Conley Hears Criticism
Mike Conley hears the criticism. He knows that there are some who believe the Grizzlies made a mistake by signing him to his last contract. He hears people believe he is not worth the money. He hears comments that the Grizzlies maybe would be better off trading him.
He also doesn’t care.
"I try my best to stay away from it and not read it," Conley told HOOPSWORLD, "but it still gets brought to my attention from different people. Eventually you find out what people are saying. It just motivates me more to stay in the gym and get better because I can’t control what’s going on off the court like what people say. What I can control is what I do on the court."
Conley’s teammate Zach Randolph, one of the most underrated players in the NBA, has been through similar situations and was able to give advice. As is usually the case, digging down to the most simplistic view of certain situations is best. Randolph believed that to be the case here and believes in his teammate.
"This league is based on criticism, but everybody in the league has something that they are good at, whether that’s scoring the basketball, rebounding or playing defense," said Randolph. "Mike is one of those players who is putting everything together right now. His shooting is better, he’s playing good defense, he’s fast and he gets other guys open shots. He’s just a great player."
In the face of criticism, Conley is having the best season of his four-year career, averaging 13.4 points, 6.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds. After receiving a confidence-boost from teammates, as well as understanding that criticism does not have to affect his play on the court, Conley reached back to his pre-NBA days. He reminded himself of his idols growing up and dedicated himself to putting into the work that would put him ahead in his quest to achieve a career year.
"Growing up, I really liked watching films of Isiah Thomas because I like little guards, especially now because I’m one of the smallest guards in the league," said Conley. "I really like the way Chris Paul plays too. Before I got to the league, he was somebody that I watched film on, watched a lot of his games and tried to learn how to play the position a little bit better."
When watching his idols, there was something Conley noticed, something that he could immediately incorporate into his game. After playing only a single season of college basketball, Conley was always one of the youngest players and felt he needed to achieve before he could lead, not understanding that some teams need a leader immediately.
"The lack of aggression, the lack of assertiveness and the lack of taking a bigger role on the team was my issue early on in my career," said Conley. "I learned that over the summer and tried to work a lot on my game, both physically and mentally. It’s a lot of my maturity and my growth over the last couple seasons. I’m learning the NBA game because it’s a lot different than it is in college. I’ve really taken it upon myself to be more aggressive, more assertive offensively and to take more command of the team. I’m just being more of a leader and it’s really worked out for me so far."
{AUTHOR_BOX}His teammates see his progression this season and are impressed. They understand that having a young point guard who is putting up career-best numbers is a big reason why they still find themselves in the playoff hunt.
"Man, that kid is a hard worker, first of all," Zach Randolph told HOOPSWORLD. "He works on his game every summer and gets better. He worked on his shot and it improved. He’s working and wants to get better. He takes a lot of pressure off of me. He’s knocking down shots, he’s penetrating, getting to the hole and finding us big fellas for drop-offs. Anytime you have a point guard like Mike, who can knock down shots from the outside, it loosens up on the inside for us to work down there."
That is why Conley doesn’t care about criticism. He uses it as motivation, always understanding he can improve. In the midst of his career year, he continues to identify the areas in his game that need the most work and makes a plan of action on how to attack those weaknesses.
"The biggest part of my game that I’ve been working on the most is my mid-range game and being able to attack one-on-one. If a play breaks down, I need to be able to score and score consistently. I can’t just rely on pick-and-rolls and not just rely on fast break opportunities. I need to be able to take guys one-on-one and that’s the biggest area that I’m trying to focus on."
With the energy and commitment Conley showed over the summer in improving his game, the sky is the limit and the Memphis Grizzlies are ready to reap the rewards.
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