Dante Exum Learning to Navigate NBA During Rocky Rookie Season
LOS ANGELES — It wasn't all that long ago that Dante Exum was back in his home country of Australia, running summer camp drills with eager youngsters at the Institute of Sport, where he played prior to his arrival in the NBA.
"It was good, just seeing kids want to learn and want to just play basketball and have fun," Exum told Bleacher Report. "It didn't matter what they were doing. If they were doing defensive drills, they just wanted to get after it. Just play basketball."
That's not all that different from what Exum, a 19-year-old rookie, has tried to do through less than half a pro season with the Utah Jazz.
Nowadays, he's the one playing the part of camper, soaking up the experience and savoring every drop while his coaches and teammates provide instruction.
"It’s like the first day of camp, first year," Exum said, his pink Frozen backpack glimmering from inside his locker. "Everyone’s used to it. I’m just running around, trying to find my own feet."
Sometimes, he's landed awkwardly on those large loafers of his. Other times, he's shown tantalizing flashes of the raw talent that made him the No. 5 pick in the 2014 NBA draft—and might've pushed him higher, if not for the Milwaukee Bucks' peculiar use of facial coding.
"I think he has a chance to be great, I really do," Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers gushed. "His length, he’s smart, he’s young, he’s athletic, he can play 1 and 2. I think that’s a heck of a pick for them."
Exum delivered on Rivers' assessment on Monday, albeit in fits and spurts. He had little trouble outracing the other nine men on the floor in transition, notching himself a layup and a dunk off his speed and sense alone.
He put his quickness to great use in the third quarter, driving baseline and kicking out to Gordon Hayward at the top of the circle for a lead-snatching three.
The very next time down the floor for the Jazz, Exum showed off his own newly honed stroke on a three—his 26th on the season—to bump his percentage up to a respectable 35.1 percent from long range.
All the more respectable when considering how far Exum has come from his days as a non-shooter on the Australian national team.
"I think back to two or three years ago, his biggest downfall was his shooting," recalled Joe Ingles, Exum's teammate with both the Jazz and the Boomers. "Nobody would play him for his shot. He’s worked hard. He’s still got a little way to go, but he’s shooting with a lot more confidence now."
That kind of confidence is crucial for Exum in his current role with the Jazz. He can often be found spotting up in the corner, particularly when Hayward and Trey Burke are running rookie head coach Quin Snyder's pass-happy offense.
"I think for him to get experience in both of those situations is really good," Snyder said. "I think, in some ways, there are two different challenges, so to have to play both of those positions is a challenge. I think he’s done a good job, and hopefully he’ll compete and keep getting better."
Improvement should come naturally—if not always swiftly—for Exum, whose father, Cecil Exum, played at North Carolina with Michael Jordan.
Exum's youth is matched—if not exceeded—only by his lack of experience playing against grown men.
Last year, he was in Canberra, dominating high school kids in a country where basketball is still fighting for prominence—if not relevance—amid the popularity of rugby, Aussie rules football, soccer and tennis, among other sports.
"I knew the physicality was going to be up," Exum said of the NBA. "Guys are a lot stronger, but just being able to take that bump and get through it and play through a bit of contact."
Like when Chris Paul overpowered Exum on the youngster's first possession of the game to force a turnover. Or when he struggled to chase Paul and J.J. Redick through and around screen after screen, afterburners be damned.
That'll happen when you're "going against the best point guards in the world each night" while learning the ins and outs of the game at its highest level.
Exum got a taste of that in July, as RealGM indicates he averaged 7.2 points (on 30.8 percent shooting) and 2.8 assists in just under 27 minutes per game for Utah's NBA Summer League team in Las Vegas.
But the actual NBA is a far different animal than the one the Association sets up in Sin City during the offseason.
"Summer league’s more like a pick-up-type style," Exum explained. "It’s open-court. Shoot-when-you-want-to-shoot-type of game. But it’s more structured in the NBA. Defense is more set up. People actually want to play and shut you down."
Exum, though, remains undeterred.
His numbers coming into Monday's action (4.9 points, 1.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists in 18 minutes per game) may not pop any eyes. His seven points, five rebounds and three assists in a 101-97 road loss to the Clippers won't cause any great commotion either.
But the fact that Exum, fresh off playing high school ball in a foreign land, is holding his own against grown men and seasoned pros is impressive in itself. "He’d been bigger and stronger and quicker than everybody he’d played against," Ingles said.
He'll have plenty of opportunities to show how much he's grown going forward, especially with Jazz wing Alec Burks sidelined by a shoulder injury.
Snyder's had to spread Burks' minutes around the rest of Utah's young perimeter players, with Exum garnering a career-high 27 for himself in L.A.
Still, Exum wouldn't be sopping up so much of Burks' erstwhile playing time if he wasn't contributing positively to the cause. In Exum's own estimation, it's his defense—with his length, quickness, intelligence and attentiveness—that's kept him out on the floor.
It may be some time before Exum's offense serves that purpose. His first touch of the game resulted in a turnover, with Paul—an All-Defensive performer at the point—hounding him into a mishandle toward the corner.
"It’s always about looking at the next play and what I can do to help the team and not worrying about that first turnover," Exum said in the locker room after Utah's narrow defeat. "I’ve had the talk with coach about doing that."
Chances are, he'll have many more. Heck, if Exum's lucky enough to last a good, long while in this league, he should have many more such chats with Snyder or whoever else is offering him directives.
The losses, too, will come, far more frequently than Exum's used to. His Jazz have dropped 21 of their first 31 games, though they're much more talented and competitive than their win-loss record would suggest.
"As a team, we know it’s a process and everyone’s committed to it, so it’s just about looking at the game, not as a loss, but what we did to get better as a team," Exum said.
And, for Exum, what did he do to creep ever so slowly from precocious but mysterious teenager to rotation mainstay and—perhaps—future NBA star.
"I’ve got real high expectations for myself. I want to be the best player I can be," Exum said. "It’s about keep doing what I’m doing and getting more comfortable with the guys on and off the court so I can build that relationship so I can step up and get to where I want to be."
For now, he'll keep striving for that feel-good, summer-camp fun while taking his lumps at the NBA's School of Hard Knocks.
Josh Martin covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
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