Conley’s Uneven Season Ended With a Strong Showing In the Bubble

September 29th, 2020 | by Cole Bagley

Conley helped the Jazz dodge a bullet. (Noah Graham via espn.com)

Following the 2019 Playoffs, the Utah Jazz had to take a hard look in the mirror. For the second straight season they’d been dominated by the Houston Rockets 4-1 and entered the offseason prematurely. Clearly their current roster did not complement the young star Donovan Mitchell or Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert enough to propel them forward in the playoffs and make a serious run at the title. But since Utah has never been a large free agent destination, how could they add another marquee talent to try and make the leap from an annual first round exit to an actual contender?

On June 19 of last year, the Jazz agreed to deal Kyle Korver, Jae Crowder, Grayson Allen, the No. 23 pick in the 2019 draft, and a protected future first-round pick to Memphis for veteran point guard, Mike Conley. This was met with much excitement as fans had become frustrated with the lack of offensive production and consistency from Ricky Rubio. Conley had been a border line All-Star his entire career, had been to the Conference Finals back in 2013, and was coming off a season where he averaged 21.1 points, 6.4 assists, and 3.4 rebounds per game — an obvious improvement over Rubio’s 12.7 points, 6.1 assists, and 4.7 rebounds.

The Utah Jazz finally had an experienced and highly talented point guard for the first time since Deron Williams. Not only that, they had another guard who could create for himself and others, taking some of the load off of Mitchell. So with the addition of Conley to the roster, many believed the Jazz had found the missing piece to elevate them to true contender status.

But now that Mike’s first year in a Jazz jersey is over, what exactly did Utah get from the 13-year guard out of Ohio State? It wasn’t exactly the championship run many Jazz fans thought, however there were many other outside factors that contributed to yet another exit in the first round.

Conley’s first season as a Jazz man started slowly. In fact, in his Jazz debut, he shot 1-for-16 from the field, 0-for-6 from 3-point range, tallied five assists, and scored just five points. Two of those points came at the very end of the game, when Conley iced the Jazz victory and then chuckled at his abysmal first performance.

 

Alright, it wasn’t that bad. But, it did take some time for Conley to truly find his stride in a new uniform. Conley struggled to fit into Quin Snyder system for the first several games, and you could tell his confidence was pretty low. He really struggled to shoot the ball as the season began and fans often found themselves holding their breath when he’d pull the trigger, especially from deep. As the season went on Conley would occasionally dazzle fans with performances that mirrored his former self, like in his 29-point explosion in a win against the Clippers where also recorded five assists and hit five three-pointers. Many considered this a break out game and many felt reassured in “Mountain Mike’s” abilities.

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Unfortunately, these performances were few and far between as Conley only averaged 14.4 PPG in the 2019-20 season, his lowest scoring average in eight seasons. In addition to these struggles, Conley was also sidelined for some time but the team didn’t really seem to miss him as they won the vast majority of those games, including a ten-game win streak without the seasoned point guard. By this point many fans were beginning to lose faith in what was supposed to be a franchise-altering trade.

Luckily, Conley found new life in the bubble. After the league shut down for nearly four months due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the veteran guard averaged 18 PPG, 5 APG, and 42.6% shooting in six seeding games in the NBA’s Disney bubble. In the playoff series against Denver, Conley missed the first two games due to the birth of his son, and then returned to contribute 19.8 points, 5.2 assists, and 48.2% shooting over the final five games. In a convincing Game 3 win, Conley scored 27 points, shot 69% from the field, and hit seven 3-pointers in a 124-87 victory.

Unfortunately for the Jazz they would eventually blow a 3-1 series lead and game seven was a struggle for everyone, including Conley. In the final game of the season Conley finished with just eight points and shot 15.4% from the floor. He did distribute seven assists in that game, but went 1-for-6 from 3-point range, including a last-second buzzer beater that would have sent the Jazz to the conference semifinals but ended up bouncing out and ending Utah’s season. 

 

For many this season was a disappointment from the newly acquired point guard. He was not the same Conley from the previous season in Memphis who averaged over 20 points a game, shot the ball with confidence, attacked the rim with tenacity, and went off for a 40-point performance against the Portland Trailblazers. However, it’s not exactly fair to hold him to the same standards. First off, Conley went from arguably the number one scoring option in Memphis to third or even fourth on the Jazz. Mitchell and Bojan Bogdanovic carried most of the load offensively and it’s nice to see that Conley understood that and was willing to allow his shots per game to drop by nearly four a contest. Second, Conley has been in the league for 13 seasons now. He isn’t exactly a young gun, and at his best he topped out as a borderline All-Star. Many seemed to have built up this expectation in their head that Conley would join the team and instantly provide a 25-and-10 burst to lead Utah to the Finals. That was never going to happen, nor do the Jazz necessarily need it to.

The most welcomed surprise of the season was the free agent signing of Bogdanovic. The forward averaged a career high 20.2 PPG, 2.1 APG, and 4.1 RPG. He filled the secondary scoring void for the Jazz all season and led the NBA with two buzzer-beating go-ahead shots. Utah missed him desperately during the playoffs, but it provided an opportunity for Conley to get back on track and mesh with his new team.

If the Jazz can get the type of production they saw from Conley in the bubble in addition to the return of Bogdanovic and whoever they acquire this offseason, this is a team that has all the pieces they need to make a deep run in the playoffs.

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