MEMPHIS – What do you do when the thing you love to do, the thing you were born to do, is taken away?
This is the riddle that Mike Conley Jr. found himself trying to unravel, just about a year ago. After working his entire life and perfecting his craft, Conley had essentially reached the pinnacle, regarded as one of the best point guards in the NBA. As he entered his eleventh season, the Grizzlies had made seven consecutive playoff appearances, and appeared set to continue their winning ways. Conley was coming off a season in which he’d averaged a career-best 20.5 points per game, along with 6.3 assists per game.
JJ Redick #17 of the Philadelphia 76ers and Mike Conley #11 of the Memphis Grizzlies shake hands before the game on November 10, 2018 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images.
And then, just a few games into the 2017-18 season, Conley’s season was basically done. He tried to grind and grit through a foot injury, but eventually there was no other way around it: Season-ending surgery was required.
Suddenly, everything was on hold. Losses piled up for the Grizzlies while Conley was forced onto the chilling list, told to sit and wait until his body recovered.
So what do you do when the thing you love to do, that thing you were born to do, is taken away from you?
With his leg wrapped in a cast, Conley couldn’t do much, at least not physically.
“I was at home, man, a lot, just reflecting and being around my family. We didn’t go on vacations, didn’t take any trips, we didn’t do anything. So really, it was just watching these guys,” Conley says, gesturing out at the Grizzlies’ practice court. “My happy days were being able to come into the arena and being around these guys, all that stuff. But really, I was just reflecting a lot on the season, what I was going to do going forward, and how it was all going to work out.”
And that’s exactly the thing: Nobody knew how it was going to work out, least of all Conley. After spending years working, working, working, suddenly Conley could not work. All those details that he worked for so long to perfect and master were no longer within his control. He had to wait to heal, all the while hoping that everything healed the way it was expected to come together.
So Conley sat and thought. A lot.
“It was a unique experience,” he recalls. “It was also slightly depressing, in a sense, because you think yourself into a hole. You start thinking about what just happened, and then you think about, ‘What if I don’t come back like myself?’ All these thoughts just start popping in, and then you start to get worried and depressed and stuff. So it went both ways. I’m just thankful to come out of it, obviously, healthy and then mentally right where I need to be.”
Mike Conley #11 of the Memphis Grizzlies handles the ball against the Philadelphia 76ers on November 10, 2018 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. Photo by Joe Murphy via Getty Images.
Where Conley needed to be was back on the basketball court. Conley couldn’t wait to get back to work after being forced into what amounted to the longest break of his NBA career. Yet getting back into the peculiar rhythm of an NBA season has reminded Conley that as much as you can be in top physical shape, being in NBA shape is totally different.
“Portions of it feel like a new thing and whole new journey,” Conley says. “A first-day-at-school kind of thing. But there’s certain aspects of it where, like, when I get the ball in my hands or get on the court, it’s just like riding a bike. It’s like, ‘OK, I’m home, I know where I’m at.’”
Yet then there’s another side.
“But every time I prepare for a game and go through conditioning and practices, I say to myself, ‘Wow this is hard!’” Conley laughs. “I forgot how much goes into preparing for a game. I’m still getting there, as far as regular-season basketball shape. I’m out there gassed at some points during the game. I’ll think, ‘Why am I so tired?’ Then I remember that this is a different animal than preseason even. So I’m still working through it and trying to figure that out and telling myself that it’s going to come, slowly but surely.”
While the great marathon of the NBA season continues, early returns this season have been promising. Through the campaign’s first month, Conley was averaging 18.1 points per game along with six assists as the Grizz got off to a 7-4 start, including a perfect 5-0 at home, as they close out a three-game homestand Monday against the Jazz. And Conley’s most recent outing was his best yet, pouring in a season-high 32 points and six assists in Saturday’s overtime win against the 76ers.
In many ways, Conley finds himself in a situation similar to the Grizzlies franchise, which enters this season looking to recapture the “grit and grind” ethos that has defined the franchise for so long, while also incorporating some modern flourishes, particularly on offense. While the Conley-to-Marc Gasol pick-and-roll still shows up from time to time, mostly late in the shot clock, the Grizz have spent most of the early season working to install a more egalitarian offense that relies heavily on passing and cutting.
It is all easier said than done, especially when the Grizzlies have added several new players, while head coach J.B. Bickerstaff – with the interim tag removed – was able to go through his first full training camp with the team.
“Not a lot of people take the time to think about it and look at it from that aspect,” Conley notes. “For Marc and me, we have done it together a long time in this city, and the way we’ve played has always been different defensively. And offensively, we’re not flashy. We don’t look for highlights. We look to win. And JB’s come in and added to that, just took it and ran with it. When you come play in Memphis, you’re going to play a different team. That’s just how it is.”
With Conley getting his feet back under him and already showing promising numbers early in the season, his teammates are confident in the point guard’s return to the court.
“I think we’ve done a lot of good things early, but we know we have a long way to go and a lot of room to improve, which is a good sign for our team,” Conley points out. "I’m going to keep shooting. They’ll fall and these guys trust me. These guys believe in me. That means the world to me."
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