GimmeDat wrote:One thing I've found about Exum in the time that I have watched him is that he plays a bit too much of a finesse game for someone who is so big for his position. Almost a bit soft offensively. He's also either 0 or 100 speed wise, and always straight line.. I just watched some highlights of SGA, a PG with similar dimensions, and he's not nearly as athletic, but he probes the defense with more patience and a more versatile, live dribble. It also helps that he is physical getting deep position against other guards, and will use his body to bully his way in to shots in that mid-range or high key area. It also obviously helps that he has a more functional jumpshot than Exum that he can pull in to.
In comparison, Exum either has a straight line to drive or he doesn't. And he often does, because he's fast AF, but I think this lack of nuance limits his ability to be a 'true PG', despite being a decent passer. And that's okay, but if you can't be a floor general type point can run an offense, then you need to be able to play off the ball. He has the size and athleticism to do so, but he doesn't have the off-ball game right now. I don't think his form is horrible, it's stiff and lacks a lot of functionality, but if he's set it looks fine, and it sounds like he shoots it well in practice, and he also shoots FT's relatively well (around 80%). So I don't get why he misses so many spot up looks even, I guess it just must not take much to through him off his form. Maybe speeding it up a little, making it a little bit more one motion, even if it remains quite a set shot, would help in this regard. And again, when it comes to off-ball play, he could be a great off-ball cutter if he was more active and finished with physicality.
I believe his issues with finishing are a combination of him always going so fast to the rim, with him always going for finesse finishes with one hand. He's always trying to beat his opponent to the rim, and as a 6'6 PG, that shouldn't have to be the case. He needs to have patience, be more physical inside, and not always use one hand! Even if he uses his body to get deep position and pushes up a little floater over them. Obviously a true in-between game would be even better, but I think that's an even bigger reach for him to develop.
Also needs to work on having a strong dribble at all times, idk if he's just being casual/loose with it, or maybe his handle just can't keep up with the speed he plays at, but sometimes he dribbles it too low for his stance and he needs to like go collect it. He's way too one hand dominant also.. he needs to mix that up and ideally develop some basic changes of direction.. doesn't need to be anything fancy, and it'll be easier once he slows his game up and uses *change* of speed more effectively.
I'm probably not telling you guys anything you don't already know, but just my 2cents. It's just a bit frustrating because the potential is still completely there, but he still plays like a raw athlete project type 3 years into his 4th season. Even still, I think he brings a lot to the table and needs freedom and opportunity to find these developments in his game.. he's never going to expand what he does out on the court unless he has that rope.
Yeah, him having practically one speed is a problem. There is indeed no nuance in his game. He either goes fast or he doesn't go and there is very little that's not straight line.
About his handles... I think it can be separated into two problems - first the handle is loose itself. He has little control over it... it just looks like he can lose the ball any time he's dribbling it... and second... the more I've been watching the more it looks to me like huge number of his turnovers are on his gather. It's not exactly part of his handle, since it's the finishing moment of him possessing the ball - either gathering it for layup or to pass it, but that's the majority of the cases when he gets stripped... it's very similar to Gobert's biggest problem with ball security... the moment when he has to catch the ball after dribbling or after a cut, he's most vulnerable to getting stripped. He just doesn't have it securely in his hands end even the slightest of contact either to him or to the ball creates turnover opportunity.
I have no idea what the solution to those problems is but I tend to think that handle and ball security is one of the things that's the hardest to correct. I don't know if purely working on it can help. It's almost an indictment on either his or the Jazz's inability to identify and/or address the most obvious of problems in his game. Just think about it - is there any PG in the league, even among the backups with such a glaring ballhandling problem. I can't think of anyone. There are PGs that make mistakes, there are PGs that make bad passes or have poor decisionmaking... this is not the main problem with Dante... it's the physical act of dribbling the ball and securing it in his hands when he goes for a layup in traffic that actually presents the biggest problem for him.
