Dante Exum having worst rookie season since Austin Rivers

Post #61 » by **Slava** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 4:35 pm

Froob wrote:Glad we got Smart, dodged a bullet there.

You haven't yet dodged any bullet there. For a guy that spent a couple seasons in college, Smart hasn't looked anywhere near being substantially better than Exum.

mksp · Post #62 » by **mksp** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 4:38 pm

Exum will be fine.

With that said, given how underwhelming, Exum, Gordon and Smart have been, I'm very curious who people thought the Sixers should have drafted instead of Joel Embiid (ANOTHER INJURED BIG MAN??!?!?!?!?!).

BMatt07 · Post #63 » by **BMatt07** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 5:16 pm

For whatever reason, many posters on the Bucks forum were in love with Exum, and were pushing for the Bucks to take him at 2. I realize that he is super young, but there's no one that pictured him playing this bad his rookie season. It doesn't help that the guy plays like he has one arm tied behind his back.

PDX MM · Post #64 » by **PDX MM** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 6:06 pm

At least these guys are playing which means they are already having better rookie years than Oden or Embiid plus a whole score of scrubs I won't bother to name who couldn't get on the court as a rookie.

tooler · Post #65 » by **tooler** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 7:40 pm

mksp wrote:Exum will be fine.

With that said, given how underwhelming, Exum, Gordon and Smart have been, I'm very curious who people thought the Sixers should have drafted instead of Joel Embiid (ANOTHER INJURED BIG MAN??!?!?!?!?!).

Gordon looked great before his injury as part of high energy bench lineups. I feel like he plays with starters a lot more now, where he's usually the 5th option. I suspect he doesn't want to step on any toes and focus on defense instead.

I only mention this because I've wondered if Exum is a victim of the same issue, especially now that he starts. (Obviously his efficiency could be better too.)

ChuckChilly · Post #66 » by **ChuckChilly** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:03 pm

Exum looks terrible out there. Probably 5 years away from being a finished product.

Johnny Firpo · Post #67 » by **Johnny Firpo** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:24 pm

I like Exum's long-term potential. It's going to be a bumpy ride, but the sky is the limit for him. I don't see huge mechanical problems with his shot either, it looks good, it just doesn't go in.

He will be all right, give him at least two more seasons after this one.

theFireBlanket · Post #68 » by **theFireBlanket** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 9:46 pm

BMatt07 wrote:For whatever reason, many posters on the Bucks forum were in love with Exum, and were pushing for the Bucks to take him at 2. I realize that he is super young, but there's no one that pictured him playing this bad his rookie season. It doesn't help that the guy plays like he has one arm tied behind his back.

Revisit this in a few years when he's a legitimate player...

As has been brought up in this thread, he has not had the worst rookie season since Rivers. His defensive rating isn't being factored.

HotelVitale · Post #69 » by **HotelVitale** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 10:33 pm

youngthegiant wrote:I kinda hate when people say, oh a player is only 19 so they need time to develop. I mean yes players do improve as they get older, but right off the bat you can see potential in their game. Take Giannis for example, 18 when he came into the league and he put up decent numbers, but most importantly you could see the skill he has. I don't know much about exum, as I haven't seen him play much. But looking at his numbers From February ...he is out there 26 minutes a game and is averaging just a little over 3 points. That is really,really bad.

Well, Giannis was extremely unproductive per minute last year. He finished up the year better than he started, but he still only posted 10/6/3 on 51 ts% the whole year. That's one basket more and one assist less than Exum's averaging, a 5% better true shooting. I could also argue that Exum is showing nearly as many flashes as Giannis did last year--he's very quick, is really under control when driving (at least sometimes), and has nice vision. His jump shooting is better than expected too, looks pretty natural most of the time. And I just checked: Exum is only four months older than Giannis was last year, they were both very young NBA rookies.

On the record, I don't care about Exum one way or another, but as a draft/prospect junkie I still see him as a very interesting prospect that could go either way. He's definitely not a straight-up flop, still clearly has size and athleticism advantages that he hasn't come anywhere close to tapping into.

(He also obviously shouldn't be out there, as others have pointed out. Exum should be riding the bench and averaging 15 garbage time minutes while putting up 11/4/5 per 36 and working on his game in practice. I don't think we'd be bothering with this discussion if that was happening.)

HotelVitale · Post #70 » by **HotelVitale** » Mon Feb 23, 2015 10:38 pm

LeChosen One wrote:Why draft a player playing against such weak competition so high? I don't get it. Should of been a second rounder.

C'mon now, who you played against in high school has NOTHING to do with how good a player you'll be. Kobe spent the season before his rookie year playing plenty of 5'9 white guys with 18 inch verticals. Robert Swift did too; he was a total flop but it wasn't because he didn't play good enough HS competition.