As Mike Conley remains the last man standing of the original Core Four, the Memphis Grizzlies guard will soon become their all-time leader in another major statistical category.
Mike Conley is the last man standing from the “Grit-‘N’-Grind” era. He is the final piece of of the infamous Core Four that remains on the Memphis Grizzlies‘ roster. Perhaps that is what he has needed to consistently take his game to the next level.
Since February’s NBA Trade Deadline — where the Grizzlies severed ties with three-time NBA All-Star center Marc Gasol — Conley has been on a scoring tear, especially in clutch moments.
Following Gasol’s departure, Mike Conley has produced seven games of 20+ points, along with two games of 30+ points and one 40-point outing. It was the first time in his now 12-season NBA career in which he has dropped 40 points on an opponent.
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Saturday’s matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Minnesota Timberwolves marked the 15th game played by Conley without Marc Gasol as his counterpart. Over this span, Mike is averaging 22.9 points on 15.9 shot attempts per game. That is a result of 44.5% shooting accuracy from the field, including 36.7% from beyond the arc. He is also shooting 85.3% from the free-throw line while getting there at a rate of 7.7 attempts per game.
For comparison, Mike Conley’s production line with Gasol as his teammate this season (53 games) read 20.4 points on 16.0 attempts per game while shooting 43.3% overall, including 36.5% from deep. He has become more aggressive since his NBA All-Star Game snub, averaging just 5.0 free-throw attempts per game on 84.6% accuracy at the charity stripe.
Overall, it is only a slight increase in production and efficiency, but the greatest positive change is most evident in the Memphis Grizzlies’ overall play. They now have a faster offense with more ball movement. There lies greater communication and chemistry on the floor, too. All in all, this roster is now built around Mike Conley, especially when considering their ongoing injury woes. They have to rely upon “Captain Clutch” in order to fulfill their goal of winning games at this point in the season.
Mike Conley entered Saturday’s contest versus Minnesota needing 30 points to surpass Marc Gasol in the franchise’s record books. The end result of the evening was a disappointing 112-99 loss to the Timberwolves and just 23 points (7/17 shooting) to Conley’s name. He remains seven points shy of leapfrogging Gasol’s mark of 11,684 points in a Grizzlies uniform.
As NBA trade rumors continue to fly ahead of the offseason months, which could bring a trade for Memphis’ Mike Conley, this is one last record he needs to achieve to complete his time spent with the Grizzlies. He maintained a narrow lead on Marc Gasol in total games played, and ultimately outlasted the big man. Another achievable feat — this season — for Conley will be to surpass Marc in minutes played. He remains just 287 behind his former teammate.
Regardless of where you look, each statistical category in the Memphis Grizzlies’ history books has Mike and Marc ranked as first and second or vice-versa. Now that Conley is the last standing of the Core Four, the door has opened for Mike to overtake the title as the greatest player in Grizz history. These final games of the 2018-19 season are being used to increase his legacy in Memphis.