Sandman822
Well-Known Member
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.