Utah Jazz: Mike Conley should settle in after All-Star break

It’s been a rough season for Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley. He recently put together a great four-game stretch, though, and that should continue next week.

As we arrive at the annual NBA All-Star Weekend, teams are beginning to hit their respective strides. The Utah Jazz are currently 36-18 through 54 games, yet have plenty of room to improve. If point guard Mike Conley can rediscover his old form, this team could jump from very good to downright dominant.

It’s been a long season for Conley, who was traded to Utah last June in what was one of the most well-received transactions in franchise history. He was coming off a terrific season with the Memphis Grizzlies, as he averaged 21.1 points (a career-high), 3.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists. Despite carrying two years and $67 million left on his deal, Jazz fans anticipated some steady point guard play and a significant upgrade from Ricky Rubio in the shooting department.

Instead, Conley’s posting some of the worst numbers of his career. He’s been limited to just 32 games (26 starts) because of a troublesome hamstring injury. In those games, his scoring average has dropped to just 13.5 points per game and he’s failed to even reach the 40 percent mark on shot attempts, shooting 39.2 percent from the field.

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In 21 starts before suffering the injury, Conley shot 36.9 percent on field goal attempts. He put together a solid nine-game stretch in Nov. where he scored 17.7 points a night and raised his shooting percentage to 42.4, but it didn’t last long. He then played five more games before missing 19 of Utah’s next 20 contests.

Let’s split Conley’s return from injury into two different stretches to highlight how much he’s improved recently. First, a six-game stat line from Jan. 18 to Jan. 29. Then, a four-game one to begin the month of Feb. All stats are per-game averages.

• First six: 8.8 points, 1.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 44.7 percent overall, 19.0 percent on 3s
• Next four: 20.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 46.8 percent overall, 50 percent on 3s

Conley missed one game in between those 10 contests as a part of Utah’s rest plan for him, as he is prohibited from playing on the tail end of back-to-backs for now. Since that rest day, he’s been a new man. Four games is an extremely small sample size, but any positive trend is a good one here. Conley is regarded as one of the more consistent players in the game, so it’s good for the Jazz to see his production finally improve.

There’s still plenty of time left in the season for Conley to settle in, too. As he maintains his health and the Jazz keep him on a strict workout/preventative maintenance plan, his play should reap the benefits. The original reason Utah went after him was so he could serve as a mentor and copilot for young star Donovan Mitchell. If the two can learn to coexist while playing at a high level before playoff time, this team could be scary.

It’s been a weird season for both the Utah Jazz and Mike Conley. Despite that, the team heads into the break with the Western Conference’s fourth-best record and is just 1.5 games out of second place. As Quin Snyder tweaks his lineups in preparation for a playoff run that comes with high expectations, having a healthy — and effective — Conley will be a huge plus.

We knew it was just a matter of time before Mike Conley found his groove. If he prolongs this recent stretch of play, watch out for the Utah Jazz.