By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
The new season of The Crossover is up and running, and the first player to sit down with Joe Arlauckas is Partizan Mozzart Bet’s, Dante Exum.
The Australian guard and former No. 5 pick from the NBA draft had an injury-riddled couple of years in the NBA, before joining Barcelona midway through the last season. Exum debuted in El Clasico against Barca’s fiercest rival Real Madrid.
“It was very difficult, coming in, coming over you have all these aspirations that you’re gonna come over and dominate and do well, but you’re coming into a team that’s established, they’re first in ACB, first in EuroLeague, so something’s working in the team,” Exum explained. “And for me, I was trying to come in and play a part in the team, but I wasn’t trying to disrupt their winning and what they were doing.”
This season, he found himself a bigger role with Partizan and got a chance to play in front of one of the crazies crowds in European basketball.
“It’s like a movie. You can’t explain, like, ‘Okay, I’m about to play for these fans that just want us to win,’” Exum said. ” I love looking out in the crowd and just seeing, there’s like three or four of them that, they don’t even watch the game, they’re just standing up and they’re just chanting. I’ll watch them for like a minute. I should be watching the game, but I’m watching them. They don’t watch the game. A shot happens, they don’t care. They’re just ready to start the chants and make sure everyone’s chanting. It’s unbelievable. I can’t explain it.”
In Belgrade, he also got an opportunity to work with nine-time Euroleague champion Zeljko Obradovic.
“I think the biggest thing with him is that he challenges you. He’ll give you the freedom to play, but he wants you to play smart. I think that’s the biggest thing about him,” Exum explained. “Like yeah, you can go out there and do whatever you want, but play smart. Play the right way. That’s the best thing that I’ve liked about him so far.”
Dante Exum has had a great season with the Belgrade team so far, averaging 12,7 points and a PIR of 13 per game in the Turkis Airlines EuroLeague.