Utah Jazz: The world is about to get to know Mike Conley

Now that he’s on a true contender with the Utah Jazz, the world is about to get to know Mike Conley who happens to be one of the best point guards in the NBA

When you look at Mike Conley’s career, not a whole lot sticks out. Sure, he’s had some good scoring seasons, but he’s a point guard who’s never averaged more than 6.5 assists per game, he’s only played a full 82-game season one time in his career, and he’s never made an All-Star team even once. This is the guy who signed for five years and $152 million?

If you don’t watch the Memphis Grizzlies, you just wouldn’t know what makes him so valuable to a franchise. But, who even watches the Grizzlies?

Well, I do. Allow me to educate you.

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Mike Conley was drafted out of Ohio State with the 4th overall pick in the 2007 Draft. His stock slowly built up over the course of a solid freshman season, but shot up as the Buckeyes (who never dropped below the #7 ranking all season) made it all the way to the National Championship Game, losing to Billy Donovan’s Florida Gators, an absolutely stacked team featuring the likes of Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, and Mo Speights.

Conley had a solid year of college, averaging around 11 points and six assists per game, but his teammate Greg Oden was the star of that team. The Buckeyes nearly lost to Xavier in the second round, and if they had, Mike Conley wouldn’t have been drafted as highly as he was, and his career would certainly have turned out differently.

His rookie season was, frankly, a disaster. He played in 53 games and started 46, but he didn’t step foot on the court at the FedExForum in uniform until January 6th, 2008, against the Miami Heat. Conley was a wildly unpopular pick amongst Grizzlies fans, incensed that the team spent the 4th pick on a young point guard one season after drafting Kyle Lowry.

One season later, a line was drawn in the sand, and head coach Marc Iavaroni was pushing for one of them to get traded. It was going to be Conley in a trade with Milwaukee for Ramon Sessions and Joe Alexander, but it ended up being Lowry heading to Houston. Giving Mike Conley the keys to the team ended up being one of the best decisions they could have possibly made.

The Grizzlies already had a young Marc Gasol on the team. In 2009, they traded for Zach Randolph, and in 2010, they signed free agent shooting guard Tony Allen. That group – known by all Grizzlies fans to this day as the “Core Four” – would soon take down the top-seeded Spurs, go to the franchise’s first Western Conference Finals, and cause heart palpitations across the United States as the Grizzlies wore teams down in a Nolan Richardson’s Arkansas Razorback-esque defensive slog. It was 48 Minutes of Hell.

Game-by-game, Mike Conley developed. He was a self-proclaimed defensive specialist for the first few years of his career, since at various times, Zach Randolph, Rudy Gay, and OJ Mayo were carrying a bulk of the scoring load. In this time, he began to develop a reliable 3-point shot and what would soon become his most devastating move – the midrange floater.

This past season, he shot just under 50 percent on floaters, and on a Grizzlies team with very little spacing and not a lot of scoring, his floater was one of the only things going for them.

Conley went from being booed at home in his rookie year to having people furious that he wasn’t getting any All-Star consideration. He is beloved in Memphis more than almost any other athlete, and when he comes to town as a member of the Utah Jazz, he’s going to get a tribute video. He’s going to have probably the longest and loudest ovation of his entire career. And one day, by God, that #11 jersey’s going up in the rafters in Memphis.

What does the future hold for Mike Conley and the Utah Jazz? Mike has never really gotten to play alongside a player like Donovan Mitchell or Rudy Gobert. The only time in recent years that the Grizzlies have had a solid secondary ball-handler was two seasons ago with Tyreke Evans. Mike Conley flourishes off the ball and is an exceptional spot-up shooter. He shot 45 percent from the corners last season, albeit on low volume (55 attempts) – but in a system with more movement and more shot creators, he’s going to be able to get those shots more often.

He’s going to average more assists with a designated roll man in Gobert, as opposed to Marc Gasol who would either pop for 3 or hold the ball for a few seconds before performing some midrange magic. He’s going to have a lot more freedom and spacing thanks to Donovan Mitchell, Joe Ingles, and Bojan Bogdanovic.

And, not to mention, all of the other players on the Jazz are going to benefit from his skill, vision, and steady veteran presence. He’s always level-headed and focused on the game (reminder- he’s never had a technical foul in his 12 seasons in the league). Don’t be surprised when Donovan Mitchell is so much more efficient this season than he was in his first two – he isn’t going to have to chuck up bad shots to try to will his team to victory as he’s occasionally had to so far. Mike Conley is going to be the best thing that ever happened to Mitchell.

Will this be the year that Mike Conley finally makes an All-Star team? It’s hard to tell. James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Stephen Curry still exist, and those aren’t the only All-Star caliber point guards in the West.

But, if everything goes right for the Jazz and they reach the absolute peak of their potential, even if Conley doesn’t earn his first All-Star appearance this season, it’s going to be pretty hard to deny that NBA Champion Mike Conley is one of the best point guards in the league.