Exum on the summer ahead, Jingles' leadership and more
The Utah Jazz had an end-of-season Q&A for the entire team, and Exum had his fair share of questions from the assembled media.
One of the more interesting comments that came from the session, centered around coach Snyder's expectations for our rookie in the offseason.
Just working on everything basically. Just getting stronger, that's the main thing. Trying to grow a bit more into my body.
On the court, having that mentality to attack, work on my pullup game, and getting more consistent with my shot.
It seems like the next step for Exum is what we would expect - to evolve from a spot up shooter, to a capable ball handler who can pull up for the jumper. You can imagine defenses being less reluctant to play off him, should this become a potent weapon in Exum's arsenal - more especially if it's a stepback jumper.
"I definitely am [happy with performance this season]. I know I've got a lot of improvement to do, and the best thing about it is I know where I need to improve in and where I need to head to get better."
On Ingles and leadership
Jingles, being a fellow teammate on both the Jazz and Boomers, naturally came into the conversation as a rookie turned vocal leader this season.
Joe came in as a rookie with me, but he definitely was someone that helped me, and then turned into that voice on the court. When Alec went down, Rodney went down for a bit as well, [Ingles] was starting with us along with Gordon and [Gobert]. They're a bit quiet, but [Joe] was that guy who wasn't afraid to say something, and kind of took on that role.
About that driving into the paint thing
This is likely the burning question everyone's lost sleep over - what were Exum's thoughts on aggressiveness and getting to the basket?
"I think a lot of people talk about that, my aggressiveness and whatnot, but I think it's just about having that mindset, not to go in every time and be stupid about it. Coach has talked about not being afraid to make mistakes. As the year got on, I came to accept that and knew I was going to make some mistakes when I went on."
Not exactly what we were hoping to see, but part of getting better is always being accepting of the fact that you make mistakes, and you learn from the process. Knowing to try, is a promising start.
Exum's Australian summer winter
Coming into the season, I didn't have a lot of tape to go on, for the coaches to see what to work on. Now, I've got 82 games to go on, and it gives me a lot of time.
I'm going to go home for a bit, my dad is going to definitely help me, even some of my past coaches. But just the time, sit down and think of what I've done this year, what I've accomplished, what I need to work on, I think it's just going to help me go into the offseason and have a fresh mindset.
Wintry weather aside, Exum already has plans to return to Australia and work on his game for the offseason. This comes as no surprise, as indicated his availability for the coming Olympic qualifiers against the New Zealand Tall Blacks, as originally reported by Herald Sun columnist Boti Nagy.
Exum also spoke about how being a starter with the team built his confidence, despite the gruelling games against All-Star type point guards who definitely gave him a hard time (example: Chris Paul). For other interesting nuggets in the full Q&A session, check out the official video on the Utah Jazz site.