Conley Critique

[TnDawg]

Here is an assessment of Conley I found on Insider( don't know if it was posted or not). With Hibbert gone we may not be able to pass on him. He fills our other pressing need. I was going back and forth which area we needed to address first( 5 or 1). With the possibility of us getting the Greek guy I could see BK taking Hibbert first and picking up a point later. That changed with Hibbert dropping out. We really can't take the chance of not fixing one of these areas. I wanted to proposed a Laker trade of our 3rd pick/Lue/and a filler for Bynum. It would have given us a stronger young big guy and enable the Lakers to draft Hibbert to take Bynum's spot while upgrading their point and giving Kobe some veteran help (oh well ). Now I will wait and see what happens because I think we will trade one of these picks. Here is the article:

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.

Nique Quote:

Some will say that the Hawks are really reaching if they take point guard Mike Conley at No. 3. Some will advocate that they should take the best player available, regardless of position.

There are several highly rated swingmen in this draft. But would the Hawks really take another 2, 3 or 4 man after drafting Josh Childress, Josh Smith, Marvin Williams and Shelden Williams (and trading for Joe Johnson) in recent years?

I posed that question to Hawks VP Dominique Wilkins, who said, "Probably not. Not unless we have some other plan."

The Hawks also have the No. 11 pick from the Pacers, and Conley could fall that far. But if they want him, will they really take the risk? Some interesting dilemmas there.

[Seano]

Interesting. Thanks for posting that.

[TheDude]

thanks for posting....that puts another notch next to Conley..

i would hate/love to be BK right now.

[Vafan]

Hmm, he sounds like Tony Parker

[BusBoyIsBack]

With Hibbert out the draft, Spencer Hawes may be a top 10 pick

If that's the case do you know who the next best big man is?

I sure don't.

But I do know who the next PG is if we don't take Conley.

It's a guy with great size, great scoring ability, a guy who improved every year he was in school, a guy who single handedly carried his team several times in his career, a guy who helped put his school's basketball program back on the map, and a guy who was arguably the most clutch player in college basketball that year.

I don't think Conley has any of those qualities.

Not only is Acie Law not that big of a dropoff after Conley, he's arguably not a dropoff at all.

If he is a dropoff the gap between he and Conley is VERY VERY VERY EXAGGERATED.

It's not nearly as big as the gap between Yi and whoever the hell is after Spencer Hawes or even Spencer Hawes himself.

So if we take Conley, we better trade Marvin for Zach Randolph, LaMarcus Aldridge, or some other type of big or we made a huge mistake.

Because although Conley may be an A to A+ player. The average of an A and D- isn't that great

Meanwhile you could get an A to A+ player in Yi and a B+ to A- player in Law.

I like that average a lot better.

[AtLaS]

Good post, I'm actually starting to come around on Conley, and I'm really starting to like him. I still like Law and Critt, but I really like Conley also.

[TnDawg]

The next best big man , who knows? That is why I'm not willing to consider one for the 3rd pick. People are already questioning whether Conley is worthy of the 3rd pick, there is no other Center out there worthy of that pick in this draft. That was why I was hoping of pulling off a possible trade with the Lakers. As far as Yi is concern, I'm unsure because I don't know much about him other than he isn't a center. The article I read made me picture him as a 7ft swingman, not an area of need. He may turn out to be the real deal after workouts which may make me change my mind. However, I would still prefer to take the route that fixes one of our glaring needs. If Yi turns out to be better than expected then teams will be jumping to get him, which increases our position. Especially in a trade with the Lakers who also has a large Asian population and could use him as a draw. I am a Bynum fan and like that he won't back down from the bigger centers in the league(Shaq). I would love to have him in a Hawks uniform.

[BusBoyIsBack]

Bynum has done jack squat.

No way would I take him over Yi right now.