Q & A with Dante Exum
Posted on October 29, 2014 by benyamkidane
Today Benyam took part in a teleconference with Jazz rookie Dante Exum, along with other Australian journalists.
Ahead of making his NBA debut against the Houston Rockets, he spoke about his adjustment to the NBA, the Utah fan base and having his buddy Joe Ingles on board for the season with the Jazz.
Q: In pre-season you’ve had some match-ups with some great players from Chris Paul to Kobe Bryant, did you at any point feel like you had your ‘Welcome to the NBA’ moment when you came up against some of these guys?
A: Yeah I think it was a game against Chris Paul where you know he kinda did like a veteran move where I had my hands out and he drew a foul twice on me during the game, so it’s the little things like that where you’ve been in the league and learned how to get those extra little points and I just gotta learn from that.
Q: You went from not playing a lot of basketball in the lead up to the draft to Summer League, the FIBA tournament and then pre-season, how’s the body feeling with the higher intensity and playing schedule you’ve had?
A: Yeah It’s definitely a step up even though I was practicing everyday before the draft, nothing compares to the travel and the games at this high level so you know it’s been keeping up well but you know its about maintaining and taking care of my body making sure I’m getting enough sleep and eating right off the court.
Q: Your three-point shooting is something that was scrutinized during Summer League, but has improved a lot in a short space of time. Was there a specific focus on tweaking your technique or just getting more reps in from NBA range?
A: It was all about just getting reps up, you know I had a lot of people look at my shot and said there was nothing wrong it was just about getting that kind of consistency and that’s something I’ve tried to work on.
Q: The Utah Jazz have a great fan base, how have you found your interactions with the supporters and just people in the city in general?
A: The people of Salt Lake have been great and walking we’ve done a couple of the NBA Cares stuff with some kids and even gone down to the movie theatre and just said hello to some of the people and taken some photos. You know they’re very supportive and love their basketball and love their sports here so you know it’s a great opportunity for me to build that fan base in a different country for me.
Q: How did you find out that Joe Ingles was joining the Jazz and where were you and what were your initial reactions to having your friend coming a long for the ride this year.
A: I was getting my learners permit and I looked at my phone and I had a message from Joe saying ‘whaddup teammate’ and then some of the Twitter feeds started coming through that he was coming to Utah so you know I was definitely excited because I had known Joe and had just lost Brock, so I was excited.
