Conley’s Corner: Calm through the chaos
Mike Conley believes himself to be a rhythmic player. When he steps onto the floor, he always tries to gauge the rhythm or “heartbeat” of the situation. It helps him identify what the team requires in the moment to succeed, and it’s an approach that made him one of the game’s elite floor generals.
But there was no rhythm to be found for much of Year 19 for the veteran guard, a campaign filled with constant change, starting with an unexpected move to the bench at the season’s outset, followed by a trade, a re-signing and sporadic role change.
“For me, you never really got comfortable in any situation. To start off the year not starting, it was new, it was different,” Conley said. “As the season went on, it was like I’m not playing the best, not playing consistent minutes – sometimes it’s 12, sometimes it’s 22. Sometimes I start. Every other night was different, playing with different units and different guys. It was just a bunch of stuff happening.”
Until the biggest thing happened. Conley said a trade was “the last thing I thought about” in February. A deal landing him in Chicago momentarily left him in no man’s land. A rebuilding squad certainly wasn’t the right fit.
“It was scary,” Conley said. “It was definitely scary.”
Because that situation can go in any direction. Conley could’ve rotted away in Chicago. He could’ve been re-routed to a different team that didn’t play him, which is frequently a career ender. It was a precarious situation, one most veterans couldn’t help but feel a little salty toward their original team for putting them in.
“It still was like initially, ‘Damn, I see how it is,’” Conley said. “It’s one of those things where no matter how much you leave the team or management – love Tim (Connelly), love coach – it’s still like, ‘Damn, y’all traded me, sent me to an unknown situation.’ But I don’t even look at it as a bad thing. I understand it’s a business. I’ve been fortunate enough where you have your relationships with management, you have your relationships with coaches, but I’ve always kept it as a business at the end of it. I understand you’ve got to look out for the team and they try their best to look out for you, especially here. Tim does a great job of trying to do what’s right by the player. In my place, it ended up working out great.”
A strength of Conley’s is putting himself in the shoes of others when analyzing a situation. When Minnesota drafted Rob Dillingham in 2024, he knew that meant some of his playing time would need to be re-allocated. When the Wolves traded for Ayo Dosunmu and Bones Hyland started playing well, Conley knew his pre-trade minute load may no longer be available.
Fine by him.
“From the beginning, I told coach, ‘I get it, keep rolling with what you’ve got, no big deal.’ And we did,” Conley said. “I’m a realist. I’m in Year 19. I’m not in Year 10, so it’s not the same situation. I don’t blame coach, I don’t blame Tim, I don’t blame anybody for the way that I’ve just been thrown around. Because, at the end of the day, I think they understood where I stood. I just wanted to do whatever works best for the team. It means me playing one night, not play. … I’ll do it, I won’t complain to them, just keep it moving. I think they knew that, too.
“Other guys you do it to, they may approach them with a knock on the door like, ‘We need to talk. I can’t do this. I can’t do all this stuff.’ But for me, it’s whatever. I’ve had a great run, am still doing it, and a lot of it has been my ability to adapt and figure out a way, at the end of it, to find my way back to solid footing.”
He did so again at the end of the regular season. Conley played meaningful minutes over the final three weeks of the campaign as Minnesota was without a bevy of bodies due to injuries or rest.
Over his final seven appearances, he shot 45% from 3-point range while tallying 23 assists and nine steals. He shut down Rookie of the Year candidate Kon Knueppel in a defensive assignment against Charlotte as he regularly demonstrated his value on that end of the floor.
“This last couple weeks has been huge for myself, TJ (Shannon), a lot of different guys just seeing what we’ve got, how much depth we still have, how we can all affect the game and feeling good about it,” Conley said. “Guys coming in like myself and being confident in shooting certain shots that a month ago I was like, ‘Ah, I just won’t shoot that one’ because I hadn’t made one in a month or something like that. Now I’m like, ‘Alright, I’m firing it.’ I feel like I’m in great rhythm, now you’re starting to manipulate things, you’re starting to play at a different pace.”
The 38 year old said one thing people may not understand about veterans is as they age, this time – the playoffs – is the part of the calendar they still look forward to.
“The January, December, all that stuff, it’s like, ‘Alright, let me get through this,’” he said. “This is where you really get pumped up and you can give literally everything you’ve got and play at a different level.”
He’s excited, and believes there will be a time in the upcoming Denver series where his number will be called. His recent play would validate any such decision from Chris Finch.
“I’ll be ready,” Conley said.
He always has been, no matter the situation. That steadiness has helped him forge through a choppy campaign.
“I don’t think many people could handle it, because it’s a lot of stuff that goes in behind the scenes and things that you have to fall on the sword for sometimes, and there’s things that you’re in full control of where it’s like, ‘Man, I could’ve done better.’ It’s like a mixed bag of things,” he said. “But I think the way that my demeanor has always been and the way I always approach things with professionalism, it didn’t allow me to let that consume me. Let all the things that are happening, what’s being said and what’s not, whose fault it was, was it you, was it me.
“I’m here to do what’s best for everybody. I’m going to come in here and work, still be here at the same time, do my same workout and prepare as if I’m starting every single day. I think guys on the team really appreciate that part of it, being able to look up and know that he’s had a really crazy season and hasn’t said a word about it. I’ve been rolling and being the best teammate I can be trying to support these guys, and hopefully it’s worth something in the end.”
