Quin's Murderface
Well-Known Member
It's not that surprising that Exum seems to play inconsistently. A couple major reasons for this:
1. His role is very inconsistent. Not only playing time, but also what he is asked to do out there. His role is not conducive to putting up consistent stats right now, as he is an afterthought offensively.
2. He is coming back from an injury. Sure, he's been back to about his normal physical self since January, and he's been much better since then. Much more consistent, much more effective, way better defensively.
3. He's young, and hasn't had a full offseason at 100% health to work on his game since being a pro. This is huge. He's either been recovering from injury, or playing with his national team. This will be his first chance at actually adding significant things to his game over an offseason.
He's shown enough flashes that I would have no problem extending him assuming that I know he'll continue to work hard at his weaknesses, and there is no hidden injury issue. The only wild card would be if Quin Snyder doesn't believe in him long-term. He clearly doesn't trust him right now to be a PG, so if that isn't going to change then you either have to change Quin's perception, or it might not be worth it to keep Dante. Dante has been pulled out of games a lot this season for single mistakes, and it has definitely seemed to impact his ability to play freely. It's hard to say how much this has affected him, but it is still happening. As recently as 2 games ago he was yanked for a single TO, hit a three before being pulled out, and then his replacement proceeded to come in and make almost the exact same type of mistake without being pulled. Dante is a smart guy and I'm sure he can see the discrepancies in how he is being treated. the FO and Snyder need to get on the same page and be more consistent about how they distribute minutes next season.This needs to be Dante's last "whipping boy" season.
1. His role is very inconsistent. Not only playing time, but also what he is asked to do out there. His role is not conducive to putting up consistent stats right now, as he is an afterthought offensively.
2. He is coming back from an injury. Sure, he's been back to about his normal physical self since January, and he's been much better since then. Much more consistent, much more effective, way better defensively.
3. He's young, and hasn't had a full offseason at 100% health to work on his game since being a pro. This is huge. He's either been recovering from injury, or playing with his national team. This will be his first chance at actually adding significant things to his game over an offseason.
He's shown enough flashes that I would have no problem extending him assuming that I know he'll continue to work hard at his weaknesses, and there is no hidden injury issue. The only wild card would be if Quin Snyder doesn't believe in him long-term. He clearly doesn't trust him right now to be a PG, so if that isn't going to change then you either have to change Quin's perception, or it might not be worth it to keep Dante. Dante has been pulled out of games a lot this season for single mistakes, and it has definitely seemed to impact his ability to play freely. It's hard to say how much this has affected him, but it is still happening. As recently as 2 games ago he was yanked for a single TO, hit a three before being pulled out, and then his replacement proceeded to come in and make almost the exact same type of mistake without being pulled. Dante is a smart guy and I'm sure he can see the discrepancies in how he is being treated. the FO and Snyder need to get on the same page and be more consistent about how they distribute minutes next season.This needs to be Dante's last "whipping boy" season.
