Conley ready to run a team

[WraithSentinel]

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/h...3insidenba.html

Conley can answer No. 1 need for Hawks

By SEKOU SMITH

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/03/07

Orlando — Mike Conley Jr. was just as surprised as you were to see his name atop the list of point guards available in the June 28 NBA draft.

After all, this wasn't the way he planned it.

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He wasn't supposed to do just one year at Ohio State.

He wasn't supposed to be worrying about draft workouts at 19.

He wasn't supposed to step out from Greg Oden's towering shadow until long after his best friend and longtime teammate had already paved the way to the NBA for his buddy.

Yet here Conley is, bound for the NBA lottery and soon to be in possession of the keys to a franchise he's supposed to run for oh, the next decade or so.

"I would have laughed at you," Conley said Thursday when asked if he expected to be in this position so soon after completing his storied prep career alongside Oden at Lawrence North High in Indianapolis. "I wouldn't have thought about any of this. I was just worried about making it in college. But I guess that worked out."

And then some.

Conley's stock soared after his performance in the NCAA tournament, he and Oden leading Ohio State to the title game, where it lost to Florida.

Replacing aging guards

As he enters the workout phase of the pre-draft process, Conley knows that he'll have to continue to impress if he wants to hear his name called early, perhaps as soon as No. 3, where the Hawks could potentially nab their point guard of the future with the first of two lottery picks.

The Hawks have three aging, veteran point guards in Speedy Claxton, Tyronn Lue and Anthony Johnson. But they don't have a young floor general in the pipeline being groomed for the future.

Conley is keen on the idea of suiting up for the Hawks. He's also aware that there are some who have reservations about handing the controls of a team to a teenage point guard no one is sure can deliver the goods without Oden, the likely No. 1 pick in the draft, on his side.

But Conley, whose father is the 1992 Olympic triple jump champ and now the agent for both his son and Oden, is confident in his own abilities.

"Basically, everything that a team needs from a point guard I can provide," Conley said. "So I'm looking forward to having a chance to show that to anyone that's willing to look."

And there's this 7-foot, 250-pound endorsement:

"I think it should be pretty obvious by now that he's a great player in his own right," said Oden, who joined Conley and more than a dozen other high-profile players in Orlando this week for interviews and measurements at the league's annual predraft camp. "I'm pretty sure that anyone that watched us in high school and [at Ohio State] recognizes that. I think we both made each other better by being best friends and being so familiar with each other's game on the court and each other's personalities off the court.

"But I think people would be making a huge mistake if they judge him simply based on him playing with me. The truth is he's been the catalyst on every team I've played on, that goes from AAU to Lawrence North and at Ohio State."

Size, age only knocks

Still, at 6-1 and an ounce over 180 pounds, Conley's age and size are seen as the glaring reasons for not using a top-three pick to draft him.

Two bigger point guards — Texas A&M senior Acie Law and Georgia Tech freshman and Atlanta native Javaris Crittenton — also will be available when the Hawks pick at No. 3.

Law, who also was in town for interviews and measurements, praised Conley's game — while also proclaiming himself the draft's best point guard.

"The biggest difference between us is size and experience," said the 6-3 Law, who led his team to the Sweet 16 as a senior. "I'm a bigger guard. He plays a lot faster. But I can play faster. ... He's a great player regardless, and hopefully we get to work out against one another and then we can determine who is the best point guard in this draft."

Conley didn't know his workout schedule Thursday, but expects to work out for the Hawks and the rest of the teams from No. 3 down through the lottery.

Much like his basketball idol, Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, Conley uses all the chatter from the non-believers as motivation.

"There is a lot to my game that people haven't seen," Conley said. "The scouting report on me going into college was that I was strictly a pass-first point guard and not ready to lead a team to a championship level. But I guess that script was flipped.

"I can score. I'm a scoring point guard. I can do whatever it takes to win games. I've never really been asked to score 20 or 30 points a game. But I have the ability to score as many points as my team needs. I can do both."

Conley is well aware of those fears that his size will make him a liability on defense. That's why he's working tirelessly to improve his strength — to go along with a freaky 6-7 wingspan and 39-inch vertical jump.

"I realize there are a lot of big guys in the NBA," said Conley, whom scouts laud for his exceptional speed and court vision as well as his beyond-his-years decision-making skills. "So I'll just have to prepare myself for the rigors, guys trying to back me down in the post. But I have the utmost confidence in myself that I'll be able to adjust and handle whatever comes my way."

Experts say he's ready

Draft expert Chris Monter said that's Conley's hallmark is rising to the challenge, whatever it may be.

Monter watched Conley for years, since he and Oden led their Indianapolis-based AAU team to back-to-back summer titles and three straight Indiana state championships before chasing another title at Ohio State.

"He's fearless and always has been," Monter said of the former McDonald's All-American, who averaged 11.3 points, a team-leading 6.1 assists and 2.2 steals while shooting 52 percent from the floor and 30 percent from beyond the 3-point line during his lone college season. "He has those true point guard skills, whether it's taking the ball to the basket, stepping up to make a big shot and taking the challenge to play lock-down defense on an opposing point guard. And he's a proven leader and winner."

Just potentially being in the lottery this soon has exceeded Conley's wildest expectations. Sure, he expected to be drafted someday. Just not this soon.

"I never thought I'd do this so early," he said. "But it's great to be up here and maybe be in the top five. That's just a great experience in itself. And it would be great to be in Atlanta. For me to come in there, with all that young talent, it would be a great situation because they're only going to get better. So as a point guard, you know you'd be able to help that organization get to the next level."

[WraithSentinel]

If there is a way to come away with one of the many talented bigs in this year draft. I will be all for taking Conely at 3. I don't think anyone who do not want him at 3 are against having him on the team. It just come down to the simple fact we have to make these picks count. Hawks do not have one in next year draft.

[exodus]

Nice article. Now that Terrence Moore and Sekou have come out in favor of Conley that makes it a lock that he won't be the pick.

[Wurider05]

Quote:

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Nice article. Now that Terrence Moore and Sekou have come out in favor of Conley that makes it a lock that he won't be the pick.

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Damn!!!!