Mike Conley? WTF?! (Trade rumor)

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At first glance this doesn't look too good for Portland, but ...

- Conley is 21. He isn't producing like we all expected. Did you know that's the case with most young point guards?

Let's look at the top PGs in the league at 21.

Chris Paul is the exception to the rule it seems. He's just on another level. Many of us might have thought Conley would be the next Paul, but he isn't. He won't be. Paul is very special.

Tony Parker struggled with his outside shot too. Parker's scoring was far better, but to me, that's to be expected. Parker was/is a shoot-first guard, while Conley is a pass-first. This is illustrated by Conley's far better Assist Rating. Their TOs and steals are right in line with each other. Conley already shoots a higher percentage on FTs. Conley is more athletic IMO, and his rebounding rating is possible proof of this. Again, I don't think Conley will be in Parker's class, but again they're really not the same type of guards.

Devin Harris shot poorly as well. Again Devin was the superior scorer, but Conley has better rebounding, assist, TO rating. In 15 minutes that year, Devin had 6 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound.

Jason Terry played his rookie year at 22 so this isn't a completely fair comparison. He only scored 8 points, 4 assists, and 2 rebound is 23 minutes. Age 23, Terry blew up.

Chauncey Billups played 26 minutes with Boston, shooting 39% from the field, 1.5 steals, 2 TOs, 2 rebounds, 4 assists, and 11 points per game. He was traded to Toronto and his shooting fell to 34%.

Steve Nash played his rookie season at age 22, so a bit older. He got 10 minutes and scored 3 points, 2 assists, and 1 rebound. Age 23 he more than doubled his minutes and still only scored 9 points, 3 assists, and 2 rebounds. He shot only 42% from the field his rookie season.

I could go on but you can see that most points guard struggle. Mike Conley today is nothing compared to what he'll be next year and the years after that.

I bet Pritchard realizes this.

- He was near sensational in College. During their freshman seasons, Greg and Mike led the Buckeyes to a Big Ten title and the NCAA Championship Game. He and Greg led their high school team to three consecutive Indiana state championships. So the talent, experience, and drive is there.

- His ballhandling is terrific and he is already very good at finishing around the basket with layups or floaters. Why he doesn't do it, I don't know. He has the controlled quickness this team could really use.

That's all I got for now.
 
Nikolokolus said:
All of this talk about Conley having "the credibility to get in Greg's face," does anybody seriously think this line is coming out of the Portland camp? Chances are the Grizz covet Outlaw and they are trying to highlight just how "invaluable" Conley would be as a trade piece.

I say this rumor has no legs from Portland's side.
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I agree with you completely on this one Niko. Why would KP talk openly about something like that before a trade is done. That is sales 101. You don't inflate the value of something before you purchase it. Only after.
 
I haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me if somebody else has already made this point, but I don't like the idea of importing Conley for Oden's sake, because it seems to me that would run a huge risk of dividing the locker room, particularly if you give up Rudy's best friend AND Roy's best friend in effect to get Greg's best friend.

Plus: comparing Conley to Nash and Billups is pretty much cheating. Yes, those two had very un-promising early seasons. But so did the vast majority of PGs who dropped out of the league. And there were a lot more of them. It's like everyone says of a young guy who's nailed to the bench for years on end - "he could be the next Jermaine!" Yes. But the chances are astronomically against it. He is MUCH MORE LIKELY to be the next Stromile Swift.

Here's what I think is a more apposite comparison: Sebastian Telfair.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
I haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me if somebody else has already made this point, but I don't like the idea of importing Conley for Oden's sake, because it seems to me that would run a huge risk of dividing the locker room, particularly if you give up Rudy's best friend AND Roy's best friend in effect to get Greg's best friend.

Plus: comparing Conley to Nash and Billups is pretty much cheating. Yes, those two had very un-promising early seasons. But so did the vast majority of PGs who dropped out of the league. And there were a lot more of them. It's like everyone says of a young guy who's nailed to the bench for years on end - "he could be the next Jermaine!" Yes. But the chances are astronomically against it. He is MUCH MORE LIKELY to be the next Stromile Swift.

Here's what I think is a more apposite comparison: Sebastian Telfair.
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Very true. I hadn't thought of it this way. I guess I'm just trying to rationalize why Conley would be a target. If he is, and given Pritchard's track record, there must be some good reason why they believe Conley will be a very good player.
 
I'd like to point out again that this is at least the third generation of these "trade talks" that we have seen since July.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
I haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me if somebody else has already made this point, but I don't like the idea of importing Conley for Oden's sake, because it seems to me that would run a huge risk of dividing the locker room, particularly if you give up Rudy's best friend AND Roy's best friend in effect to get Greg's best friend.

Plus: comparing Conley to Nash and Billups is pretty much cheating. Yes, those two had very un-promising early seasons. But so did the vast majority of PGs who dropped out of the league. And there were a lot more of them. It's like everyone says of a young guy who's nailed to the bench for years on end - "he could be the next Jermaine!" Yes. But the chances are astronomically against it. He is MUCH MORE LIKELY to be the next Stromile Swift.

Here's what I think is a more apposite comparison: Sebastian Telfair.
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I hadn't thought about the Roy/Rudy aspect to this, and the fact is that Roy will need to be maxed after this year.

Besides, bringing in Conley to pacify Oden just lends more strength to the "babying Oden" hypothesis.
 
PapaG said:
Ha. I was fired up about getting Arthur in the draft. I thought it was such a steal, which it actually does look to be. Just not for the Blazers, but I like what Portland did with the pick.

Win/win so far on that one.
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arthur is averaging 6 ppg and shooting under 40%, not sure how much of a steal he is at this point.
 
Crimson the Cat said:
Very true. I hadn't thought of it this way. I guess I'm just trying to rationalize why Conley would be a target. If he is, and given Pritchard's track record, there must be some good reason why they believe Conley will be a very good player.
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Telfair has shit between his ears, Conley doesn't. Your instincts are right on this one, Crim.
 
Here is why I think this trade WON'T go down. With all of our talent, there is no reason for us in any trade to be sending the best player (Outlaw) in the overall package. Outlaw has a very small contract given his production in recent years. And the Blazers don't have any "BAD" contracts that we want to dump. All we have is Raef who will come off the books. Every other single player is worth his salary (or is on a rookie salary getting paid a bit too high) and not like a Brian Cardinal situation.

The only way Outlaw goes is if he is traded with (1) a team that wants to rebuild and takes Outlaw and two more pieces while giving up a superior player or (2) a team that is looking to dump salary and wants to get back a good player and salary flexibility (Raef) for a player better than Outlaw.

That's the way it is. Unless Outlaw has become a major locker room cancer in his request for more touches, which with his friendship to Roy and Aldridge is hard to imagine, then that's the only feasible scenario if I'm playing GM.

I would say that I'm not the Blazer GM for a reason, but then again I have a pretty damn good record of liking players (Rudy, Batum, Thaddeus Young, Rodney Stuckey) and seeing them work out so...I was never a fan of Conley either, although I do feel that he can become a better slasher. At his biggest upside you're looking at a poor man's Rod Strickland.
 
drexlersdad said:
arthur is averaging 6 ppg and shooting under 40%, not sure how much of a steal he is at this point.
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Conley shoots worse and offers nothing that this team doesn't already have sitting on the bench in Bayless.

It's not like I am advocating an Arthur trade. I was just commenting on a post that mentioned him.
 
I would love Conley on this team - the only one on the roster we have that can defend the opposite PG the way he does is Bayless. I would also hate to lose Travis for this.

If there was an option to do a package that did not lose us Outlaw for his potential - it would be great.
 
graybeard said:
Telfair has shit between his ears, Conley doesn't. Your instincts are right on this one, Crim.
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Alright. Thanks for the nudge. Here's some more positive proof to the Conley Pudding:

In the last 5 games, Conley, in 24 minutes, has shot 18/35 fgs and 4/6 3-point fgs.

He's on the rise!
 
Crimson the Cat said:
Alright. Thanks for the nudge. Here's some more positive proof to the Conley Pudding:

In the last 5 games, Conley, in 24 minutes, has shot 18/35 fgs and 4/6 3-point fgs.

He's on the rise!
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The team is 1-4 in those game and the closest loss was by 9.

No thanks.
 
While not a terrible deal for the Blazers, it's somewhat of a lateral move. I'd suspect TO to get packaged with Raef to get up a player that significantly helps our cause if they were to deal him.

The main problem with Conley is that he's just playing with a mediocre team. It's tough to gage how good he could be with a team that plays with chemistry. If his college career is an example, then he might be a nice fit.
 
PapaG said:
The team is 1-4 in those game and the closest loss was by 9.

No thanks.
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Memphis was playing lousy last year before they traded Gasol - that didn't stop Gasol from having a positive impact in LA.

I really disagree with this notion that you shouldn't trade for players on bad teams. A big part of the reason they are bad, is that they don't do a good job evaluating and developing players. That's also why they are prime candidates to take advantage of!

IMHO, this is just an old rumor being recycled. If it was legit....if KP was more impressed with Conley than his Memphis counterpart....I would start to wonder if it was *my* opinion of Conley that might be wrong.
 
Mike Conley, tonight, 30 minutes, 6/7 fgs, 1/1 3-pt, 13 points, 2 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 0 TOs.

Nice.
 
Mike looks like he has an insane wingspan for a 6-footer.

act_mike_conley.jpg
 
oldmangrouch said:
Memphis was playing lousy last year before they traded Gasol - that didn't stop Gasol from having a positive impact in LA.
I really disagree with this notion that you shouldn't trade for players on bad teams. A big part of the reason they are bad, is that they don't do a good job evaluating and developing players. That's also why they are prime candidates to take advantage of!

IMHO, this is just an old rumor being recycled. If it was legit....if KP was more impressed with Conley than his Memphis counterpart....I would start to wonder if it was *my* opinion of Conley that might be wrong.
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Gasol was still putting up All-Star numbers when traded and was considered a steal for what the Lakers gave up for him.

Conley is putting up bad numbers for a bad team. Gasol seems to be the outlier to me.
 
JFizzleRaider said:
It isn't all Conley, his team is horrendous
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Well, people were trumpeting his game tonight. His defensive game was not good, as was also posted.

One could say it made the difference in the loss.
 
PapaG said:
Well, people were trumpeting his game tonight. His defensive game was not good, as was also posted.

One could say it made the difference in the loss.
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Not many players in the league can contain Tony Parker.
 
umm isn't TP still injured?
I'm all for Conley as long as it doesn't cost us Outlaw
 
wastro said:
I don't see this trade happening.

First, Conley's stock is low, and Travis' stock is high. At this point, you don't even do an even swap; forget about throwing Sergio into the mix.

Outlaw's contract is really good. It could be argued he's being underpaid right now. Combine that with his potential, demonstrated abilities and growth ... and you have a really attractive trade chip. That doesn't mean Pritchard is going to give him up. It just means he's going to show up in a lot of "what-if" trades BECAUSE he's coveted.

Also, the trade wouldn't help Memphis' log jam at PG anyway. They'll still have four under-developed point guards with potential. Now they happen to have a back-up SF in the mix, as well.

Also, why trade Sergio? He's doing well. He's got a good thing going with Rudy. No need to rush that here.

Also, why Conley? Just because he and Oden are buddy-buddy doesn't mean they'll bring out the best in each other here. It's one thing to be successful in high school or college. It's another to be good together in the NBA.

Finally, Conley doesn't help us with outside shooting. And isn't that what Greg's presence is supposed to help?

Conley is averaging 7/3/4 this season. We're going to give up Outlaw and Sergio for that? I get the idea of consolidating talent, but you don't throw away talent to get there. And, in my opinion, that's what this trade would be.
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I agree with all your points but the first one. I think KP evaluates talent based on his own set of standards. What we see as rising and falling stock is not what KP looks at. He does a little more research than looking at the box score. But again I agree with everything else.
 
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