Official Dante Exum Thread

Dante Exum's 3/4 court sprint at the #NBACombine
https://vine.co/v/MXTqI2lZYqE

Dante Exum performs his standing vertical jump - he finished with a 31.5 standing vert

https://vine.co/v/MXT70vjjTMH

Dante Exum & Shabazz Napier warming up before athletic testing #nbacombine

https://vine.co/v/MXIVdjzlull

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Tom Read

During Benyam & my trip to the United States in February, the first question that anyone asked us at every Arena that we went to was “Tell us about this Exum kid?”. It was two weeks after Dante Exum had declared for the NBA Draft & hired super-agent Rob Pelinka & there was still not a large body of work of his floating around for all to see. We were happy to answer questions. Over the past couple of years, BK & I were lucky enough to have probably seen more of Dante play & train than most people had. Watching him progress through the National ranks to become a fully-fledged member of the Boomers program & dominate at the National High School Championships.
Since then, he’s been living in Southern California, working out with Rob McClanaghan & preparing himself for the Draft process.
This weekend, that process began & the NBA community finally got their first up close & personal glimpse of Australian phenom at the Draft Combine in Chicago.
Exum was arguably the highest profile player who attended the Draft Combine after other potential top 3 picks in Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker & Joel Embiid elected to sit the process out.
Dante definitely lived up to the hype & expectations, impressing team executives, coaches and the US media with his agility, wingspan, intelligence & how he conducts himself.
“In Australia, I’ve always been the main guy there, but coming to the States I’ve been just another fish in the sea. It is nice to get all the attention, but I’m taking it one stride at a time and soaking up the moment.” said Exum to the packed media scrum around him.
“I’m ready for this situation and that’s why I’m here. I’ve been away from home since I was 15 at a campus. It’s kind of like college in a way. That taught me how to be a professional and how to handle myself in situations like this.”
One phrase that has always been thrown around for Exum is ‘high character’. It’s true. Out of the small chance meetings i’ve had with Dante over the last year, he is one of the nicest & most mature teenagers i’ve come across. You can tell that his father, former professional basketballer Cecil Exum has not only taught him strong values & being humble, but has also prepared him for life making a living in basketball. He’s always been very respectful of others & handles himself in a humble manner. But, still has an aura of confidence that you need to succeed in the NBA game.
“The most important thing I’ve learned is what on the court gets you in the NBA and what off the court keeps you in the NBA. That’s one thing I’ve taken very seriously. How I prepare for games, prepare for my workouts.”
The Melbourne guard holding private interviews with the Pistons, 76ers & Suns on the first day & the Lakers, Bucks, Magic & Kings on Day 2.
“I interviewed with four teams in total yesterday, so I think that’s seven teams now,” Exum told ESPN.
“They just want to get me in, learn a bit about me and know what I’m about.”
All reports are that Dante’s interviews were a success & all were impressed with how he conducted himself. For most teams, this was the most important part of the weekend. Teams used this to have a chance to find out more about the most intriguing prospect in the Draft, learn about his character, what makes him tick & whether or not he’d be a good fit to the team.
Teams often ask questions to throw players… Exum received a few of these & didn’t fall for one tricks.
“I will say, it’s funny — today one of the teams asked me, ‘Besides marijuana, which drugs do you use?’” Exum said, via the Boston Globe. “And I’m like, ‘Umm, none, I don’t use drugs.’ That was the weirdest one.”
Dante clearly was the stand-out shooting guard in the agility drills. He was the fastest of the SG group at the lane agility drill, shuttle run & was 0.01 seconds behind Markel Brown in the three quarter court sprint.
On advice of his agent, Rob Pelinka, Exum didn’t take part in any of the shooting drills (This is a common occurrence for elite prospects). Pelinka would prefer that Exum waits to do these in private workouts with teams after this weeks’ Draft Lottery.
“[NBA teams] have an idea of what I’m about,” Exum said. “But some of the college players have played 40 games and they’ve seen them, but they haven’t seen me. So they’re trying to look at tape. It has its advantages and disadvantages.”
Exum’s measurements definitely got the attention of most teams. 6’6″ with shoes on & a 6’9.5″ wingspan which would make him a big force in his preferred position of point-guard. Or average size for the shooting-guard position, which is where a lot of scouts & teams want to see him play .
This PG v SG battle has been going on for a few years now for Dante & he even weighed in on it this weekend.
“I’m a point guard. I like to lead a team. I’ve been put into position on all the teams I’ve been (on) to lead by example, on and off the floor.” said Exum.
“I’m a player that likes to beat a man off the dribble and make the defense have to help and open up players. I think that’s where I excel in my game.”
Exum’s stock began to rise at the start of this season mainly due to the comparisons that were floating around between him & 2014 Rookie of the Year, Michael Carter-Williams. Whilst Exum won’t give a direct comparison to who his game’s most similar to, you can definitely see that he’s grown up watching Kobe by how his jumper mechanics currently look & also Derrick Rose, by how he likes to attack the hoop & finish at the rim. Dante threw in a couple of more comparisons to the media.
“I like to look at Russell Westbrook, an explosive point guard who can get to the rim,” he said. “But then I also like to look at Manu Ginobili when he gets into the paint. It’s just looking at different players.
“My game has changed a whole lot since those clips [from 2013],”
“I’m a get-to-the-rim type of player. I dribble and draw help to find players, which puts me in a good position to be a point guard. I also want to be that kind of vocal leader on the floor, the voice of the coach.”
Dante’s definitely been working on his game since those clips, most notably… The Draft Express scouting report. He’s worked on his frame, putting on an additional 8 pounds of muscle since same time last year. His shot is still a work in progress, but it seems to be coming along nicely. You could tell at the Australian High School Championships that he’s been working on his arc. It’s not something that happens overnight, a lot of repetition is needed to get it to where it should be, but he’s got the mechanics to build on it to make him into a dangerous shooter in the NBA. His handle is the other major thing that he will be working on & due to the level of competition was up against back at the High School Champs, it’s too hard to tell if that had improved or not before then.
The one part of the combine that scouts probably weren’t as impressed with Exum in, could also help make his point guard dream come true. We’ve known for some time that his vertical isn’t as good as some of the other perimeter players in the draft. But now we’ve got an exact number on it… His max vertical leap was 34.5 inches. A number of teams were expecting more & that may sway teams from thinking that they should look at him as a shooting guard.
Exum said that he’d be happy to play wherever he would be drafted. However, he finished that by saying that “there’s really no bad situations… But there are better situations.”
One rumor that had floated around for the last few months about Exum was that he was looking to force his way to the Los Angeles Lakers. The rumor was inevitably going to happen seeing that he signed with Pelinka, who’s best known for being Kobe Bryant‘s agent & was based in Los Angeles where he attended a number of Lakers games.
Exum commented on this:
“It’s a thing the media twisted what I said,” Exum said. “Obviously the Lakers are a great organization. I’m in this draft to go to a place where I feel best at that is a good fit for me, whatever team that is the best place for me. There’s no one team I really want to go to.”
The media definitely did get this twisted. The story basically broke from the first day that he arrived in Los Angeles & attended the Lakers v Rockets game. He was spotted waiting outside the locker-rooms. Most took this as he was waiting to be introduced to Lakers personnel, but he was in-fact waiting to be introduced to one of Pelinka’s other clients, James Harden. This whole story started on a false statement & Exum rightly shut it down.
Even so, the Lakers would be a great situation for Exum. It’s a storied franchise & an important city for Australian & United States trade. If Exum was to be based in Los Angeles, this would open up a number of large sponsorship opportunities for Elite Sports Properties, the firm who look after his Australian interests, with businesses such as Qantas, Tourism Australia & Virgin Australia.
Overall, it’ll be interesting to see how the next month pans out for Exum. There are a lot of teams who will have high lottery picks who are in need of a point guard (Bucks, Magic & Lakers) & a few teams who may be intrigued to try & run a back-court similar to the Goran Dragic & Eric Bledsoe show in Phoenix (76ers & Celtics)… Only time will tell.

Billyhoyle said:

Dante Exum performs his standing vertical jump - he finished with a 31.5 standing vert

https://vine.co/v/MXT70vjjTMH

Click to expand...

31.5 sounds pretty good but wasnt there 2 guys jumpin 43.5 this year?

ozguy3825 said:

31.5 sounds pretty good but wasnt there 2 guys jumpin 43.5 this year?

Click to expand...

To put Dante Exum's NBA Draft Combine vertical leap scores in perspective:

Dante Exum - Standing: 31.5, Max: 34.5

MCW - Standing: 31.5, Max: 41
Trey Burke - Standing: 29.5, Max: 36.5
Damian Lillard - Standing: 34.5, Max: 39.5
Kemba Walker - Standing: 32, Max: 39.5

ozguy3825 said:

31.5 sounds pretty good but wasnt there 2 guys jumpin 43.5 this year?

Click to expand...

http://www.nj.com/sixers/index.ssf/...gins_vertical_leap_measured_at_44_inches.html
Maximum vertical leap (running start):
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State, SG......43.50 inches
Jahii Carson, Arizona State, PG............43.50 inches
Zach LaVine, UCLA, PG........................41.50 inches
Nick Johnson, Arizona, SG....................41.50 inches
Glenn Robinson III, Michigan, SF..........41.50 inches
Cleanthony Early, Wichita State, SF......40.00 inches
Deonte Burton, Nevada, PG..................39.50 inches
Thanasis Antetokounmpo, SF, NBADL..39.50 inches
Aaron Gordon, Arizona, PF-C,...............39.00 inches
Jordan Clarkson, Tulsa, PG...................38.50 inches
Standing Vertical Leap:
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State, SG......36.50 inches
Glenn Robinson III, Michigan, SF..........36.50 inches
Cleanthony Early, Wichita State, SF......34.00 inches
Zach LaVine, UCLA, PG........................33.50 inches
Nick Johnson, Arizona, SG....................33.50 inches
Jahii Carson, Arizona State, PG............33.50 inches
K.J. McDaniels, Clemson, SF................33.00 inches
Jordan Clarkson, Tulsa, PG..................33.00 inches
Cory Jefferson, Baylor, PF-C................33.00 inches
Marcus Smart, Oklahoma St.,PG..........33.00 inches




apparently Wiggins (not at the combine) is 44 inches

Billyhoyle said:

http://www.nj.com/sixers/index.ssf/...gins_vertical_leap_measured_at_44_inches.html
Maximum vertical leap (running start):
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State, SG......43.50 inches
Jahii Carson, Arizona State, PG............43.50 inches
Zach LaVine, UCLA, PG........................41.50 inches
Nick Johnson, Arizona, SG....................41.50 inches
Glenn Robinson III, Michigan, SF..........41.50 inches
Cleanthony Early, Wichita State, SF......40.00 inches
Deonte Burton, Nevada, PG..................39.50 inches
Thanasis Antetokounmpo, SF, NBADL..39.50 inches
Aaron Gordon, Arizona, PF-C,...............39.00 inches
Jordan Clarkson, Tulsa, PG...................38.50 inches
Standing Vertical Leap:
Markel Brown, Oklahoma State, SG......36.50 inches
Glenn Robinson III, Michigan, SF..........36.50 inches
Cleanthony Early, Wichita State, SF......34.00 inches
Zach LaVine, UCLA, PG........................33.50 inches
Nick Johnson, Arizona, SG....................33.50 inches
Jahii Carson, Arizona State, PG............33.50 inches
K.J. McDaniels, Clemson, SF................33.00 inches
Jordan Clarkson, Tulsa, PG..................33.00 inches
Cory Jefferson, Baylor, PF-C................33.00 inches
Marcus Smart, Oklahoma St.,PG..........33.00 inches




apparently Wiggins (not at the combine) is 44 inches

Click to expand...

dem is some crazy numbers right there, id be lucky to get that high jumping off a ladder!

Pretty impressive from Smart, isnt he a little nuggety dude?

Billyhoyle said:

To put Dante Exum's NBA Draft Combine vertical leap scores in perspective:

Dante Exum - Standing: 31.5, Max: 34.5

MCW - Standing: 31.5, Max: 41
Trey Burke - Standing: 29.5, Max: 36.5
Damian Lillard - Standing: 34.5, Max: 39.5
Kemba Walker - Standing: 32, Max: 39.5

Click to expand...

Is it just me or does that max leap seem terribly low?

The Physio I work with was at the AIS and worked with Dante and numerous others on in the basketball program. She said that Dante wasn't the best player there, but his work ethic and his attitude were top notch and really set him apart from the rest.

10 of 12 mock drafts have Exum going 4th to the Magic.

Hoops Hype article - good read.

http://hoopshype.com/columns/david-nurse/whats-wrong-with-dante-exums-game

watch this - -then guess who is throwing Dante's draft after party