Hello
Years ago

Dante Exum disappoints in open practice scrimmage

So about 10 000 fans turned out to the Jazz open practice scrimmage and apparently Exum had an absolute shocker. Here are some quotes from a Jazz fan forum:

"Dante Exum showed flashes but he got tired fast... you can tell he has some work to do. His shooting needs serious work..."

"Exum was gassed earlier than most... Conditioning? Altitude?"

"Exum was about as bad as he could be. he airballed two shots (on one, the step back 18 footer, the whole crowd groaned) and barely hit the rim on a few others. Even almost airballed a free throw. He did almost make an open 3 though. The defense even sagged off him one time and he got the ball for an open 3 from the wing and barely got rim."

"If i had to guess his shooting, it was probably something like 1-8 from the field (0-2 from 3). I think he scored off that inbounds steal and that was it. Probably had 3 assists a steal and a couple rebounds (all just guesses)"

http://jazzfanz.com/showthread.php?31011-Open-Practice-Review

Topic #34871 | Report this topic


Isaac  
Years ago

You can bet he would've been nervous as hell.

From r/NBADimensions:

Just got back from attending the Utah Jazz open scrimmage so I thought I'd share some of my impressions of Dante Exum. To sum it up shortly, he played pretty well, but shot the ball terribly. He finished the scrimmage, which lasted 24 minutes, shooting 0-5 from the field and 0-2 from the line. He missed a tough layup, missed badly on his free throws, clanked 2 open threes, bricked a pull up mid range jumper, and airballed a jumper from the elbow after a very impressive step back.

He did, however, show a lot of good things. His defense was sound, his blazing speed was obvious, and he really did a great job of creating shots for others. The most impressive thing I saw was his ability to dart cross court passes on the money.

He was visibly nervous throughout the game. The crowd of over 9000 :ahh: was probably the largest crowd he's played in front of besides the Nike Hoop Summit. It probably didn't help that Rodney Hood was absolutely dominating the game, scoring in multiple ways with ease.
constantly moving...but I'm sure everyone runs through the sets in a practice type setting. He had a very nice backdoor cut that led to a foul at the rim. He had the ball a lot though, more so than Trey/Nick Covington who shared the backcourt with him.

Reply #482465 | Report this post


Anonas  
Years ago

he hasn't played since december plus all the draining efforts to get him there. he will be fine in time. on positive notes that many observed his quickness and defense. the Jazz management mentioned earlier that they will not expect much on Exum during his rookie year. so he's a kind of project

Reply #482466 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Give the kid some time to mature and adapt...still very young in comparison to most rookies.

Reply #482475 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I'd say it's just nerves - might be a good thing that he got that out of his system before all eyes on him at the summer league - i'm not surprised that his conditioning suffered- hasn't played real games for months

Reply #482476 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S9tXhHBvI4&list=PLxpywtV9slxiOim7xDiGGc2ckqSC_eXTn&index=1

Reply #482477 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

The kid can play. Just give him a few years and he could be the best Aussie ever to play in the NBA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgOnaU8GjYE

Reply #482479 | Report this post


.  
Years ago

give the guy a break - Skylar Diggins had a shocker rookie wnba but look at her sophomore season this year. cant keep quality down too long.

Reply #482480 | Report this post


Wookiee  
Years ago

lol... great to see all the focus on his really shocking shooting in the comments and not the understanding about how well he did with everything else (based on Trey Burke and Coaches comments). Plus not having played proper games for so long and having trained so hard and nerves on top of everything, he's gonna have some rough shooting until he gets his legs under him properly... Get proper match fit, it's not just for players that ate too much cake in the off season...

If he still can't shoot by the end of the season, sure, lay the criticism out, but jumping to this straight away is premature... I think nearly everyone else is expecting more from him since he went #5 but the Jazz know that he's not going to be a starter on their team straight away but he has so much more upside down the track and it will totally be worth the pay off...

Reply #482481 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

He's gone from the AIS to the NBA that is a massive jump. I remember when Yao Ming first started playing in the NBA he was labelled a bust as he struggled to adjust but about halfway through his rookie season he started to come good.

Yao went from China to the NBA Exum is going from the AIS (essentially high school) to the NBA give him time.

Reply #482484 | Report this post


Gordon Liddy  
Years ago

I have not seen him play a single game.

Reply #482486 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I've seen him play for the Boomers, last year I think and he looked out of place like a kid playing against men (which he is) but give him time and he'll come good.

Reply #482487 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

And this is the exact reason why I think too much too soon, he's still a kid and all this negative stuff could damage the huge potential he has, he would have been better going to college, may not have had the huge money but it would come to him in the end. Just hope these huge expectations that are going to be placed on him are not going to destroy him, poor kid hope his patents are there to keep him grounded.

Reply #482490 | Report this post


AussiePride  
Years ago

I think he did the smart thing in going in the draft while he was seen as hot property but the expectations on him will be huge. He is very young and will take some time to develop his NBA game. Of course I will be hoping he starts off well but the reality will probably be that he will take quite a while to be anywhere near what the fans expectation is. Hopefully he has some good people around him during this period.

Reply #482492 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Prob take a few months to ajust to the pace and size of the players he will be up against - hopefully he plays for the boomers and gets himself ready for nba - boomers
Did wonders for delly and Barstow games last few years

Reply #482496 | Report this post


MACDUB  
Years ago

He will struggle a lot in year 1 i think.

I am still trying to figure out how/why he went so high (regardless of what he done today). 5th pick is exceptionally high for a guy who hadn't played in any real competition - he scored 16 pts in the 'glorified pickup game' that is the Hoop Summit and had a nice WC but Smart tore him to shreds as a PG against Team USA.

The concern is that people knew his shooting was a concern and this doesn't help that. Unfortunately, they were really bad misses as well.

He will be a good player I think. Nonetheless he went to too high IMO.

I think the whole ' 6"6 PG thing helped him as well". He was marketed as that and certainly from the recent success of Carter-Williams they raised his stock. In reality he is (at this stage) a 6"6 SG without a J.

I know he will do some work in the league one day though. Will just have to be patient.

Reply #482499 | Report this post


Some_Fulla  
Years ago

Smart tore him to shreds?? They matched up for like four possessions before Exum went off injured.. Don't know how denying someone the ball is tearing them to shreds... If that's the case I've torn Tom Abercrombie to shreds!! LOL

Reply #482500 | Report this post


Lance_Uppercut  
Years ago

The only people disappointed by Exums first public scrimmage were those that know nothing about basketball and whose expectations were too high

Reply #482501 | Report this post


Lance_Uppercut  
Years ago

But I agree with MACDUB to some extent that Exum probably went too high, but i believe most team scouts viewed Dante as more as a project, a player who has attributes and talents that you can't necessarily teach but still had a lot of work to do and some glaring deficiencies noticeably his shooting.

Reply #482502 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

MACDUB, I agree to an extent about the 6'6" SG without a jumper, but I think he has some PG mentality and vision. I actually think the looseness of his handle is one of his biggest deficiencies as a PG right now.

When you compare him to someone like Elfrid Payton, did he really go too high? There's no question that guys behind him potentially have better careers, but it's also very possible that he has a better career than Embiid and Gordon.

Is Victor Oladipo a better comparison for him than MCW?

Reply #482508 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

So so far some are saying his shooting has always been a problem and his ball handling needs work, these are his deficiencies as a PG. What the hell did they do with him at the AIS all those years, and if these are his deficiencies then why has he ranked so high, surely these are main requirements for a PG. Think his PR management have over marketed this kid way too much.

Reply #482509 | Report this post


MACDUB  
Years ago

Some_Fulla,

Go to youtube.com and watch Dante Exum vs Team USA U19.

Smart made him like second rate. Exum had 4 turnovers in just 11 mins..all of those were strips/result of pressure from Smart.

I counted numerous times in the video where he denied Exum from getting the ball and Exum didnt want it (because he didnt want to get striped) - for me that was an early indication that he isnt a natural PG.

But Smart is an absolute beast defensively. I havent seen a PG play D like that since The Glove Gary Payton.

Exum had little trouble against Payton. Payton fouled him a bit and couldnt keep him in front.

But yes Some_Fulla, Smart tore him to shreds IMO. Dont have to score 30 on someone to tear them up. Theres a whole other side to bball called defense and Smart eliminated Exum from the game defensively and it got to the point where Exum didnt want to handle the pill.

But as above there is no disrespect to Exum..Smart is the new glove

Reply #482513 | Report this post


Wookiee  
Years ago

I'm with others who really have no idea how he went so high, but there's no doubting his natural ability and other non-shooting skills that he's impressed with, and as long as the coach is happy and understands his likely progression (from interviews it seems he does) then I think the only people that have expectations too high are fans that think he's the second coming...

For that they're going to have to wait for Simmons, I think... Now THAT kid is a beast...

Reply #482515 | Report this post


Some_Fulla  
Years ago

Macdub.. Rewatch your little 5min highlight video.. By your logic exum 'tore elfird payton to shreds, Payton was so scared that he looked like he will never want to try and stay in front of someone again'

Reply #482519 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Any player taken straight out of high school is a risk and a project. All the indications based on his play at junior world championships, his size for position and his athletic ability suggests he will become an outstanding NBA player. It's a calculated risk selecting him high in the draft but the chances are it will pay off, big time. Just not straight away.

Reply #482520 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Gonna be tough. He is demanding pro money now so hard to allow for maturity etc, unless they don't pay him accordingly till he has matured. Ride the storms Dante there will plenty of them. He is good and has potential to be great but nowhere near there yet. All his hype has been based on potential not stats.

Reply #482548 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Keep in mind that Smart is 15 months older than Exum and didn't have a whole lot to worry about for that USA team other than playing great D. I'm not convinced Exum lives up to his draft position, but I don't think there's enough evidence out there anywhere to say he will or he won't. There's a lot to suggest he can, a lot to suggest he can't, and really the only things that are going to answer the question are Exum and time.

Reply #482551 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

lol @ the haters - if you watch the coach talk after the practice he actually doesn't say anything bad about dante game other than he's a little out of condition after a tough week of practice - and probably a bit nervous on a few shots, he praised his defensive effort and his ability to find players

Reply #482556 | Report this post


MACDUB  
Years ago

Some_Fulla,

Smart matched up with Exum directly 6 or so times

Exum turned it over 4 times and the other time he was denied.

But chill im on your side. Exum will be a good player and has the potential to be a very high calibre all star.

Unfortunately the FIBA comp is all we have to work on and im simply.commenting on what i saw from his matchup with a guy who went a fewspots behind him.

Reply #482559 | Report this post


Bear  
Years ago

Really! Not a fan of the heading on this post, so subjective and without a real understanding of what an opening pre season session is all about.

Hi hits one or two of those shots and it all changes does it? He will be fine, those who know something will be there to guide him and the rest will take care of itself in time, which is what he has in spades...

Reply #482560 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I also wonder why after years at AIS he doesn't have a better shot. Clearly they did a great job of developing his IQ/feel for the game/ability to play in a system, but I don't get why his shot mechanics are poor. His technique isn't so bad that he can't some day become a serviceable shooter, but it's something you notice too often with Australian players. Inefficient shot mechanics make it hard to ever become a knock-down shooter, as well as making it hard to be able to reliably shoot pull-ups off the dribble.

Reply #482561 | Report this post


MACDUB  
Years ago

I have seen alot of kids come out of the AIs with funny techniques/poor shooting.

My theory is this:

The kids go in every a.m and get shots up with that shooting machine that rebounds and passes the ball back out. They are unsupervised and the aim is volume of shots i.e. get as many as you can up.

Without supervision and with the focus on volume they develop poor habits. as they shoot.more and more with those bad habits it becomes ingrained.

Maybe this happened to someone like Delly who has a release from his chest. Did he develop that at the AIS. Not such an issue with him though as he is lights out

Reply #482566 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

People are acting like he's 15-16. He's only a year younger than guys like Wiggens, Parker etc.

And it's funny how some people have already written him off after one bad scrimmage. It's his first time playing high level basketball in a year! Of course he'll need some time to get into rhythm again.

Reply #482567 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

It was only a year ago that this forum would cheer Delly getting 10 minutes in an NBA game and now everyone is calling an Aussie top 5 pick a bust because of a bad training. It reminds me of when he was 15 and was added to the Boomers roster and everyone on the outside was thinking WTF.

Exum has a chance to be really special, but I wouldn't be expecting him to do much in his rookie year. For those was can remember Kobe's first year when he was out of high school where he averaged 7.6 PPG and less than 2 rebounds and assists per game. Exum will pretty much be the same age as an out of high schooler so I wouldn't be expecting much, although I think he will play more than what Kobe did who only got 17 minutes per game.

For all the money ball fans out there, this is the reason the teams have a big upside on Exum, Wiggins, Parker, etc as the production of the players over time exceeds the 3 and 4 year college stars. Check this out
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/drafting-sophomores-is-a-smart-strategy-for-nba-teams/

The Jazz are just hoping that Dante is more like the High schoolers production than the International prospects production.

As for is he a PG or SG, it really doesn't matter as a lot of NBA teams are going to 2 PG offences and tall outside shooters for pick and pop situations. The Jazz haven't got Dante to put up 10 there pointers a game, that's what Hayward and Hood are on the court for. Interesting article in the WSJ about the future of SG's.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-end-of-the-shooting-guard-1402354437

Anyway, can't wait for the season to start and all the speculation of who will be the future MJ to end.

Reply #482572 | Report this post


MACDUB  
Years ago

Don't think anyone is calling Exum a bust.

We all know his potential.

I just think there is a general consensus that he went high based on what comp he played in.

Reply #482575 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"People are acting like he's 15-16. He's only a year younger than guys like Wiggens, Parker etc."

He's the same as age them actually.

Reply #482581 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I thought they were 19 and Exum is 18?

Reply #482585 | Report this post


GWB  
Years ago

When it comes to Exum, I will believe it when I see it really. Has a lot of potential, but everything has potential.. the sun has the potential to explode today, but it probably wont.. This is why I don't jump to put him on the Boomers team personally because right 'now' he isn't yet a 'player' in the adult mens game

Reply #482586 | Report this post


Shooting Blanks  
Years ago

An inauspicious start to be sure, but I'm far more interested in watching how he performs in tomorrow's match-up vs Philly.

The scrutiny and pressure in Utah must be intense for the kid. A neutral venue in Vegas might just be the ticket to playing a bit more loose and letting the game come to him. Looking forward to the game.

Reply #482604 | Report this post


MACDUB  
Years ago

Would be much worse in a bigger market.

Utah people are a lot more tolerant than others

Reply #482606 | Report this post


Steven  
Years ago

Exum 13-7-95 is only a matter of months younger than Parker and Wiggins.

Reply #482627 | Report this post




You need to be a registered user to post from this location. Register here.



Close ads
Little Streaks - The fun and interactive good-habits app designed especially for kids.
Serio: Tourism photography and videography

Advertise on Hoops to a very focused, local and sports-keen audience. Email for rates and options.

Recent Posts



.


An Australian basketball forum covering NBL, WNBL, ABL, Juniors plus NBA, WNBA, NZ, Europe, etc | Forum time is: 9:20 pm, Tue 19 Mar 2024 | Posts: 968,026 | Last 7 days: 754