Utah Jazz point guard Dante Exum says that he’s feeling good heading into the 2016 training camp. Exum, who sat out last season with a torn ACL, feels ready to play, he told Jody Genessy of Deseret News:
First day back on the job for a 20-year-old basketball player who hadn’t formally participated with his team since tearing the ACL in his left knee in 2015 and then missing his entire second season excited.
No lingering pain, side-effects or limitations excited.
Exum, the fifth pick of the 2014 draft, said he’s never been so pumped up for a practice as he was leading up to the beginning of training camp. Sitting out for a year can do that to a hungry and enthusiastic young man.
“I was just excited to get back out there,” Exum said after the first of two practices Tuesday. “I was feeling good. ? I was just ready to come out there, talk when I can and run between every drill.”
It’s great to hear that Exum is feeling better. He’s young, long, and athletic — a tremendous talent. There’s a reason he was drafted fifth overall in 2014.
The Jazz acquired veteran two-way point guard George Hill this offseason, taking pressure off of Exum to produce. In Hill, Exum will have a very high-IQ guard to learn from.