He’s not Derrick Rose and he’s not Chris Paul. But you know what? That’s not the right comparison for Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley and it never was.
The Grizzlies spent a first-round draft pick (fourth overall) on Conley in the 2007 NBA Draft. And granted, early returns were not encouraging. As long as the Grizzlies weren’t winning, a good portion of the blame was going to fall on the smallish point guard with ordinary numbers.
Then, late in 2010, when the Grizzlies handed Conley a four-year extension for about $45 million, critics turned up the volume. One local sports talk radio host already had made Conley a scapegoat for all that ailed the Grizzlies. But the negative noise wasn’t just local, it was national. A blogger on cbssports.com even said extending Conley’s contract was “worse than drafting Hasheem Thabeet.”
That might be the single meanest thing ever written about a pro athlete. It was also wildly inaccurate. Not that Conley let it bother him.
“That’s part of the growing process,” he said of the criticism. “You have to go through ups and downs.”
Now, to watch the Grizzlies is to realize that it took last season’s injury to Rudy Gay to fully appreciate Zach Randolph and this season’s injury to Randolph to fully appreciate Conley. Even with Randolph injured, the Grizzlies’ offense can run smoothly with Conley at the controls.
Coach Lionel Hollins has come to implicitly trust Conley as he has improved at running the pick-and-roll and exploiting mismatches. Which is why Conley is logging heavy minutes. Conley’s backups, Josh Selby and Jeremy Pargo, are raw rookies.
“We’re struggling with our backup point guard role,” Hollins said. “So he’s not getting as much rest as I’d like.”
For his part, Conley said midway through last season the game finally “slowed down” and he began to see opportunities sooner rather than later. He’s now second in the NBA in steals per game (2.33) and averaging nearly seven assists.
“He’s a very good player,” said Chicago’s Luol Deng after Conley had 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds in the recent home win over the Bulls. “He definitely makes them a better team.”
When asked if he had any idea he was near a triple-double, Conley smiled and said, “I just play.”
Like a solid NBA point guard who makes his team better.
