NBA Rookies 2014: Dante Exum A Bust? Australia Not Using The Much-Hyped NBA Draftee in FIBA World Cup! Utah Jazz Front Office Regrets The Decision?
Among the top 8 draft picks in the NBA draft, Dante Exum is the enigma. He is the NBA 2014 Rookie that has not been seen in competitive college basketball. That's why the FIBA World Cup was supposed to be an eye-opener.
However, there wasn't much to learn since the 5th overall pick was hardly visible on the court for Australia. The Boomers extensively used Cleveland Cavaliers backup point guard Matthew Dellavedova over Exum.
Sporting News compiled the observation towards Exum:
"'Not much,' said an Eastern Conference scouting director, laughing. 'He's not ready for the NBA, that is for sure. But a lot of guys are not ready for the NBA and they have got to learn on the fly. He is no different. But he is not going to jump into the league and all of a sudden average 20 points a game. There's just no way.'"
Not to say that Exum was not given his chances: "He played 11 and 13 minutes in Australia's first two games, but essentially fell out of the rotation in games against Lithuania and Mexico. For Australia's meaningless loss to Angola, Exum did play 31 minutes, finishing with 12 points and six assists."
Despite the limited sample size, scouts have seen what prompted the Jazz to take him. From a scouting director: "He is really, really good in the pick-and-roll. He knows how to take the pick and emerge with his head up and he sees the whole floor. He will get better with his decision-making as time goes on and he gets experience, but that ability to come off the pick like that, you know being able to see and process everything immediately with your head up, that is something you can't teach.
From what I have seen, the guy is a 1 all the way. You can try putting him at 2, but his shot is just not something you fear right now - he needs to adjust his mechanics and he needs more confidence in it. If he plays a lot of 2-guard, I would hope it does not hurt his confidence and set him back a little. That's not his game right now."
The only dilemma for the Jazz is that last year's first round choice, Trey Burke is also a point guard. It is speculated that somewhere during the season one of them might be traded.
