In the 2014 NBA Draft, Dante Exum was drafted 5th overall by the Utah Jazz. I did not know much about Exum, mainly due to the fact that he was an eighteen-year-old from Australia whose hype came from a game he played when he was fifteen. The Australian Institute of Sport’s basketball team played an American squad essentially made up of D-league level players. The Americans were up by 16 going into the fourth quarter. Exum scored 25 fourth quarter points, forced overtime, and won the game. Scouts talked about how he was crossing people over, blowing past the American players, and having a tremendous mid-range jumper. No doubt, this is a fantastic performance, but it was just one game.
Exum played at various camps in 2012 when he was still in high school, but he never played against high-quality opponents after that. At the U17 World Championships, he shot less than 20% from three. He averaged 17 ppg but less than 3 apg. One year later at the U19 World Championships, Exum averaged 18 points and almost four assists a game while shooting an ok 33% from three. However, he never scrimmaged against the best players in the NCAA until the NBA Combine in 2014, shortly before he was drafted.
Leading up to the draft, I looked at as many mocks as I could and almost every single one had Exum going in the top ten if not the top five. All the analysts touted his athletic ability and how he could get to anywhere he wanted to on the court. So, the draft comes and goes with the Jazz excited about their new future star, Dante Exum. His first test: NBA Summer League.
The Utah Jazz’s first game is against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers summer league team signed Sean Kilpatrick from my favorite school, the University of Cincinnati Bearcats. Kilpatrick enjoyed a 2,000 point career in Cincinnati and I loved his productivity, but I knew it would be tough for him to find a spot in the NBA. He was an undersized 2-guard that wasn’t a good enough athlete and didn’t have a good enough handle to make up for his lack of size. He did have a nice jumper, but could not create his own shot on the NBA-level. Naturally, I’m rooting for Kilpatrick and the Sixers. It was basically a head-to-head matchup between Kilpatrick and Exum.
From the jump, I saw the athleticism of Exum. He could really run up and down the court... until he got fatigued by the beginning of the second quarter. The dude looked winded, his jump shot was broken, and Kilpatrick was torching him. Quite simply, the Aussie was not ready for the big leagues. Kilpatrick finished with 27 points and the Sixers won handily. Exum was 4/10 from the field, had 10 points and more turnovers than assists. Guess who got the postgame interview? EXUM.
I was pissed. Dude plays poorly, his team loses, and you interview him instead of the actual player of the game. So, I made up my mind. Exum is going to be a bust. I just saw him get demolished by a guy who needed five years in college to become a fringe NBA player. I frequently referred to this summer league game as evidence.
Exum’s summer league didn’t get any better. In 26.6 minutes per game, he averaged 7.2 points, 2.8 assists, and 2.6 rebounds while shooting 30.8 percent from the field. He just wasn’t good and ugh and the Jazz whiffed on a top 5 pick.
Exum has suffered a torn ACL and a partially torn patellar tendon during his time in the NBA. For a guy that relies solely on athleticism because he cannot shoot or initiate the offense, these injuries greatly reduced his already-small impact on the game.
This isn’t like a Brandon Roy case where injuries derailed a star player’s career. Exum cannot play and this was evident since the day Kilpatrick obliterated him in that first Summer League game.
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