Make better choices, Dante
My biggest gripe with Dante Exum over the first few years of his career, has been his decision making. Heading into his fifth year in the NBA, that is an area where he has to show dramatic improvement. Far too often we see Exum drive into the paint, leave his feet, and then try to force a pass to a player not in a position to succeed.
Along with this, we’ll also want to see a better and tighter handle, since losing his dribble was a consistent issue.
Your 2nd round leaders in lost-ball turnovers (losing your dribble):
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) May 3, 2018
Anthony Davis: 9
Dante Exum: 8
Kevin Durant: 8
Joel Embiid: 8
Jayson Tatum: 8
Exum is still a relatively young player, and has few miles under his feet. He came into the league after only having played high school basketball in Australia, and then even though he’s been in the league since 2014, we already mentioned early on that he has only played in 49.4 percent of his possible regular season games.
He’ll need to continue to grow his knowledge and feel for the game. Again, during the playoff series against the Rockets, Exum began to show a better feel for the game. That led to multiple easy dunks for Rudy Gobert and Derrick Favors.
Just check out this sequence in Game 2 against the Rockets where he set up Favors for back-to-back dunks:
Exum excels at getting into the teeth of a defense. This is going to force help defenders, which will lead to open teammates. Whether that is an open shooter in the corner or a big man for a easy layup or dunk, he has to show a consistent ability to get them the ball.
With Grayson Allen behind him in the rotation, better decision making will be a must. Allen already showed us during the summer league that he has terrific vision, and if Exum wants to stay ahead of him in the rotation, he’ll have to limit his turnovers and make better decisions.