Cavs: Playing Dante Exum meaningful minutes right away is obvious move
By Dan Gilinsky
The Cleveland Cavaliers were reportedly going to play Dante Exum meaningful minutes in his first game available against the Boston Celtics, which they did. That was the obvious move, and Exum should keep getting regular run in head coach John Beilein’s rotation.
It’s really difficult to foresee just how much new Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dante Exum will contribute with his new team.
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For reference, Exum is a recent trade acquisition from the Utah Jazz (along with two future second-round picks), of which the Cavaliers reportedly sent Utah bench bucket-getting guard Jordan Clarkson in exchange.
Is Exum going to continually put pressure on opposing defenses off the pine the way Clarkson, who is putting up 14.4 points per game and is a much-improved passer, will?
It’s pretty safe to say that’s a no, and unfortunately for Exum, he’s dealt with reported injuries throughout his career, such as a torn ACL that sidelined him all of 2015-16, along with a shoulder injury and a torn patellar tendon that cut short his 2018-19 season.
Anyhow, in four-plus seasons with the Jazz, Exum had career averages of just 5.7 points on 46.8% effective field goal shooting, including a three-point shooting clip of only 30.5%, according to Basketball Reference. Along with that, in 11 games with Utah this season, he only had 2.2 points and 0.6 assists per contest.
Fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers shouldn’t expect Exum to really be lighting it up, so-to-speak, as a three-level scorer often.
That being said, Exum is still only a 24-year-old, and perhaps under the tutelage of Cleveland head coach John Beilein and others, such as fellow Australian, Matthew Dellavedova, Exum can continue on his development in a rebuilding situation and carve out a solid role as a reserve for the Wine and Gold. He has at least shown he’s been a pretty good ball-mover with Utah, and has decent vision, as evidenced by a respectable 4.2 assists per-36 minutes for his career, as indicated by Basketball Reference.
Before the Cavs’ last game at the Boston Celtics, which turned out to be a 129-117 loss, it was reported by ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor that Exum would get meaningful run, albeit of a varying minutes-share. That would be essentially playing Clarkson’s reserve role in terms of seemingly a backup guard that could play some on and off the ball.
Cavs coach John Beilein says newly acquired Dante Exum will step into Jordan Clarkson’s role in the rotation in Cleveland’s second unit. Says he won’t play 30 minutes today, but could play anywhere from 10 to 25, depending on how the game is going.
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) December 27, 2019
#Cavs coach John Beilein said Dante Exum will get some run today, likely in Jordan Clarkson’s old spot. But they aren’t going to overdo it with his minutes and responsibilities.
— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) December 27, 2019
Exum would eventually play 15 minutes off the Cavs’ bench, and would go on to have nine points on three-of-three shooting (including hitting his only three-point attempt), to go with two steals and an assist, as noted by ESPN.
Moreover, Beilein and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ coaching staff playing Exum meaningful minutes, seemingly of the 15-to-18 minute realm, right away in coming games is the obvious move.