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The Utah Jazz's moving up in the draft to select Donovan Mitchell shouted out loud messages, beyond just that they believe the athletic, explosive, conscientious Louisville guard can become a useful contributor for them.

It was a flare shot straight into the grille of Dante Exum.

Dennis Lindsey was asked about that after the draft and the general manager said he thought Exum and Mitchell eventually could pair up nicely in the same backcourt. But properly translated, that's to say Exum has come to a juncture with the Jazz where he must steel his resolve to work hard in order to make a significant leap forward, not only to keep favor, but to maintain his spot in line.

Under Lindsey and coach Quin Snyder, that's become the Jazz's signature way.

For younger players, diligence is as important as defense.

Gordon Hayward's transformation via hard work is now the exemplar.

Already challenged by the Jazz at season's end, Exum has stayed in Salt Lake City over the summer to lift, run, train, learn, and hone skills and redirect attitude necessary for him to approach what the team thought he could be when it used the fifth overall pick on him in the 2014 draft.

In his time here, Exum has bumped and skidded, forced to overcome a knee injury that cost him a year. His rookie season swung a spotlight on his deficiencies, not anybody's surprise, given that he was a gangly teenager. Next came the lost season. And then, last year's disappointing performance, the early part of which could be partially explained by the fact that Exum is human. Coming back from a blown knee is, in most cases, a climb for the patient.

It is not, though, a climb for the careless with the ball, for the sloppy, for the hesitant, for the uncertain, for the overmatched.

It is a climb for the determined and, yeah, the diligent.

There were times last season when Snyder, in the throes of trying to win every game he could with a roster reduced by injury, gave Exum an opportunity, then sharply rescinded it. When making the playoffs, after so many seasons without that achievement, is the only option for an ascending team, watching a combo-guard fiddle and faddle around with the ball, wasting possessions, making mistakes of both a physical and mental nature, is not the order of a coach's day.

Toward the end, Exum showed some promise, more as an off guard than at the point. Now, in the offseason before his fourth pro season, the kid who everyone knew would need some time to develop, to find out who and what he would be, is nearing the far end of that on-ramp. It's time for him to merge into, if not the fast lane, the main stream of NBA traffic.

This offseason, therefore, is the most important four months of his basketball life.

Evidence of that is not just found in the warning shot the Jazz fired on Thursday night, but the manner in which the team accessed the chance to select Exum's replacement … err, his new backcourt mate. They traded Trey Lyles, a still-young former lottery pick, to haul in Mitchell.

The willingness to do that, to admit that even though Lyles was a fairly high draft selection that may yet turn out to be something north of what he was with the Jazz, there are options worth considering and finalizing that are, or at least could be, better.

That points the fickle finger of fate directly at … You Know Who.

The Jazz must continue on with their most-pressing pursuit of an established point guard, whether it's George Hill or somebody else. Snyder has to have a player presence he can count on to guide his team. Hill looks like the best option, even with the pile of cash it will take to reel him back in and his recent injury woes.

If Hill is the guy, he now has a willing and driven young apprentice to tutor on the fly in the Jazz's fold. Mitchell is raw, but he can straight ball. At 6-foot-2, he's a bit short for a 2-guard, and Lindsey said the club will look for the rookie to play either backcourt spot. Which is exactly what he said a few years ago after the Jazz drafted Exum.

Either way, the Jazz didn't throw away the 24th pick in the draft and a recent lottery pick to select a guard for whom they don't have some significant intentions. As work ethic is one of Mitchell's biggest strengths, along with 36-inch verticality, an aggressive attitude to play defense and do whatever the coaches ask him to do to get time on the court, as well as an ability to score the ball, Dante Exum now faces rather divergent roads.

He can become a viable asset on the floor, helping the Jazz win games, or he, like Lyles, can be used as an asset to help them get a player who will.

GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on 97.5 FM and 1280 AM. Twitter: @GordonMonson.