Utah Jazz: 76ers loss sucked, but Exum’s breakout was a major win

The Utah Jazz’s loss to the Philadelphia 76ers felt like another case of two steps forward, one step back, but Dante Exum seemingly took a seismic leap.

Just when you think the Utah Jazz finally have things on lockdown, they inevitably encounter something that reminds us all there’s always work still to be done. Such was the case on Thursday when they incurred a disappointing setback on their home floor by the Philadelphia 76ers. Despite entering the contest as winners of three of their previous four games, the Jazz hit less than 40 percent of their shots, posted an assist-to-turnover ratio approaching 1:1 and lost by 17 points.

Simply put, they sucked. That said, the Jazz band did notch a major win in at least one respect — the breakout performance of point-man Dante Exum.

After dropping 15 points against the Portland Trail Blazers on Christmas Day, the former No. 5 overall pick upped the ante to 20 versus Philly, hitting three 3-point shots in the process.

https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/1078535619549130752

Scoring a season-high point total is great, of course, but the real treat here is the fact that Exum is continuing to string good performances together, one after another, and seemingly taking a seismic leap forward each night out.

For a player that has struggled through bouts of inconsistency throughout his injury-riddled career, that’s a hugely important accomplishment.

As recently as last month, there was a contingent of Jazz Nation calling for a refund on the three-year, $33-million deal Exum inked with the team last summer. And, really, who could blame them? From November 1 to December 2, the Aussie was a net negative on the court for the Jazz and was scoring 4.9 points per contest on just 34 percent shooting from the floor and 22 percent from distance.

Things like garbage-time minutes and a DNP-CD had re-entered his life and left some wondering whether Raul Neto should take his spot permanently.

Over the last three-plus weeks, though, the Ex-man has been a different player.

In Utah’s last 12 games, Exum is averaging 20 points and six dimes per 36 minutes on 52 percent overall and 42 percent from 3-point range. During that span, he’s posted a better net rating than both Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell; the Jazz have outscored opponents by 8.4 points per 100 possessions when Exum’s been on the floor.

And he continues to be solid defensively. For the year, opponents are now hitting under 42 percent of their shots when Exum is the closest defender, or 2.6 percent below their norm.

After looking like a player who had lost his confidence for a month, the 23-year-old is suddenly knocking down outside shots, finishing at the basket, finding open teammates and locking down on his man on the other end.

This leads us to the $33-million question: is the wait finally over… is Exum finally set to tap into his big-time potential this season?

That one likely requires more than a nice 12-game stretch to answer. Still, something has clearly clicked-in for Exum. He’s putting in major work behind the scenes and, for the first time since that start of the season, it’s showing in actual games.

As a team, the Jazz will continue to have the occasional letdown. But if they continue to show progress — as Exum has for the last month in a major way — they’re clearly on the right track.