Exum interview on Sports Illustrated

[The Midnight]

I've been saying this and will continue doing so:

He is too physically weak. He will get stronger. Once he does, he will have a play where he goes into the lane, gets hit, and finishes. When that happens, watch out.

Yeah and he's been watching Hayward do it too which is interesting to me. At the beginning of the season I suggested that Hayward and Exum work out together and let Hayward mentor Exum about how to get to the rim and be aggressive and score.

 

[The Midnight]

I think it's silly to be frustrated with his play at this point. He was always going to be a project, Just like Gobert. It just takes time.

Yeah this. Same goes with Favors - it took him a long time to score consistently in this league. Good thing is Exum is already ahead of schedule on defense, so we really just have to worry about his offense now.

 

[Biggs]

What's funny to me, is that he's kind of a bull dog on Defense. Get's up in guys faces, slides his feet, and frustrates some PG's in this league. On offense he's so timid, and scared. Maybe i'm giving him too much credit on D. I don't know.

 

[Former Member]

If Exum becomes great, the Jazz will be contenders for the next decade. Let's hope he closes out the year strong and has an effective off-season. I thought the article was spot on (from the limited games I have seen).

 

[Former Member]

What's funny to me, is that he's kind of a bull dog on Defense. Get's up in guys faces, slides his feet, and frustrates some PG's in this league. On offense he's so timid, and scared. Maybe i'm giving him too much credit on D. I don't know.

I think fatigue is a factor. Rookies hit a wall. Dante might be camping on the offensive end to exert himself on the defensive end.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Yeah this. Same goes with Favors - it took him a long time to score consistently in this league. Good thing is Exum is already ahead of schedule on defense, so we really just have to worry about his offense now.

There is not scoring and then there is not getting to the FT line ever. I'm allowed to be frustrated. Never said I gave up on him.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

There is not scoring and then there is not getting to the FT line ever. I'm allowed to be frustrated. Never said I gave up on him.

That quote from the article about how he is confident but then just doesn't do it is very puzzling. Overall his defense is very good. I wouldn't say he is a bulldog like tony Allen or one of those types, but he gets in front of people and moves so well. When he is active with his hands he gets steals and deflections but I'd like to see him more active with his hands without sacrificing positioning. Millsap does this very well.

On offense he just needs to turn the corner and go sometimes... Take the contact or get the ball blocked it's not the end of the world. Doing so will open up good passing lanes for him. Guys just drop back and ignore him completely... I just want to see him try it a few times a game.

Dude needs to live at P3 this summer.

 

[Spinoza]

Not sure if this makes me more or less frustrated with his play.

"It's not even a confidence thing".

That line really worried me. What is it then? Laziness? Stupidity? I'm just really concerned at this point about his passion for the game. Feels like another Kirilenko situation... possibly, but hopefully not.

 

[mhindy]

"It's not even a confidence thing".

That line really worried me. What is it then? Laziness? Stupidity? I'm just really concerned at this point about his passion for the game. Feels like another Kirilenko situation... possibly, but hopefully not.

Reading the article makes me think he's at this point he's too worried about deferring to other players and basically doesn't believe he can score at the rim as well as Gordon can, and because of this is hesitant to try. It also sounds like he is a little overwhelmed with some of the more studious parts of the game such as defensive gameplanning. I hope he'll begin to play better, have a flash or two these last couple of months.

I'm a little frustrated with him, although I expect him to turn out well in the end it's tough to watch a guy with a lot of physical gifts just not use them on one side of the court. His ability to stay in front of good players on D makes it pretty obvious that he at least has the CAPABILITY to be effective on offense in terms of getting in the paint.

 

[Stifle Tower]

Not sure if this makes me more or less frustrated with his play.

I kind of had the same response. TBH, I might be a little MORE worried after reading the article.

What kind of player do you hope to become?"

"You know, I don't know," Exum says.

Seriously? He never had a player he imagined himself to be as he was practicing? Never evaluated his strengths and weaknesses and compared them to any player? With > 50% of the season over, he's probably faced pretty much everyone. How about saying he wants to be known as a great defender and assists guy like Rondo. Or maybe with his size he could be an all-around play like Jason Kidd was. There are a lot of players and answers he could give. But he say's "I don't know." Well, if you don't know, how are you going to get there?

And then there's this:

"It is one of the most difficult things ever," Exum says. "For me—being in a system like in Australia—I've always been a guy that's had the ball in his hands most of the time, at the end of the shot clock, end of the game. But it's been good taking that backseat role and seeing guys who've been in this league four or five years and how they're able to position themselves to score. I'm kind of at the point where I want to be given a bit of that responsibility and try to make the most of it."

Damn, Dante, you ARE given responsibility every single game. Your head coach is BEGGING you to make the most of it. You take a backseat role because you're too damned scared to drive. Don't make excuses. You don't have to go to a gym with a coach using pads to practice taking it inside. You have those opportunities every single game.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

I kind of had the same response. TBH, I might be a little MORE worried after reading the article.


Seriously? He never had a player he imagined himself to be as he was practicing? Never evaluated his strengths and weaknesses and compared them to any player? With > 50% of the season over, he's probably faced pretty much everyone. How about saying he wants to be known as a great defender and assists guy like Rondo. Or maybe with his size he could be an all-around play like Jason Kidd was. There are a lot of players and answers he could give. But he say's "I don't know." Well, if you don't know, how are you going to get there?

And then there's this:


Damn, Dante, you ARE given responsibility every single game. Your head coach is BEGGING you to make the most of it. You take a backseat role because you're too damned scared to drive. Don't make excuses. You don't have to go to a gym with a coach using pads to practice taking it inside. You have those opportunities every single game.

You ready to overpay to draft Russ yet?

The question for me is what kind of impact his defense has on our overall defense. Is it just the bigs or does having dante make them even better. I wonder what the on off defensive numbers look like with him and trey when they play with favs and Gobert.

Exum is the limit to our teams ceiling. Have no idea if that's good or bad.

 

[JazzyFresh]

Yeah and he's been watching Hayward do it too which is interesting to me. At the beginning of the season I suggested that Hayward and Exum work out together and let Hayward mentor Exum about how to get to the rim and be aggressive and score.

It took Hayward 3+ seasons to get this down.