Memphis Grizzlies: NBA All-Star Selection for Mike Conley Would Gain Officials’ Respect

The Memphis Grizzlies’ Mike Conley is not afraid of attacking the painted area, but his game is suffering from a lack of foul calls. Could an NBA All-Star selection earn him some respect?

On Thursday, the NBA released the third returns from NBA All-Star voting conducted by fans of the game. For the third time this season, the update has been unfavorable for Mike Conley and the Memphis Grizzlies.

There is a unique correlation of the top vote-getters as things currently stand (though not final). Of course the NBA is all about offense — 2018-19 being more so than ever — but true All-Star players are going to produce a large sum of points for themselves regardless of how good or bad their overall singular defense may be.

When you think of the Memphis Grizzlies, the word “defense” is prominent. They have been one of the top defensive clubs throughout this current decade, even during a miserable 22-60 season in 2017-18. Potent offense is not a part of their culture, but their stifling defensive nature is.

This is both good and bad for Mike Conley. When you think of his floor general services, the league acknowledges that the Grizzlies live and die by Conley. Look at least season’s poor record in relation to Mike missing all but 12 regular season games, and it is not difficult to understand why Memphis lost so many games. He is their engine.

Conley is one of the NBA’s leading two-way players. His offense is as good as his defense, and vice-versa. As he produces 20 points per game season after season, he pairs the scoring punch with being near the top in assist-to-turnover ratio and steals per game. He is majorly efficient, too.

Still, given how great Mike Conley has been for the Memphis Grizzlies for 12 seasons (11.5 but who’s counting?) now, he has failed to make an NBA All-Star roster. For years, he has become known as the biggest All-Star snub, and that title is becoming old for him and Grizz Nation both.

There are many factors in the makeup of an NBA All-Star. The fan voting is a popularity vote through and through. Yet, the popularity is driven by flashy moves and potent scoring.

As great as Memphis Grizzlies legend Tony Allen was on the defensive end, there was a reason why he never reached an All-Star appearance. The lack of offense. Allen was not a big-time scorer by any means.

Marc Gasol became an NBA All-Star starter, representing the Western Conference, largely in part of his strong international presence amongst the basketball world. Gasol is another two-way player, but was one of the very top-rated centers in the association when he received this high honor via the fans in the 2014-15 season.

In moving to Zach Randolph‘s two NBA All-Star appearances as a member of the Grizzlies, “Z-Bo” was a scoring force, but also one of the league’s top rebounders. Yet, even Zach could not earn a starting position in the annual All-Star Game.

This is where the league’s coaches play perhaps the most crucial role in NBA All-Star voting. They are the individuals that are preparing 24/7 for strong opponents. Their employment depends on how well they analyze the other team’s rosters from top to bottom in addition to properly preparing their own guys.

The coaches’ votes have been the key determinants in earning Marc Gasol two other NBA All-Star appearances as well as one other for Zach Randolph since 2010. This is the only hope for Mike Conley to earn a trip to this season’s All-Star Game and likely any other season, too.

There is the small-market factor of Memphis, obviously. While “role players” belonging to the Golden State Warriors and any LeBron James-led club oftentimes earn NBA All-Star selections, even the Memphis Grizzlies’ best has trouble earning recognition for their efforts due to their small-market status.

While Gasol and Randolph would almost certainly take their many playoff victories over additional All-Star nods, it is tough to see very deserving players go unnoticed. Especially considering the importance of Mike Conley to the Grizzlies franchise, it is a tough pill to swallow if you are a Conley supporter.

While Mike falls into the “All-Star-caliber” category, just one NBA All-Star nod could be all that he needs in order to gain respect from fans worldwide as well as the officiating crew.

When watching Mike Conley operate on the hardwood, even the most unbiased of hoops fans wonder why he does not get much love from the officiating crew. Hack here. Hack there. Scrape. Hit. Fall. No whistle for No. 11.

On the other hand, there are guys such as James Harden of the Houston Rockets that receive a whistle in their favor seemingly prior to contact being made as they barrel down the lane. Not only has All-Star status increased the legend of Harden, but the 2018 Most Valuable Player trophy has majorly boosted his scoring output in terms of gaining calls this season.

In breaking down Mike Conley’s game, though he stands at just 6’1″ tall, his lack of calls is not due to a shortage of drives to the basket. He ranks 18th in the entire NBA in drives per game. All but 5 players in front of him in this category have at least one NBA All-Star Game appearance attached to their name.

Now is time to see how beneficial those drives are for Mike. Conley falls to 24th in free-throws attempted from driving opportunities with 1.7 per game. Two rookies — Luka Doncic and Trae Young — rank above Memphis’ starting point guard in free-throw chances derived from drives.

How is it that Mike Conley falls behind in this categor? Well, look at the market size. Luka is leading the the Dallas Mavericks and Trae is representing the Atlanta Hawks. Both are by far larger markets and fan bases than the Memphis Grizzlies.

Memphis is accustomed to being the underdog, and it will likely always be like that. For comparison, James Harden draws an average of 4.1 free-throws per game via driving opportunities. This is where Harden obtains 35.3% of his overall free-throw attempts.

For those wondering, Mike Conley is being granted just 5.2 free-throw attempts per game, with 32.7% of those coming from drives. Imagine if he would gain a couple more calls per contest. “Captain Clutch” makes the most of his tries from the charity stripe with an 84.8% accuracy this season (81.7% for his NBA career), but a few more attempts could push him into the upper tier of the NBA’s hierarchy of leading scorers.

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That could be the final ounce of positive energy Mike needs in order to notch an NBA All-Star bid. Fans voting off popularity typically go off of stats. Points, for example, are a major key in assisting fans’ NBA fantasy squads. It is a popular activity that flash on the court does not play a part, but rather, it is the final statistics found within the box score.

Through Thursday, January 17th, the Memphis Grizzlies’ Mike Conley ranks 31st in the NBA in points per game average at 19.9. The 30 players in front of him? A whopping 20 of them belong to the Western Conference. 11 of them are Western Conference guards, which are Conley’s sole competition in the NBA All-Star race.

In looking at the aforementioned third All-Star returns from Thursday, Lonzo Ball (Los Angeles Lakers) and Chris Paul (Houston Rockets) score less than Mike Conley, but once again, it boils down to popularity and market size.

With NBA All-Star voting ending in the evening hours of January 21st, Conley’s fate likely lies in the hands of the NBA’s coaches. Will this year finally be his year to shine?

The answer likely would have been “yes” if the Memphis Grizzlies would have kept up their winning pace from November, which seems like ages ago. Now with the team struggling mightily and snagging just one victory thus far in 2019 by January’s midway point, the All-Star conversation is becoming increasingly difficult for Mike.

All odds are against him, and it will be interesting to see which West guards make it in, and those that do not. It is not all about the added popularity toward Mike Conley that would be nice to see, but rather, his respect by the NBA officials and the blowing of their whistles in his favor. Just one All-Star Game appearance could boost Conley’s name up another tier among the best the association has to offer.