MellowRose wrote:Def Swami wrote:MellowRose wrote:
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.
Sure, they played against the same competition, but Smart didn't ever have the same reign on his team as Exum did. Smart played 15.7 MPG (109th out of 171 players) and Exum 30 MPG (17th highest MPG played out of 171). Minutes inflating stats aside, if Smart was replaced with Exum on that team, I think anyone willing to say Smart wouldn't AT LEAST put up the same stats as Exum would be lying to themselves and everyone else on here. Call it homerism or whatever, but I believe if Smart was placed on Exum's team, he would have had much higher stats than Exum did, and Smart's college numbers can somewhat attest to the validity of that belief:
33 MPG, 42.2 FG%, 51.4 2P% (we all laud Oladipo for his superb FG%, but if we take the four extra 3 point FG's Smart took away from his FG%, would it really be all that different than Oladipo's numbers? All the while being the #1 option on that OK St. team. Even if you think it's a stretch to extrapolate Smart's FG% by taking away the four more 3's he took per game, 42.2% FG% for a #1 option who had no help at all offensively and who can still work to improve on shot selection is nothing to scoff at. Smart has the potential to be a dominant force while being efficient as hell.), 30% 3P% (on 5 3 point attempts per game. Jabari took 3.0 3's per game and has a 36% 3P%, while having payers like Hood and Sulaimon, who helped draw attention away from Jabari. Who did Smart have? Forte?), 6 rebounds per game, 5 assists, 3 steals (not to mention the chaos he creates defensively. Parallel to no one. Haven't seen this type of defense since Tony Allen), and 18 points.
Now, replace Exum with this beast, and you have someone who will eat up the opponent and post higher stats than Exum could dream of. If you have someone posting the same MPG, PPG, rebound, assists, 2P%, 3P%, and FT% in college ball as someone on a goddamn FIBA tournament, then there's is no way said person will not be able to post better stats at the tourney.
Again, as you posted earlier, these are Exum's stats:
Dante Exum's 2013 FIBA U19: 18.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.8 apg, 52.9% FG2, 33.3% FG3, 60.9% FT
Smart has the same numbers while playing NCAA ball.
He would dominate FIBA ball if he was in Exum's shoes. .
