Dante Exum 2014 vs Dante Exum early 2016, comparison

[Miggs]

He was aggressive going to the basket last night, so was Hood.

Exum's last couple games have been very negative in the plus minus, if that means anything.

It doesn't. He's 21 and we're missing a bunch of guys and we've played very good opponents.

 

[tleikheen]

Did you watch Exum streak up the court on a one man fastbreak before halftime,he left everybody behind him ...... Jazz need that in their rotation because they have no one else that can do that

 

[Jazz4ever]

Did you watch Exum streak up the court on a one man fastbreak before halftime,he left everybody behind him ...... Jazz need that in their rotation because they have no one else that can do that

He needs to do that 2 or 3 times a game. If someone matches him at the rim, we should have 2 trailers just parking behind the 3 point line and he can find them.

 

[Nate505]

His driving to the basket improvement alone is fantastic to see so far. I have high hopes for him.

 

[Sandman822]

Also, his rookie year I had season tickets but no cable, this year I got DISH instead of tickets. Seeing him on TV he looks extremely winded. Like no NBA player I've ever seen. Was he this bad his rookie year? I remember talk of him being a "mouth breather" (literally, not like Stranger Things) but now he looks like a chest heaving mouth breather (also similar to my game...)

Part of it is his body language when playing, but the majority of it comes from the fact that prior to even entering the NBA draft, he hadn't played a proper competitive game of basketball for about 6 months, and that was an Australian HS game. He spent most of his rookie season just trying to get his legs under him, and the ACL injury he had really hurt him in regards to getting his fitness levels up to NBA level. You can do all the aerobic/anaerobic training you want, but nothing replicates NBA game fitness like actually playing games.

He's got some strength now and feels much more comfortable taking contact because of it, but I think it's wise that DL and Snyder are bringing him along slowly. If they threw him straight into the fire playing primary backup guard and giving him the majority of Mack's minutes along with the mins he's already playing, he'd essentially hit a 2nd "rookie wall" and he'd be really struggling by about January. In his current role, he can go out and play as hard as he can in his limited minutes, and he gets plenty of breaks during play time thanks to Mack bringing the ball up the court and playing as the primary playmaking guard. Even if Exum is arguably more deserving of that role with the 2nd unit, it's a wise move by the Jazz organisation to not force him into overdoing it early on, especially during the tough early stretch of the Jazz' schedule.

Patience is the key for Exum, as the Jazz organisation are invested in his long term future and not the immediate. If their management of Exum goes to plan, by about the trade deadline Exum should still have his legs under him and not be fatigued, and this will make Mack expendable in order to shore up a weakness (backup SG?), or let him walk in the offseason to allow Exum full backup PG mins, as well as some SG mins.