The Dante Exum Thread

[Smooth_E]

Were you once a teacher at Edgewater Highschool? Honest question.

No. What makes you ask that?

I know someone who claimed that you were, if you are indeed the same Magicfan101 from the old ESPN boards. If not, nvm. I know someone who claimed you were a teacher there at one point.

[MellowRose]

ricky rubio is not 6'6, and he also had his career set back by a serious injury. bad example

False. This is the perfect example as a response to the specifics of your first argument.

Rubio was hyped for having good size at 6'4 as well as his passing and court vision but everyone knew he had work to do as a shooter. He has done well when healthy, but doesn't have the look of a guy who will ever be a franchise talent.

So Rubio has shown that these skills alone are clearly not enough to make a superstar. Hence we must look to other things which just aren't there in these videos thanks to a lack of strong compeition. He has so much space around him as no one has the athleticism to get in his face and force him to make a move. Any half defent basketball athlete would take advantage of those kids just as easily as he is doing. We just don't know about him yet.

Were you once a teacher at Edgewater Highschool? Honest question.

All bout Jones, bruh. lol

[Smooth_E]

False. This is the perfect example as a response to the specifics of your first argument.

Rubio was hyped for having good size at 6'4 as well as his passing and court vision but everyone knew he had work to do as a shooter. He has done well when healthy, but doesn't have the look of a guy who will ever be a franchise talent.

So Rubio has shown that these skills alone are clearly not enough to make a superstar. Hence we must look to other things which just aren't there in these videos thanks to a lack of strong compeition. He has so much space around him as no one has the athleticism to get in his face and force him to make a move. Any half defent basketball athlete would take advantage of those kids just as easily as he is doing. We just don't know about him yet.

Were you once a teacher at Edgewater Highschool? Honest question.

All bout Jones, bruh. lol

No way bro! Name one good player that came out of Jones..

[MagicFan101]

^^why wasnt he doing it against high schoolers then?

This is what worries me. We really haven't seen Exum' full offensive arsenal, and I'm afraid we're going to find out his flaws a little too late if we draft him. For all of the other top prospects, we know what they're offensive flaws are, but we are not privy to Exum's.

Can he consistently take contact for 82 games against 6-11, 290 lb guys in the paint beating the **** out of him? Will he start to become afraid and stop attacking and just start shooting jump shots? Does he have that fighter mentality that Smart, Westbrook, and Rose do when going into the paint? How is his mental fortitude...is he like Wiggins?

He just hasn't gone up against guys like Howard, Noah, Jordan, Ibaka, Taj, Hibbert, Cousins, and this should be a legitimate concern.

How will he fare against legit shot blockers?

Exactly. Thank you!

Every single one of these prospects comes into the league with issues to overcome.

Wiggins - Does he really want to be great? Does he have that killer instinct?
Embiid - Is he healthy and more importantly, can he stay healthy?
Parker - Can he even guard a D-league WNBA talent? Kidding... but not as much as we would like.
...

For some reason, a lack of exposure equates to a lack of question marks on Exum for most fans here.

[MagicFan101]

Were you once a teacher at Edgewater Highschool? Honest question.

No. What makes you ask that?

I know someone who claimed that you were, if you are indeed the same Magicfan101 from the old ESPN boards. If not, nvm. I know someone who claimed you were a teacher there at one point.

That is / was me, but I never taught at the high school level.

[Smooth_E]

No. What makes you ask that?

I know someone who claimed that you were, if you are indeed the same Magicfan101 from the old ESPN boards. If not, nvm. I know someone who claimed you were a teacher there at one point.

That is / was me, but I never taught at the high school level.

Oh ok cool.

[MellowRose]

Were you once a teacher at Edgewater Highschool? Honest question.

All bout Jones, bruh. lol

No way bro! Name one good player that came out of Jones..

Yall got Daniels. Jones got...














ME.

[Smooth_E]

All bout Jones, bruh. lol

No way bro! Name one good player that came out of Jones..

Yall got Daniels. Jones got...














ME.

So then, nothing, I guess.. lol jk #DRAFTDANTE

[WillCmeAsRomans]

Video discussing draft prospects and the lottery, Exum convo

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua0LSPNr1bo[/youtube]

What's interesting to me in this video is that while he seems to like Exum, at various points through the course of the video he notes that his observations from his week in Australia were that:

(a) he's not a good shooter,
(b) the competition he's played against has been awful (notes that the big men are usually about 6'6"),
(c) that in Australia they call him Ante Exum, because he has no "D."

In regards to (c), I've flagged this before. His defensive effort in the games I've seen is pretty lackluster. Bad rotations, low effort. I've read reports which say he's a good defender but I really haven't seen an example of that yet.

C might be a product of B. If he is leaps and bounds more talented than the competition someone would be less motivated to take it easy on defense. Anyone who's played pickup knows what I mean

[LofJ]

It's not like he's never gone up against good competition. He was dominant at the the 2013 FIBA championship, that's what really started the hype around him. He tore the Spanish team to shreds.

[Blue_and_Whte]

It's not like he's never gone up against good competition. He was dominant at the the 2013 FIBA championship, that's what really started the hype around him. He tore the Spanish team to shreds.

The Spanish team?! And what? The **** Spanish team... parker, wiggins, smart and embiid have "gone up" against better talent. Consistently.

[Melvinlocker]

Sorry, I meant vertically. Yea, he's long and extremely quick, but he's not someone who can get up and dunk. I'm assuming it won't be a problem, though, but it's just something that bothers me personally.

First, just because he didnt do well on the combine doesnt mean he cant jump high.

Second, max vert is overrated and is rarely used during games, I would say no step vert and standing reach are a lot more relevant during games.

To calm you down here are some max vert numbers from known dunkers/dunk contest winners:

Russel Westbrook-36.5
Dwight- 35.5
Amare-35.5
Griffin-35.5
J.R Smith-35.5
Wade- 35
Exum-34.5
Drummond-33.5
Javale Mcgee- 32.5

Yea, I don't take those vert numbers very seriously. Was saying I'm wary of his dunking ability purely based on videos. Not on any measurements.

I think that the more important combine stats are the both the standing and max vertical reach because it takes into account the vertical space that you will impact. It isn't perfect but it can be indicative of where someone's potential is around the rim when looked at in conjunction with production, bballiq iq, and hard work.

[LofJ]

It's not like he's never gone up against good competition. He was dominant at the the 2013 FIBA championship, that's what really started the hype around him. He tore the Spanish team to shreds.

The Spanish team?! And what? The **** Spanish team... parker, wiggins, smart and embiid have "gone up" against better talent. Consistently.

Spain puts out great basketball players on a regular basis. Their national teams are nothing to scoff at.

[Showbiz Bear]

I feel like you could make the case about all players coming out of high school; their competition is below their talent level. Easily. Not sure why Exum is under so much damn scrutiny.

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[Def Swami]

Marcus Smart's 2013 FIBA U19: 9.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.2 apg, 60.5% FG2, 28.6% FG3, 64% FT
Dante Exum's 2013 FIBA U19: 18.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.8 apg, 52.9% FG2, 33.3% FG3, 60.9% FT

Dante Exum's 2013 Nike Hoop Summit: 16 points, 6-8, 1-2 FG3, 3 rebs, 2 assts, 2 stls, 1 blk in 22 minutes
Jabari Parker 2013 Nike Hoop Summit: 22 points, 10-23, 1-9 FG3, 7 rebs, 1 asst, 3 stls, 2 blks in 27 minutes

Dante definitely doesn't have the track record that other prospects do, but he has held his own when facing his peers.

[orlandomike]

This is an interesting, if not, scary read:

http://www.nbadraft.net/forum/dante-exum-4

also as an aside, he visited Indiana looking for a college to go to and became friends with Oladipo.

[platinuma1]

I feel like you could make the case about all players coming out of high school; their competition is below their talent level. Easily. Not sure why Exum is under so much damn scrutiny.

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Not even

Almost all top players in the US constantly went going against each other in camps and AAU/Nike EYBL tournaments in the summers for at least 2 years.

[MellowRose]

Marcus Smart's 2013 FIBA U19: 9.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.2 apg, 60.5% FG2, 28.6% FG3, 64% FT
Dante Exum's 2013 FIBA U19: 18.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.8 apg, 52.9% FG2, 33.3% FG3, 60.9% FT

Dante Exum's 2013 Nike Hoop Summit: 16 points, 6-8, 1-2 FG3, 3 rebs, 2 assts, 2 stls, 1 blk in 22 minutes
Jabari Parker 2013 Nike Hoop Summit: 22 points, 10-23, 1-9 FG3, 7 rebs, 1 asst, 3 stls, 2 blks in 27 minutes

Dante definitely doesn't have the track record that other prospects do, but he has held his own when facing his peers.

Minutes players by Smart: Total - 141. Per game - 15.6 min
Minutes played by Exum: Total - 266. Per game - 25 min

Also, I don't understand how he held his own against his peers when he only played 11 minutes against the U.S.??? I'm told his team was getting a beat down, so coach pulled him early...or maybe it was to hide his deficiencies against a U.S. team that was shutting his ass down?

[MellowRose]

I feel like you could make the case about all players coming out of high school; their competition is below their talent level. Easily. Not sure why Exum is under so much damn scrutiny.

Sent from my SGH-T769 using RealGM Forums mobile app

You could, but HS players don't go up against teams whose tallest players are 6-6. A **** load of questions about Exum imo.

[Def Swami]

Marcus Smart's 2013 FIBA U19: 9.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.2 apg, 60.5% FG2, 28.6% FG3, 64% FT
Dante Exum's 2013 FIBA U19: 18.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.8 apg, 52.9% FG2, 33.3% FG3, 60.9% FT

Dante Exum's 2013 Nike Hoop Summit: 16 points, 6-8, 1-2 FG3, 3 rebs, 2 assts, 2 stls, 1 blk in 22 minutes
Jabari Parker 2013 Nike Hoop Summit: 22 points, 10-23, 1-9 FG3, 7 rebs, 1 asst, 3 stls, 2 blks in 27 minutes

Dante definitely doesn't have the track record that other prospects do, but he has held his own when facing his peers.

Minutes players by Smart: Total - 141. Per game - 15.6 min
Minutes played by Exum: Total - 266. Per game - 25 min

Also, I don't understand how he held his own against his peers when he only played 11 minutes against the U.S.??? I'm told his team was getting a beat down, so coach pulled him early...or maybe it was to hide his deficiencies against a U.S. team that was shutting his ass down?

The stats can stack up amongst his peers for the FIBA U19 tournament. Marcus and he still played against the same teams in the tournament. They face the same competition. And he played against his peers in the Nike Hoop Summit.

I get it. Sample size. Everyone has a leg up on Exum because they played 32 games on TV. They also are at a disadvantage because they've been torn to shreds by us on forums nitpicking every facet of their game like we are doing now with Exum. But, the "competition" argument against Exum is kind of a meager one considering the success certain high school players have had in the past, and the fact that he has actually played against talent in other forms and had success.

Unlike some are proposing, it's not unrealistic for this kid to actually be the 4th best player in the draft while playing against inferior talent. It's harder for us novice, couch scouts to assess him in comparison with guys like Smart, but I'm sure the professionals will be able to figure it out (especially ours). Using the "competition" argument to choose one player over another just doesn't seem like sound thinking given the history of players coming out of high school without college experience and Exum's performances.

If you think Exum is lazy on defense, that's fair. If you think he'll flop because he can't jump, that's okay. Or if you just love the fire and passion that Marcus Smart displayed and his tenacious defense at OKST, that's cool. But, I'm not sure Exum should be completely discredited for playing against what we're assuming is inferior competition. It's a concern that requires further studying, but not something I'd base my draft pick around.