Mike Conley is entering the most important time of his career
Mike Conley is everyone's go-to answer for the question, who is the most underrated player in the NBA? You hear it all the time—from everyone.
From Charles Barkley. From ESPN talking heads. From FOX Sports analysts. It's all over. Mike Conley is most underrated, so underrated that he gets talked about more than guys like Kyrie Irving and John Wall, who are considered better than him—or at least considered less underrated. It's weird how the cycle works, huh?
Well, Conley might not be so underrated come next offseason, when he contract with the Grizzlies runs out and he hits free agency. Conley could be in for a heck of a payday, maybe even a max contract, and because of that, Joe Mullinax writes over at Grizzly Bear Blues that the upcoming season could be Conley's most important one ever:
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Conley is certainly the best free-agent point guard next offseason. If someone needs a floor general, that someone is going to be going after Conley. And it doesn't hurt that more teams than maybe ever before will have room for a max deal with the salary cap shooting up to its highest figure in years as a result of the NBA's newly-signed television deal.
Conley averaged 15.8 points and 5.4 assists per game this past season, posting his most efficient scoring numbers ever, according to true shooting.
(h/t Grizzly Bear Blues)
Of course, there is one thing standing between Conley and his massive payday. The 2015-2016 season. This kind of money, while not quite as bad with the rising cap (30% of that $89 million cap number for 2016-2017 number makes a max salary $26.7 million, whereas 30% of $70 million for 2015-2016 season is $21 million) still could feel quite steep for a player like Conley, who has yet to make an All-Star or All-NBA team (outside of 2nd team All-Defense for the 2012-2013 season.) Conley, while not asked to be a Chris Paul type of player in the Grizzlies' schemes, has never averaged more than 6.5 assists in a season and has not shown the ability to take over games like his Western Conference counterparts Russell Westbrook or Stephen Curry.
Mike has also had injury issues, as described above. Ankles, wrists, faces, all have added up to 21 missed regular season games and 3 missed playoff games over the past two seasons combined. This doesn't sound like much upon first hearing, and Conley has played in five 80 plus-game seasons (including all 62 games of the lockout-shortened 2011-2012 season). The past two years have given slight cause for concern with regard to durability, however, something that is highlighted even further as the new NBA trend appears to be a focus on larger Point Guards who may make life more difficult for Conley as the years go on.
