05-22-2007, 10:57 AM
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Head Coach
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 10,813
Points: 499,577.82
Bank: 0.00
Total Points: 499,577.82
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Quote:
Mike Conley
Conley proved in his first year of college ball that he has the speed, court vision, athleticism and decision-making skills to be an excellent NBA point guard. His poise in the NCAA tournament raised his stock to the point that every NBA executive I've spoken with has him ranked as the No. 1 point guard in the draft.
The workouts are, for the most part, geared to Conley's strong points.
Conley possesses amazing hand speed and has terrific control of the basketball. You rarely see him mishandle the ball, even when he's flying up and down the court or handling two basketballs at once. He gets low to the floor and goes.
Despite being just 6-foot-1 (according to Reiff's measurements) and 170 pounds, Conley is very strong for a point guard. He can lift the 185-pound bench press bar for 13 reps, and he showed this year at Ohio State that he can be a physical defender who isn't afraid to get in his defender's grille. He has a thick shoulders and legs and shouldn't suffer some of the injury problems that other diminutive point guards have in the past. He also has great length, with an impressive 6-foot-7 wingspan.
Conley is also a tremendous athlete with great explosiveness off the floor. He measured a 39-inch vertical jump off three steps at the St. Vincent Sports Performance Center on his first day of workouts and is expected to improve that score by the predraft camp combine.
Conley's one major area of weakness is shooting, and the results on Sunday were mixed. His shooting form looks good, but it's a bit uneven and the results were the same. He has shooting range out to the NBA 3-point line, but he's pretty streaky. At times during the workout he'd get on a roll and hit 10 or 12 shots in a row. At other times, just about everything was going off the back of the rim.
Conley's trainer Schilling said he believes that it's just a matter of time before Conley figures it out.
"His form is good when he's set, but he gets a little off when he takes shots off the dribble," Schilling said. "He's so quick he doesn't always get in the right position before he lets it go. If he's going to be a star he's got to hit that shot consistently. He knows that and he's the type of kid who'll be determined to do it."
From everything I saw, it's hard to disagree with that assessment. Conley isn't the kind of bad shooter Rajon Rondo was last year. He just needs more consistency.
And like Rondo, he really has the rest of the package and has the ability to play a more controlled game.
I don't see any way he falls below No. 11 to the Hawks. I think he could go as high as No. 3 in certain scenarios. The Timberwolves at No. 7 and the Kings at No. 10 are also possibilities for Conley.
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