wish they didnt even pick em, i was rly against that pick after watching him in international comp. was clear he wasn't going to be the next kobe, but rob pelinka hyped him up hard.
To be fair, there's an argument to be made that the 2014 lottery class was one of the most overrated lottery classes this century. We're going into season 5 of these guys being in the league and only Embiid, who missed his entire first two seasons, has been named to an all star or all NBA team.
Smart is frustratingly inconsistent, Randle is kind of the new breed of tweener from the 00s where he can't shoot well enough to play the modern day 4 but he doesn't really have the size to play the 5, Stauskas and Vonleh are certified role players at this stage, Payton wasn't a difference maker in the slightest in a situation where they really needed a PG, McDermott is a role player, Saric is a good to great roleplayer, LaVine might be all star quality this season and TJ Warren is nice but another good role player. Let alone looking at the players at the top who the Jazz couldn't have taken, with Wiggins being an average at best offensive player who's terrible at everything else in the game, Parker who has been derailed by injuries and now doesn't look like an NBA player most games, Embiid who has turned out to be the best player in the draft like many predicted prior to his injury issues but was a certified bust according to most of the NBA community Year 2 of his deal, and Aaron Gordon who looks like a pretty solid player but not a franchise changing talent.
It's a draft where coming in the top prospects were hyped as being potential franchise changers (Wiggins was meant to be the next big thing from the hype), but in reality it's a draft where the top was pretty weak but it was surprisingly deep with a number of 2nd round picks carving out roles in the NBA. Can't really fault the Jazz swinging for a home run by taking Exum, and I find it hard to be upset by that pick.
Giving him 3 years/33 mil in a bearish free agent market instead of letting him go and test the market and finding he wouldn't get anything more than 8 mil from most teams outside of maybe the Kings who were throwing big offer sheets around would've been a much better option. It's why I think he's the one that will be traded, as I don't understand why they do it other than retaining an asset to move later on.
