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Jazz at Trailblazers 4/11 @8 PM Mountain Time

Why didn't the jazz realize that the horrible competition is what made exum look so good and draft a player that actually is good rather than one who only looks good against horrible competition?

Ya like I said, it was the right pick for the jazz to make. Unfortunately there just were not a lot of great options available.

My first post contradicts my second one.... Im a dumbass

Really though, I cant fault the jazz for making the pick. Hell, exum is who I would have picked too. (though I would not have felt confident about it at all) It just stinks that he looks so out of place on the court. I wish he looked like he belongs a bit more than he does. (and I understand he is 19, a rookie, played poor competition, and all the other excuses out there. Excuses dont make me any happier to see him out there pissing himself everytime he gets near the hoop)
 
For what is worth, Exum has been driving more in the second half of the season.

(the following are approximated numbers)

In the first 41 games he had 1.6 drives per game(~3.1 drives /36), while in the last 39 games he's been having about 2.8 drives per game(~4.0 drives /36).
The bad thing is he's scoring less on his drives - 0.2pts per game on drives(0.36 points per 36) in the second half of the season vs 0.8 pts per game on drives(1.55 points per 36) in the first half.
On the other hand team points on his drives has increased from 1.9pts per game(3.68 pts /36) from Dante's drives to 3.3 pts per game(4.75 pts /36) on Exum's drives.
 
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My question for the Exum haters is this:

What did they want Utah to do?

Or are the Exum haters just whinning to whine? That's my beef with the Exum haters. What was Utah supposed to do? Take Smart, pair him with Kanter, and ruin the locker room? Take Randle, and lose him for the season? Take Vonleh or Stauskas? (BTW, Exum is better than both right now).

What exactly are Exum haters complaining about? I feel like they aren't being realistic and whinning just to whine.
 
I didn't call your opinion stupid. I said it was stupid to give up this early. That's not nearly the same thing. And again apparently you don't understand the jump in competition. Or refuse to see it as you have already decided he's a bust.

I said, multiple times, that I think he'll end up being decent, but that, given how he's putting up the worst numbers of almost any 19 year old rookie in NBA history, and given that no 19 year old rookie has ever has as bad or as worse of a season than Dante and gone on to be an all-star, I think it's a reach to believe he'll be an all-star.

I'm not sure how expressing doubt that Dante will be the first player in NBA history to buck that trend is in any way "stupid".

I see a lot of responses rehashing the same thing: "He's 19, it's a huge jump in competition, etc...". I guess I need to make this even clearer: I am not comparing him to other rookies who came into the league with more experience - I am comparing him to other previous 19 year old rookies.

I also see a lot of people bringing up players who had "awful" rookie campaigns and ended up being all-stars. Every player mentioned that became a star had a significantly better rookie season than Dante. Using examples of other players who were as bad as Dante their rookie season and became an all-star isn't going to work because literally ZERO players in NBA history have had as bad of a rookie season as Dante and went on to become an all-star.

Again, I think he'll be decent. But if he's going to become a star, that'll mean becoming the first ever player in NBA history to do so after having as bad of a rookie season as he's had. And yes, that pool includes a ton of other raw 19 year old rookies. I just don't think it's unreasonable at all to doubt he'll be the first ever player to buck that trend and become a star.

I might be wrong, and maybe he develops into an all-star, but I think it's pretty damn harsh to call it "stupid" to think that Dante won't become the first ever player in NBA history to buck the trend.
 
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It is kind of funny to me how whenever I post statistics or facts that indicate positive trends for the Jazz or Jazz players, those posts get showered in likes and reps.

But when I do the exact same thing and it shows a contrarian viewpoint, people neg the hell out of it. I've seen other posters here that present contrarian viewpoints also get bullied, no matter how civil their discussion and valid their arguments.

I guess a lot of folks here have no tolerance for open-minded discussion.
 
My question for the Exum haters is this:

What did they want Utah to do?

Or are the Exum haters just whinning to whine? That's my beef with the Exum haters. What was Utah supposed to do? Take Smart, pair him with Kanter, and ruin the locker room? Take Randle, and lose him for the season? Take Vonleh or Stauskas? (BTW, Exum is better than both right now).

What exactly are Exum haters complaining about? I feel like they aren't being realistic and whinning just to whine.
Just because there was not a better option does not mean no one should be able to complain.

If someone gave me the choice of cutting my hand off or just a finger I would choose the better option of the two (finger) but I still would not be happy to lose my finger and would probably complain
 
Just because there was not a better option does not mean no one should be able to complain.

If someone gave me the choice of cutting my hand off or just a finger I would choose the better option of the two (finger) but I still would not be happy to lose my finger and would probably complain
Agree. What I AM happy about is that Utah didn't trade Derrick, Burks and our pick to move up and get Jabari or Wiggins. We would have been all-in with Kanter had that happened and we see how much he liked playing for Utah. The Block Bros are much better for the team than Kanter and Gobert would have been. It's pretty telling that no one in the locker room was really sad to see Enes go.

As for who I would have preferred...well, I was thrilled Exum fell to #4. Supposedly great prospect at our biggest position of need. A. Gordon? He might become what Booker already is. Smart's shooting percentages aren't much better than Dante's. Vonleh and Stauskas haven't shown much. And I'd rather have Hood over McDermott. Really, it probably comes down to Randle or LaVine. Given what we know now about Kanter (ain't hindsight grand?), perhaps Randle would have been a great choice. Or maybe not. Maybe he has chronic foot injuries throughout his career.

Still, that doesn't mean I can't be disappointed by Exum. I don't really care about his shooting percentages. Don't care about TO's. The guy is just as timid as a quokka. That kind of mindset doesn't bode well for success in the NBA.
 
Agree. What I AM happy about is that Utah didn't trade Derrick, Burks and our pick to move up and get Jabari or Wiggins. We would have been all-in with Kanter had that happened and we see how much he liked playing for Utah. The Block Bros are much better for the team than Kanter and Gobert would have been. It's pretty telling that no one in the locker room was really sad to see Enes go.

As for who I would have preferred...well, I was thrilled Exum fell to #4. Supposedly great prospect at our biggest position of need. A. Gordon? He might become what Booker already is. Smart's shooting percentages aren't much better than Dante's. Vonleh and Stauskas haven't shown much. And I'd rather have Hood over McDermott. Really, it probably comes down to Randle or LaVine. Given what we know now about Kanter (ain't hindsight grand?), perhaps Randle would have been a great choice. Or maybe not. Maybe he has chronic foot injuries throughout his career.

Still, that doesn't mean I can't be disappointed by Exum. I don't really care about his shooting percentages. Don't care about TO's. The guy is just as timid as a quokka. That kind of mindset doesn't bode well for success in the NBA.
Good post.
I still might make that Wiggins trade though. It's a tough one.

Wiggins, hayward, and Gobert are a very nice core to build around and since Wiggins is still young and raw and we still wouldn't have had a pg we probably lose a few more games this year and pick up a 4th core piece.
I also think that Kanter could maybe work with gobert.

It all depends on how Wiggins turns out. I think he will be a star
 
I'm excited to see what players become disgruntled with their current teams and become a possibility here in utah. Utah for once is a team you want to be on.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
 
Just because there was not a better option does not mean no one should be able to complain.

If someone gave me the choice of cutting my hand off or just a finger I would choose the better option of the two (finger) but I still would not be happy to lose my finger and would probably complain

But, isn't Dante what we knew he would be coming in? Every report said that it would take Dante a couple of years to get up to speed. Every scout said crazy high ceiling, but will take a couple of years to get any sort of production out of him. Dante's defense is a couple years ahead of schedule. His offense falls in line with the whole "will take a couple years to get there" mantra.

How he is playing shouldn't be surprising...Well, I take that back. His defense has been very surprising. His offense is what was expected.

I think the problem most fans have is they hear "his ceiling is Kobe" and stop listening. They don't listen to the rest of the sentence that says "will take a couple of years to get there" part.

I've said this 100 times (and this isn't directed to you). This is Exum's redshirt year. Forget it. He isn't playing this year. What happens this year will be 100% irrelevant in 2-3 years.
 
Scouting reports on Exum:

"His handle is loose at times – has the ball poked away too often and occasionally fumbles when changing hands or directions"

"Settles for long-distance threes too often … Not vertically explosive and struggles to finish with authority."

"Can he develop his body and become a tough player capable of finishing with contact?"

"We have seen enough of Exum to know that he is one of the best under-20 players in the world, but he still has quite a ways to go before becoming a star in the NBA… The areas that he needs to focus on are his ball-handling, decision-making, and outside shooting, especially if he wants to reach his goal of being a Derek Rose-like point guard… The potential is there, so much so, that he will likely be drafted ahead of a number of players who are more NBA-ready."

https://www.nbadraft.net/players/dante-exum

"Needs to improve shooting efficiency especially from distance
Needs to get stronger
Very inexperienced with no time playing in college"

That was from NBA.com

Couldn't find too much without paying, but everyone talked about how Exum has the skills, but is years away from realizing them.

This is his Redshirt year. His "rookie" year is next year. This summer league he will be at "rookie" level. Patience everyone. Patience.
 
But, isn't Dante what we knew he would be coming in?

I thought he would get to the line and get to the rim.
I kept hearing about his speed and athleticism and his ability to finish and score.
Figured he would struggle with his outside shot.
 
I expected lots of mistakes and lots of awesomeness. I expected him to attack a lot more, turn the ball over a lot, get swatted a lot, knocked to the ground a lot, and miss a few games due to injury.
I also expected him to score at the rim a lot too, and get to the line a lot.
Instead I have seen very few mistakes and very little awesomeness

I never saw any pre draft scouting reports saying that exum would be the biggest ***** (wussy) on the offensive end of the court that we would ever see.
Or
Defenses should sag off exum on the perimeter and also sag off him when he is five feet from the hoop because he won't even look at the basket so give him an open path to the hoop and don't guard him.

I'm not willing to declare exum a bust in his rookie year.... I wouldn't declare him a bust as a rookie even if he had played 4 years of college and still looked this bad.
 
Wow at all the downers on Exum.

Relax. He is a 19 year old rookie that played inferior competition and is suddenly playing full grown men. Some of which are extremely strong, fast and athletic.

Let's give him some time to see what he has. Like all rookies he can bust sure. But it is way, way to early to be worrying about that yet. From all reports he has a big work ethic. Let's see what condition he shows up to trainign camp in. Let us see if he adds anything to his game.
 
I said, multiple times, that I think he'll end up being decent, but that, given how he's putting up the worst numbers of almost any 19 year old rookie in NBA history, and given that no 19 year old rookie has ever has as bad or as worse of a season than Dante and gone on to be an all-star, I think it's a reach to believe he'll be an all-star.

I'm not sure how expressing doubt that Dante will be the first player in NBA history to buck that trend is in any way "stupid".

I see a lot of responses rehashing the same thing: "He's 19, it's a huge jump in competition, etc...". I guess I need to make this even clearer: I am not comparing him to other rookies who came into the league with more experience - I am comparing him to other previous 19 year old rookies.

I also see a lot of people bringing up players who had "awful" rookie campaigns and ended up being all-stars. Every player mentioned that became a star had a significantly better rookie season than Dante. Using examples of other players who were as bad as Dante their rookie season and became an all-star isn't going to work because literally ZERO players in NBA history have had as bad of a rookie season as Dante and went on to become an all-star.

Again, I think he'll be decent. But if he's going to become a star, that'll mean becoming the first ever player in NBA history to do so after having as bad of a rookie season as he's had. And yes, that pool includes a ton of other raw 19 year old rookies. I just don't think it's unreasonable at all to doubt he'll be the first ever player to buck that trend and become a star.

I might be wrong, and maybe he develops into an all-star, but I think it's pretty damn harsh to call it "stupid" to think that Dante won't become the first ever player in NBA history to buck the trend.

But you have to look at why he is not playing like he "should". He has the physical tools, its his head/experience that is not ready, and arguably maybe never will be. For example, compare him to Trey and driving hard and dunking it. Neither one does it, but Trey never will be able, he just does not have the physical ability and never will. Dante does have that ability so he could get it going. I am a bit worried too, but I can see a lot of physical ability and court vision that is stellar.
 
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