Will Dante Exum be the steal of the draft?

Australian point guard Dante Exum was one of the biggest stories of the 2014 NBA.

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Outside of a trip to America to play in the Nike Hoops Summit (where he requested to guard Cleveland Cavaliers’ swingman and number one overall pick Andrew Wiggins and did a fine job), most Americans didn’t know much about him. The Orlando Magic were thought to be very interested, but they passed on him in favor of former Arizona Wildcats’ forward Aaron Gordon. The Utah Jazz scooped him up with the next pick and that has Jazz fans very excited.

In fact, Nate Duncan of Basketball Insiders believes he will wind up being the steal of the draft.

"Dante Exum. Even though he only went a couple of slots lower than he should have, his vision and shooting look like they are ahead of where people thought they would be. And he’s avoided getting completely killed on defense too. That will probably change in the regular season, but he’s been doing an adequate job of executing the system at least."

Exum made his NBA debut in Summer League over the weekend in a 76-70 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. He scored 10 points on four-of-10 shooting from the field, one-of-four shooting from beyond the arc and one-of-two shooting from the free throw line, to go along with three assists, three rebounds and just one turnover – but he showed off an array of skills and impressed everyone who tuned in. You can see the complete highlights from his debut here.

Exum measured in at 6’6 and 196 lbs. with a wingspan of 6’9.5 at the NBA’s Scouting Combine. Exum is ranked by Jonathan Givony of Draft Express as the fifth-best prospect in the draft.

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