Dante Exum vs. Zach Lavine

[framer]

I would love to see Exum get blocked. These guys are supposed to make mistakes. At least Lavine tries.

Trey Burke's problem isn't that he doesn't try enough. . . As far as Exum goes, he keeps watching his teammates get destroyed at the hoop with no calls. Remember the crap that got Burks injured. As long as he keeps improving, which watching both sides of the ball, he is, I'm happy right now. I expect him to really take off his third year and be transformative. Once he fills out, which point guard is going to defend him?

 

[da ThRONe]

Pretty spot on. Exum is trying to make winning plays by deferring. I think he is a self-aware dude and is trying to hard to run the offense the right way and give us the best chance to win. I do think he is staying a little too far in his lane and I understand our frustration with him.

The good news is ... Exum's development curve is only a problem because we are much better now than we thought we would be. We need to give him an offseason to work on his body and game before we can really judge.

I think you are missing the point about Exum's development. I think what people are saying is that he can't get better that's obvious. I think people are saying he doesn't have a killer instinct to take him to the next level as a player. At this point either you have it or you don't. As I said in the post above this one. I can't recall one player developing a killer instinct simply because they got better as you expect young players to do.

 

[Doublea]

It kinda sucks how underrated defense is compared to offense.

 

[framer]

Here's the thing you have to try to know what your limitations are, but most importantly which limitations can be over come or simply needs to be avoided.

You threw Burke in this. Unlike most I think Burke's confidence in himself combine with his work ethic is what's going to make him a borderline all-star player. I know his 1-11, 2-19, and 4-22 games does nothing for his fg% which everybody wants to kill him for. However you want a guy who has enough self belief that the next shot is the one to get him started. Now his accuracy has to get consistently better and time will tell if his does. I've seen some player aggression level not be equal with their skill level and with hard work they became stars-megastars. What you don't see are players who are afraid to make mistake in this league just gain that kind of faith in themselves. Can't think of one player.

Little Johnny Stockton certainly played within himself. He could probably have averaged 25 a night if he played aggressively. He also shot a criminally low amount of three pointers for his accuracy level. He spent time doing unsexy things like setting nasty back picks and throwing the ball to #32.

 

[da ThRONe]

It kinda sucks how underrated defense is compared to offense.

Basketball is a rare sport where equal effort on offense consistently trumps defense. Not that defense isn't important.

Case in point MKG is one of the leagues best perimeter defender. Last year he gave up big nights to LeBron and Carmelo. Played great defense on both all night yet it didn't matter.

 

[framer]

It kinda sucks how underrated defense is compared to offense.

When the Jazz just defensively lock down, it is some of the most fun I have had watching basketball in years. Certainly more fun than the really good DWill Boozer teams that would rarely get separation from good teams on the scoreboard because of their defensive deficiencies.

 

[framer]

Basketball is a rare sport where equal effort on offense consistently trumps defense. Not that defense isn't important.

Case in point MKG is one of the leagues best perimeter defender. Last year he gave up big nights to LeBron and Carmelo. Played great defense on both all night yet it didn't matter.

Jazz D has clowned some pretty good players this year. It is very difficult to play stellar perimeter D which is why you need really good rim protection from the bigs. Glad we have that. MKG does not.

 

[da ThRONe]

Little Johnny Stockton certainly played within himself. He could probably have averaged 25 a night if he played aggressively. He also shot a criminally low amount of three pointers for his accuracy level. He spent time doing unsexy things like setting nasty back picks and throwing the ball to #32.

I think your missing the point. Did anybody ever accuse Stockton of being afraid or lacking a killer instinct? It's not about looking to put up 20+ shot attempts a night. It's about trying to have an impact on the game offensively. It Exum doesn't even try outside of open three pointers.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I think you are missing the point about Exum's development. I think what people are saying is that he can't get better that's obvious. I think people are saying he doesn't have a killer instinct to take him to the next level as a player. At this point either you have it or you don't. As I said in the post above this one. I can't recall one player developing a killer instinct simply because they got better as you expect young players to do.

Killer instinct and confidence are different things. Players get more confident all the time. Killer instinct is kind of a dumb concept. And the point of this thread is comparing two players... Don't think Lavine had that Kobe killer instinct either bro.

Dante is fine... Will he be Kobe... Nope... Is he a waaaay better prospect than Lavine.... Yup.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

In think your missing the point. Did anybody ever accuse Stockton of being afraid or lacking a killer instinct? It's not about looking to put up 20+ shot attempts a night. It's about trying to have an impact on the game offensively. It Exum doesn't even try outside of open three pointers.

All the stats point towards Exum's defense having a greater impact on the game than anything Lavine is doing. He had enough "killer instinct" to shut basically shut down Conley and Parker in the games we won against contenders. Stockton wasn't sure he was good enough to stick around the NBA... He didn't come in the league with an amazing amount of confidence.

He is just staying in his lane on offense because he knows the other guys on the floor are better at things than he is... You call it lack of killer instinct I call it self awareness.

 

[da ThRONe]

Jazz D has clowned some pretty good players this year. It is very difficult to play stellar perimeter D which is why you need really good rim protection from the bigs. Glad we have that. MKG does not.

My statement while IMO true was simplified. Team defense versus something like a 2 man PNR or ISO ball wasn't really what I was talking about.

 

[freakazoid]

Unlike most I think Burke's confidence in himself combine with his work ethic is what's going to make him a borderline all-star player. I've seen some player aggression level not be equal with their skill level and with hard work they became stars-megastars. What you don't see are players who are afraid to make mistake in this league just gain that kind of faith in themselves. Can't think of one player.

Ok, so Burke is going to be a borderline all-star and 19 year old rookies never increase their confidence with time. Is it just me, or does anyone else feel like we're trapped in an episode of the twilight zone?