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While neither of these are tremendous drop-offs, they do help provide context to why Conley’s number’s aren’t as prolific as last season’s. He’s shooting the ball about three times less per-game and experiencing a dip of about four percent in his usage.
That has to do with Conley experiencing both lower volume and usage this season. While Conley is down on points, assists, and rebounds compared last year, his efficiency has shot up. In only looking at per-game statistics, Conley has experienced a slight regression:Ģ020-21: 16.2 points, 6.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds, on 44.4/41.2/85.2 percent shooting splitsĢ021-22: 13.6 points, 5.3 assists, 1.8 rebounds, on 50.0/43.5/85.7 percent shooting splits Here, we’ll try to get a better understanding of Mike Conley’s season, thus far. About 20 games into the 2021-22 season, his performance has fallen somewhere between the two expectations. On the other, the combination of his hamstring injuries and age provided valid concerns about his natural regression. On one end, coming off an All-Star season, it was fair to expect Conley to perform at a similar level. Entering the NBA after just one season in college has proven to be particularly difficult for point guards, the track record is not great His outside shooting is still a major question mark.Entering this season, there were a variety of expectations for the Utah Jazz’s starting point guard, Mike Conley. Many feel the development at the point guard position is much more difficult at the NBA level than in college. Weaknesses: The biggest knock against him is his age and level of experience entering the league at the point guard position.
Strengths: An ultra-quick lefty point guard with a solid feel for running a team His ability to get by opposing guards and into the paint is on the elite level Very cerebral, shows excellent decision making ability, especially considering his age His near 3/1 assist to turnover ratio is outstanding for a freshman pg Has solid experience playing alongside a great bigman as he has been teammates with Greg Oden since before their high school days A great passer with excellent vision Understands how to feed the post well, and can hit post players with excellent dishes off the dribble drive At 6-1, he has average size for the point guard position, but has good length in his arms allowing him to play bigger Above average athletically, his father (Mike Conley Sr.) is a world class track athlete, and the apple did not fall far from the tree Defensively he plays the passing lanes well and his great foot speed allows him to be an excellent on ball defender Thrives in the open floor, using his great speed to push the basketball Has a nice assortment of midrange runners and shots in the paint going towards the rim His dribble penetration is very difficult to contain as his first step and ball handling ability are tremendous Proved to be very clutch stepping up and leading his team deep into the tournament Fearless, appeared completely unfazed by the big stage of the Final Four playing like a seasoned veteran Against Georgetown in particular he was the difference, giving the Buckeyes the offensive lift they needed to reach the Championship game Really came on offensively at the end of the season, showing more aggressiveness going to the basket and drawing fouls