FanPost

Dante to play in Summer League in SLC


During post draft interviews last Thursday, Dennis Lindsey announced that Dante Exum will play in Jazz Summer League. Dante will only play in the SLC Summer League, and not the Vegas Summer League, which the Jazz also participate in. Technically, Dante will be entering his 4th year in the NBA, although this really his 3rd year playing as he tore his ACL prior to the 2015-2016 season and missed the entire season.


Dante playing in summer league is somewhat surprising for a couple of reasons:


1) Rarely do you see 3rd year rotation NBA players, let alone 4th year players, playing in summer league


Out of all of those in Dante’s 2014 NBA draft class, and who actually were drafted, the following players will also be participating in summer league this year:


  1. Jarnell Stokes - Drafted at 35

  2. Johnny O’Bryant III - Drafted at 36

  3. Spencer Dinwiddie - Drafted at 38

  4. Walter Tavares - Drafted at 43

  5. Semaj Christon - Drafted at 55


As well, there are four players in this year’s summer leagues, who also were drafted in the NBA, from earlier draft classes dating back to 2011. The next year where we see a lottery pick, like Dante, show up in this year’s summer league is 2016. As a reminder, Dante was a lottery pick who went #5 in this draft. What I’m trying to say is that it is very unusual for a player like Dante to be in this year’s summer league


(Source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1IuosZMUbuXaF9H4c0UkTlOssc176N_ICZnjjrOqP91Y/edit?usp=sharing Credit: Mark Porcaro)


2) Dante has previously mentioned, during exit interviews, that he wouldn’t be playing in summer league this year. Dante also implied he would not be spending time in Salt Lake City at all over the summer.


Quotes from Dante during his exit interview:


When asked about frustrations with not being able to play on a consistent basis


Dante: "Yeah um I mean obviously it’s frustrating when, you know, your minutes go up and down, um, at certain times…."


Dante are you planning on being here in the off season? Are you planning on playing summer league?


Dante: "I plan on being out here in the States...get reps...play against good guys. I won’t be playing in summer league."

When asked if he could take over if George left in FA


Dante: "I definitely have confidence in myself … that I’m definitely ready to lead this team."


When asked about he and Quin being on the same page


Dante: "Sometimes I did, um, disagree with a lot of the... with some of the stuff that he (Quin) was doing … just to see what he was thinking and where can I work on my game, you know, so I could get my minutes back up."


(Link to full interview: https://www.facebook.com/saltlaketribune/videos/10155300184979399/)


I read this and take away that Dante was largely frustrated with how he was used this season, and originally had no intentions of sticking around. One could guess that he felt that he should be the starting point guard, and would look to be in that role either here or for another team.


Many, including myself, guessed that Dante would be a trade piece (and he may still be). One hoped that the situation didn’t turn into another Enes Kanter situation where Enes didn’t get the reality of the situation, and he and his agent were making public statements about his future as a Jazz player. The end result being an unhappy player, a frustrated front office, and a potential unfavorable trade for the Jazz.


Taking Dante’s quotes from several months ago in context, he believes he’s a starter, he’s not sticking around, and he has no plans to play in summer league. Now here we are today, and, from what we understand from Dennis Lindsey on draft night, Dante has really stepped up:


dante2.png

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This is really welcome news for Jazz fans as it suggests a complete about face from exit interviews. The Jazz front office sat down with Dante to have a dose of reality conversation while asking him to spend some significant time in the area to train. Gordon Hayward spent some significant time here last year, and his progress showed last season. One can hope that this same thing happens with Dante. Remember that Dante is only 21 years old and still has to grow into a mature player.


Another piece of good news is that we’ll get to see Dante paired up with Donovan Mitchell, Jazz’s #13 pick in this year’s draft, who is supposed to be able to play the 1 or 2, and is very athletic. Donovan had the fastest time at the combine this year, and it’ll be interesting to watch the pace of place with both Dante and Donovan on the court.

All comments are the opinion of the commenter and not necessarily that of SLC Dunk or SB Nation.