's why I am hopeful that he develops. I think he will if he doesn't get put into a position where he's not getting a real role. I think he would have rounded into a more reliable player this year if Quin would just trust him. It looked like it was happening after the beginning of the year, but for whatever reason Quin went back to Neto/Mack.

I think Exum can be an effective backup point guard next year, and with the contract situations being cleared up (Hayward either here or not, Gobert locked in) next year is the time to take a small risk to get him more minutes and see what he has. DL should clear the decks so Quin has to play him, and he gets the first second and third shots at being the backup PG next year. If he can't handle it after a month or two then you start thinking about moving him to wing, or just moving him in general.The Jazz really can't afford to waste any more time developing him. They need to have a clear picture of his value before he hits RFA.

 

[gregbroncs]

I'm going to assume you mean 4 years ago (rookie Gobert), but even that is highly arguable.

3 years ago after Rudy's rookie season. He looked like a total non NBA player. He couldn't handle the ball, he barely rebounded, he was no where near the defensive impact he is today and probably not as good as Exum is right now. When Rudy got the ball very rarely did anything good happen. He was the same age that year as Exum is now. Rudy never showed near the promise Exum has this season, he never took over a game on either end of the floor. He looked like an awkward stiff that had a hard time catching the ball and moving. Nobody after that season thought he'd be anything close to what he is now, hell almost all of us probably thought he didn't have a shot at supplanting Kanter as the starting center.

 

[elan_prodigy]

Maybe Quin has been hard on Exum because he sucks air like a Hellcat. Hands on your knees and head bobbing after three trips down the court had to piss Quin off.

Thats just him, even in peak physical condition Dante will always be a mouth breather and will always 'look' tried. Don't read to much into it.

 

[Douchebag K]

Hopefully Quin has the same honesty level in his offseason self assessment as Dennis Lindsay did last offseason.

 

[Jazz4ever]

3 years ago after Rudy's rookie season. He looked like a total non NBA player. He couldn't handle the ball, he barely rebounded, he was no where near the defensive impact he is today and probably not as good as Exum is right now. When Rudy got the ball very rarely did anything good happen. He was the same age that year as Exum is now. Rudy never showed near the promise Exum has this season, he never took over a game on either end of the floor. He looked like an awkward stiff that had a hard time catching the ball and moving. Nobody after that season thought he'd be anything close to what he is now, hell almost all of us probably thought he didn't have a shot at supplanting Kanter as the starting center.

His 2nd year?? Rudy had a 21 PER that year. He rebounded and blocked at an elite level. That was the year he overtook Kanter and its why we didn't care that Kanter got shipped off for peanuts.

 

[Quin's Murderface]

His 2nd year?? Rudy had a 21 PER that year. He rebounded and blocked at an elite level. That was the year he overtook Kanter and its why we didn't care that Kanter got shipped off for peanuts.

I think he's saying that Rudy's rookie season he looked bad. I'm not sure I agree with that completely. He definitely showed flashes when he got a little bit of time, but Ty Corbin refused to play him much in a 100% tank year. But he definitely improved a ton before his second season. Let's hope Dante has a similar jump now that he has his first healthy off-season to work on his game as a Jazzman.

 

[elan_prodigy]

I havent given up on Exum, but if I'm the Jazz I'm operating on the assumption that Exum should be the 3rd string PG going into the season. If I can't re-sign Hill I'm looking for a starting PG, and if I can re-sign Hill I'm looking for an upgrade to backup PG.

Yes you have. This is just crazy talk.

If Quin plans on playing Dante as 3rd string again then he should just ask for a trade. What a waste! Honestly, that sort of talk just makes my blood boil.

 

[gregbroncs]

His 2nd year?? Rudy had a 21 PER that year. He rebounded and blocked at an elite level. That was the year he overtook Kanter and its why we didn't care that Kanter got shipped off for peanuts.

After his rookie season. It says that in the first line. Rudy has played 4 years, so 3 years ago was the summer after his rookie season. Exactly as I said. The year your talking about was 2 years ago after his second year. Rudy's rookie year he was 21, same as Dante this year.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Yes you have. This is just crazy talk.

If Quin plans on playing Dante as 3rd string again then he should just ask for a trade. What a waste! Honestly, that sort of talk just makes my blood boil.

He should go into the year as 3rd string. Hopefully he proves himself and eventually becomes the primary backup then proves himself further and becomes the starter but I wouldn't be handing him anything.

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[elan_prodigy]

He should go into the year as 3rd string. Hopefully he proves himself and eventually becomes the primary backup then proves himself further and becomes the starter but I wouldn't be handing him anything.

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I think we can all agree the Dante hasn't been "handed" anything in his time with the Jazz. Kid isn't even "handed" the opportunity to play through a mistake.

So you are suggesting;

Starting PG - Free agent (yet to be determined)
2nd string - Neto
3rd string - Dante??