Tag: mike conley

Timberwolves sign Mike Conley to contract extension

The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed guard Mike Conley to a contract extension.

Per the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the deal is “a two-year contract extension worth $20.75 million overall.”

Conley, 36, is in the midst of his 17th season in the NBA, second with the Timberwolves, seeing action in 50 games (all starts), averaging 10.6 points on 44.4% shooting, including a career-best 44.2% from deep, 2.9 rebounds and 6.4 assists in 28.9 minutes per game. Conley has a career-high 6.08 assist-to-turnover ratio, ranking second in the NBA. Since 1977-78 (min. 50 games played), no player 36 years of age or older has had an assist-to-turnover higher than Conley this season.

Per the St., Paul Pioneer Press, “Conley has been a lynchpin for Minnesota’s massive success. The point guard — with his ball movement generation, lethal outside shooting and capable defending — has proven to be the missing piece that tied the Timberwolves’ two-big experiment together and turned Minnesota from a laughingstock into a title contender.”

The Ohio State University product has tallied four point/assist double-doubles this season and has dished out 10+ assists on five occasions. In the 118-103 Jan. 18 victory vs. Memphis, Conley added 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-6 from deep and a season-high-tying 10 assists. His performance marked his second 15+ point/10+ assist game this season (52nd career), both coming against the Grizzlies, and his first such game doing so while shooting 63.0%+ from the field (fifth career). While dishing out 10 assists against Memphis, he did not commit a single turnover, the second time this season with 10 assists and zero turnovers (Jan. 12 vs. Portland) and the 16th in his career. In the Timberwolves 128-91 win at Portland on Feb. 15, Conley ended the game with seven points, four rebounds, six assists, two steals and a career-high-tying three blocks. It marked the second time over the last five seasons where Conley has had multiple blocks and multiple steals in the same game (also Oct. 24, 2022, Utah at Houston). At 36y-125d years old, he became the second-oldest player in Timberwolves history with 3+ blocks in a game.

For his career, the 6-1 guard has appeared in 1,075 career regular season games (1,038 starts) with the Grizzlies, Utah Jazz and Timberwolves, averaging 14.5 points on 43.9% shooting, 3.0 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. Conley has seen action in 78 career playoff games (all starts) and has averaged 15.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game.

Conley is one of only seven active players and 19 in NBA history to total more than 15,000 points, 6,000 assists, 3,000 rebounds and 1,000 steals (James Harden, Jrue Holiday, LeBron James, Kyle Lowry, Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook).

Mike Conley wins 2022-23 NBA Sportsmanship Award

Minnesota Timberwolves guard Mike Conley is the recipient of the Joe Dumars Trophy for winning the 2022-23 NBA Sportsmanship Award. The annual award is designed to honor a player who best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court. Each NBA team nominated one of its players for the NBA Sportsmanship Award. From the list of 30 team nominees, a panel of league executives selected one finalist from each of the NBA’s six divisions. Current NBA players selected the winner from the list of six finalists, with nearly 300 players submitting their votes through confidential balloting conducted by the league office.

This is the fourth such honor of Conley’s career, the most in league history, after winning the award as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies in 2013-14, 2015-16 and 2018-19. He becomes the first player in Timberwolves history to win the award.

In his 16th NBA season, Conley appeared in 67 games (66 starts) for the Timberwolves and Utah Jazz, averaging 11.9 points and a 42.8% shooting along with 6.7 assists per game. On Apr. 8 at San Antonio (Austin), Conley finished with 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 5-of-7 shooting and five assists. It marked Conley’s fifth game this season with 5+ triples, his most such games with five or more threes in a single season is eight during the 2016-17 season. With his basket at the 7:17 mark of the fourth quarter on Apr. 8, Conley reached 15,000 career points, becoming the 149th player in NBA history to surpass 15,000 career points.

The NBA Sportsmanship Award trophy is named in honor of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Joe Dumars, a six-time NBA All-Star and two-time NBA champion. Dumars played 14 NBA seasons and won the inaugural Sportsmanship Award in the 1995-96 season.

On the future of the Utah Jazz beyond the 2022 playoffs

A factor to consider after these playoffs is the team’s age. If the Jazz weren’t on the older end of the age spectrum, management might be more patient. The team’s leader, Donovan Mitchell, is only 25, while Bojan Bogdanovic is 33 and Mike Conley is 34, making them two of four players over 30. Conley has been in the professional game for 15 years, one longer than Bogdanovic.

According to Sporting News, the Jazz were tied for second among the NBA’s oldest teams entering this season. The Lakers (30.0) were the only team that was older. At 28.1, the Jazz and Nets came in second and third, respectively.

The Celtics (25.9), Grizzlies (24.2), Timberwolves (24.3), Pelicans (25.0), Raptors (25.2), and 76ers (25.8) are all rising young teams. The Jazz are in the Western Conference with a lot of the league’s best young teams.

Via the Deseret News

Utah Jazz re-sign Mike Conley

The Utah Jazz have re-signed guard Mike Conley.

“We’re excited to be bringing Mike back to our team after his past two stellar seasons with us,” said Jazz General Manager Justin Zanik. “He has had a profound impact both on and off the court and has made our team more competitive and our community better.”

Conley (6-1, 180, Ohio State) averaged 16.2 points, knocking down a career-best 2.7 threes per game on a career-high 41.2 percent from three, along with 6.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 2020-21, earning his first All-Star selection. He became the most veteran player in NBA history, at 14 years of experience, to make a first All-Star team. He saw action in six games (all starts) during Utah’s 2021 NBA Playoff run, where he averaged 15.3 points on 48.6 percent from beyond the arc, 7.7 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 29.3 minutes per contest.

Entering his 15th NBA season, Conley has appeared in 886 games (850) with Memphis (2007-19) and Utah (2019 – pres.), owning averages of 14.9 points, 5.7 assists, 3,0 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 32.3 minutes per game. He’s currently one of only seven active NBA players to have accrued over 13,000 points, 5,000 assists, 2,500 rebounds and 1,200 steals (J. Harden, A. Iguodala, L. James, K. Lowry, C. Paul and R. Westbrook).

Jazz and Mike Conley face big free agency decision this offseason

The Jazz were the league’s most winning team this regular season, but were sent home earlier than hoped in the playoffs, falling to the Clippers in six second round games. Will veteran point guard Mike Conley’s time on the team be extended? Via the Deseret News:

Following the Utah Jazz’s postseason exit on Friday night at the hands of the LA Clippers, a huge question facing the team in the offseason is the future of point guard Mike Conley.

The 33-year-old is a free agent who had an excellent 2020-21 season for the Jazz, and the team doesn’t have the financial ability to go out and sign another floor general of his caliber.

On the other hand, the Jazz could bring Conley back (teams can go over the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents), but it would put the team deep into the luxury tax, meaning owner Ryan Smith would be on the hook for a big bill to the NBA aside from the team’s total salary.

The rest of the Jazz core, including Donovan Mitchell, Bojan Bogdanovic, Royce O’Neale, Rudy Gobert, Jordan Clarkson, Joe Ingles and Derrick Favors, are all signed at least through next season.

Jazz guard Mike Conley remains out, will miss Game 3 vs. Clippers

The Jazz remain without the services of their starting point guard. Via the Deseret News:

Mike Conley will miss a third straight game on Saturday.

The Utah Jazz’s All-Star guard was ruled out of playing Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Los Angeles Clippers because of the right hamstring strain he sustained in Game 5 of the Jazz’s first-round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Clippers lead the series 2-0. Game 3 is tonight in Los Angeles at 8:30PM ET, televised on ABC.

Mike Conley returns for Jazz in win over Thunder

The Jazz are without Donovan Mitchell, but still one of the NBA’s best teams, and made short work of the Thunder tonight. Via the Salt Lake Tribune:

Mike Conley is back.

Not really all the way back yet, y’know, but back enough.

The Utah Jazz and their fans will happily take what they can get right now.

After missing nine late-season games due to right hamstring soreness, the veteran point point returned to action Friday night in the Jazz’s penultimate matchup of the regular season, a 109-93 decimation of the thoroughly-tanking Oklahoma City Thunder.

He started at point guard, sending Georges Niang back to a reserve role, and came out aggressive.

Conley’s shot was off a bit, as he made just 2 of 7 overall and 1 of 3 from deep, but he impressed with his activity level.

In the win for the Jazz tonight, Bojan Bogdanovic scored 22 points, Jordan Clarkson scored 18 off the bench, and Rudy Gobert had 16 points and 18 rebounds.

The team should have Mitchell back for the first round of the playoffs. Hopefully.

Jazz off to modest 4-4 start this NBA season

The NBA season is little over two weeks old, so it’s a bit early to jump to big conclusions. But it’s perfectly reasonable to start what’s happened so far, which is, the Jazz aren’t off to a great start this season.

The Salt Lake Tribune:

Is a 4-4 Jazz record a disappointment? Is it familiar? Is it… both?

2021′s slow start to the season has brought down the spirits of Jazz fans, and that’s understandable: the loss side of the ledger has seen some disappointing defeats. Utah’s loss to Phoenix is more acceptable given that they rank first in the conference right now, sure. But losses to Brooklyn (sans Kevin Durant), the New York Knicks, and worst of all, the Minnesota Timberwolves, have made for some disappointing nights.

And yet, this isn’t anything new for Jazz fans. In the Quin Snyder era, the Jazz have always started at least somewhat below expectations. Then, they surge on to have a solid remainder of the season, and end up with a quality record.

The Deseret News:

In [Donovan] Mitchell’s rookie season, the Jazz started out 5-5 on the year before racking up quite a few losses and then bouncing back at the end of the season and finishing off the year with a 29-6 run. They were bounced in the second round of the playoffs.

In Mitchell’s second year, the Jazz started with a 4-6 record and played pretty up and down throughout the season before they were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.

Last season, the Jazz started out with a 6-4 record and racked up most of their losses toward the end of the season. Again, they only survived a single playoff round.

Leading the Jazz in scoring through eight games are Mitchell at 21.3 points per game, Mike Conley at 17.4 PPG, Jordan Clarkson off the bench at 15.5 PPG, Rudy Gobert at 13.9 PPG, Bojan Bogdanovic at 11.8 PPG, and Joe Ingles off the bench at 10.0 PPG.

The team’s offense and defense has been close to the league average this season thus far.

Their upcoming opponents are the Bucks, Pistons, Cavs and Wizards.

Mike Conley steps up for Jazz in win over Clippers

The Jazz beat the Clippers 106-100 Friday night. And Jazz point guard Mike Conley did serious work. Via the Salt Lake Tribune:

The Jazz are gonna need Donovan Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic to perform offensively at the level they’re capable of. Neither is right now, but on Friday, it didn’t matter so much with Mike Conley playing arguably his best game in a Jazz uniform.

He didn’t grab the game by the throat — he just let it come to him, making the smart, patient reads he talked about after the Phoenix loss. When he needed to swing the ball, he did. When he needed to let it fly, he did. The former earned him six assists. And when it was the latter, he was incredibly efficient: 33 points on 11-for-20 shooting, including 7 of 14 from deep.

After Conley’s 33, the second-leading Jazz scorer was Donovan Mitchell with a modest 15 points on 14 shots.

In the loss for the Clippers, Paul George had 25 points on 22 shots, plus eight rebounds, four assists, six steals and five turnovers, while Kawhi Leonard had 20 points on 19 shots, plus 16 rebounds, nine assists and three blocks.

Multiple Jazz stars will miss Friday game vs Spurs

Friday at 1 p.m. ET, the Jazz face the Spurs. But Utah will do so while giving plenty of rest to a number of key players. Here’s the Salt Lake Tribune reporting:

Of course, with Thursday afternoon’s injury report, we may surmise that where the Jazz are going is to an immediate loss against the Spurs on Friday morning.

After all, with four starters — Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Mike Conley and Royce O’Neale — slated to sit out due to rest, left peroneal (ankle tendon) strain, right knee soreness, and right calf soreness, respectively, defeating even ninth-place San Antonio would take some doing.

Anyway, that’s the bad news. Now, a look back at the previous pretty good, really bad, somewhat less bad, and somewhat kind of good news …

After the Jazz opened up with a win against the Pelicans, some observers wondered if Utah was potentially capable of securing the Western Conference’s postseason No. 3 seed. Then, after back-to-back losses to the Thunder (wholly dispiriting) and Lakers (merely disappointing), the panic brigade began disseminating widespread missives on the inevitability of the seventh seed. And after a victory over the Grizzlies that was discouraging for how competitive it was, but also encouraging for the signs of progress evident within, the general assessment of the Jazz now is …

Who knows?

Leading scorers for the Jazz this season:
Donovan Mitchell 24.0 PPG
Bojan Bogdanovic 20.2
Rudy Gobert 15.1
Jordan Clarkson 15.0
Mike Conley 14.4

And for the Spurs:
DeMar DeRozan 22.2 PPG
LaMarcus Aldridge 18.9
Patty Mills 11.6
Bryn Forbes 11.2
Derrick White 11.0

With the Jazz also without Bojan Bogdanovic (injured), this is a good opportunity for the Spurs to snag a win and keep their playoff hopes alive. But they face an uphill battle in a crowded West.

Meanwhile, Utah sits 4th in the West and already clinched a postseason spot.