Memphis Grizzlies: 5 goals for Mike Conley in 2017-18

2. Maintain last year’s offensive efficiency

Conley has always been a good offensive player, but last year he morphed into something of a self-contained offensive ecosystem. He posted career high shooting percentages on 2- and 3-point looks, despite also taking both at career-high volumes. That result was a robust 23.2 Player Efficiency Rating, and a healthy 111.7 points per 100 possessions mark for the Grizzlies with Conley on the court (per Basketball-Reference).

What’s more, he submitted those numbers without sacrificing any of his capacity as a facilitator.  His 6.8 assists per 36 minutes were the second-most of his career, and his 34.5 percent assist percentage was the best he’s ever posted (per Basketball-Reference).

Conley was undeniably the Grizzlies’ most reliable source of offense, and one of the more effective offensive forces in all of basketball. Memphis will have different pieces surrounding him in the upcoming year, so it may be unfair to expect him to have an identical campaign. We’ll focus our goal on what Conley can control: his shooting.

We’ll set the mark at what he did last year: .460/.408/.859 shooting splits on equal or greater volume (per Basketball-Reference).