MEMPHIS – Count Grizzlies’ catalyst Mike Conley among the NBA stars attending
this week’s Team USA minicamp in Las Vegas as he continues to work his way back
from Achilles’ heel surgery.
“My mindset is really just to go out there and, like I always do, pick the
brains of some of the best players and coaches in the world these next couple of
days,” Conley said as he prepared for Wednesday’s arrival in Las Vegas. “I want
to learn as much as I can and be around all those guys I know again, be around
the game. Just soak it up and be back on the court doing certain things.”
Conley was named among 35 finalists for the U.S. Olympic Men’s Team in January,
and hopes to emerge on the 12-man roster that will qualify to compete at the
2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Six months removed from season-ending surgery,
Conley aims to make a statement in Las Vegas with his commitment to the USA
program and his presence, if not his full participation.
Conley continues to progress through the rehab and conditioning process, and
will work out during Team USA practices but won’t compete in full scrimmages or
contact drills. The Grizzlies have sent a member of their training staff to Las
Vegas to help maintain Conley’s regimen in addition to the national team’s
practices, meetings and film sessions that run through Friday.
“I won’t be doing much full-contact stuff as far as scrimmages, but I know I’ll
be able to do a lot of the non-contact stuff, like I’ve been doing the past few
weeks,” Conley said. “We’ll have one of our trainers there on hand, too, so I
can get all the attention I need, pre and post workouts.”
Some high-profile players are not expected to attend this week’s camp. According
to recent national reports, LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kyrie Irving have
decided not to attend, although they will remain in the USA roster pool. The
status of Kawhi Leonard was in question before he was traded last week from San
Antonio to Toronto amid prolonged differences with the Spurs and coach Gregg
Popovich, who is also head coach of the U.S. national team. On Tuesday, reports
out of Boston indicated Gordon Hawyard would skip the Las Vegas minicamp to
focus on his training in Boston after he missed last season with ankle surgery.
Conley is eager to take advantage of every opportunity he has to be around a
crop of elite players on a USA roster that includes Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler,
DeMar DeRozan, Paul George, James Harden, Damian Lillard, Kevin Love, Chris Paul
and Russell Westbrook among others.
Training alongside the top talent in the league is also a chance for Conley to
chart his progress from the January heel surgery that ended his 11th NBA season
after just 12 games. Conley insisted he’s free of pain or discomfort in his foot
and heel for the first time in two years. He moved on from the initial rehab and
recovery stage to resume basketball conditioning last month.
The workload continues to increase gradually each week, and both the team and
Conley have said he remains on schedule to be a full participant in the late
September start of training camp.
“He’s been working for a few weeks now on the court, and we’re amazed at how
much weight-bearing stuff he can do,” Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of
Conley, who also visited the team’s draft picks and young players in the Las
Vegas Summer League earlier this month. “He hasn’t gotten to the five-on-five
stuff yet, but we expect that to happen within the next couple of weeks. But he
looks good. He’s feeling healthy. There’s a bunch of improvement in that foot,
so we’re looking forward to it and we expect him to be ready to go when camp
starts.
This week’s return trip to Vegas could extend the momentum Conley has been
building.
“We’re looking good and it’s been a good summer with a lot of work,” added
Conley, 30. “It’s been slow just because we’re taking the most cautious kind of
timeline more than being so aggressive, because we’ve got time. I’m on the court
shooting, I’m working out and feeling good. So I’m excited about that and just
looking forward to ramping it up as the months progress to camp.”
Conley offered an example of where his workload stands. Once he was able to
reach the stage of on-court workouts, Conley would go through “high-impact,
high-intensity” conditioning once or twice a week. As recently as two weeks ago,
those sessions increased to three or four days a week.
Gauging how his body responds between those sessions generally dictates the next
steps.
“Once I’m able to constantly come back the next day with no soreness and
everything is good, I think that I’ll have the green light to able to do
whatever,” Conley said when asked when he might be cleared for five-on-five
scrimmage sessions. “But, like I said, we’ve been taking it slow and, for now,
everything has been great. And I haven’t had any issues. No setbacks or
nothing.”
The goal is to get back to the level at which Conley played in his 2016-17
career season, when he set personal best marks for scoring, rebounds, field goal
percentage, three-point percentage, usage rate and player efficiency rating.
That season ended with Conley at his peak, averaging 24.7 points, 7.0 assists,
3.3 rebounds and 1.6 steals in a six-game playoff series loss to the Spurs. He
shot 44.7-percent on threes and neutralize the overall production of an MVP
candidate in Leonard.
Literally regaining his footing is essential to Conley reclaiming that form.
These days, it’s all about balancing pace and patience.
Ultimately, Conley has 2020 vision. He’s laying the groundwork now to
potentially put himself in position to follow in his father’s Olympic footsteps.
Mike Conley Sr. was one of the world’s top track athletes in the 1980s and early
1990s, having won a gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and a silver in
Los Angeles in 1984 – three years before Conley Jr. was born.
The Team USA minicamp in Las Vegas is seen as the first official step in
preparation for the 2019 FIBA World Cup next summer in China, which is a
qualifier for the 2020 Olympic field in Japan.
“That’s the dream,” Conley said. “To compete in an Olympics and do something my
father was able to do many times, that would obviously be a dream come true for
me. So that’s what coming here now and taking advantage of every opportunity is
about this summer. Even if I’m not able to participate fully in this minicamp,
it just shows I’m committed to USA Basketball. And if it does come down to it
and I’m available on that list to be picked, and my name is called, I’ll be
ready.”
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