Q&A: Evolution of Mike Conley Jr.

— -- He's turned into  Kobe Bryant. At least that's what I tell him as he keeps getting stopped coming off the court before a game on the road. Fans are pylons and roadblocks. Selfies and autographs. Autographs and selfies. Handshakes and hugs. "Kobe," I say. "Stop that," he says to me.

To say anyone saw Mike Conley Jr. coming would be a lie. At best, he's been viewed as constant, serviceable and dependent. All-Star? Championship-caliber point guard? A player to build four other players around? Never that.

But here he is, eight years deep into a career that was supposed to end some six years ago, supposed to be replaced in the Memphis Grizzlies lineup with the next great point guard. Funny how he quietly and subliminally became that.

Scoop Jackson: Are you used to getting the love that you got out there? On the road are you getting stopped and sweated for phone pics and autographs? Has that become normal?

Mike Conley Jr.: It's different. I guess you can say it's kind of become normal, but I love it. I embrace it. I enjoy the fans recognizing me. It's starting to happen a lot, especially since we are winning a little bit more. A little more TV time, a little more notoriety, stuff like that, it really helps.

Jackson: Have you come to the conclusion yet that you are a better basketball player than your father, who was an Olympian (gold- and silver-medal triple jumper, Michael Conley Sr.)?

Conley Jr.: Naw! If I get a gold medal, if I get on the U.S. team or if I get a (championship) ring or something like that, then maybe we can talk comparisons. But until then, he got me.

Jackson: I keep hearing there is no real "face of the franchise" with the Grizzlies, that it's really just split between you,  Marc (Gasol), Zach (Randolph). But is there an extra level of pressure on you from a non-basketball standpoint?

Conley Jr.: Not so much. It's just responsibility more than anything, not pressure. I treat it like it's my baby. You know, treat it that way and come out here, come to work every day and try to do things on the court as well as off the court. Being a leader. Just trying to be that guy for this franchise and do those types of things.

Jackson: Has this evolution of Mike Conley Jr. been strictly about being given an opportunity, or is it something deeper?

Conley Jr.: Man, it's, um, a little bit of both. I've been given plenty of opportunities and been blessed to have the kind of family that I have to give me the mindset to never stop working. There were times in my career where I could have easily been traded, easily been given up on, and I think me making strides, me making a commitment to myself to come in and get better showed people what I could do each year. From there, people started to believe in me, and the organization believed in me, and once that happened, it was on me to take this thing on.

Jackson: What's stopped you in those times from going in the other direction? You know what I'm saying? From not necessarily giving up on yourself, but from losing faith?

Conley Jr.: Man, um, man, it's really, I think its always (me) having faith. I never got shook. I always had faith that I'd be a good player. I always had faith that I'd be something in this league. I just knew that regardless of what people were saying about me and what's going on when I was signing contracts and different things like that. Just using everything for motivation and try to use it to my advantage.

Jackson: Did time have a lot to do with it? I'm saying, a lot of players keep saying, "All I need is time, time, time. Just give me time to develop." Were you battling with that, too?

Conley Jr.: I was battling with time. You know, when I came into the league I was battling with being a buck-seventy (170 pounds) and I hadn't grown or matured, I hadn't gotten stronger and a bunch of areas in my game I needed to get better at and people were quick to judge -- especially in the NBA, where it is a "What can you do for me now?" league. They want to see their dividends paid off right away. For me, though, it was like I had to take time. I took a different course. It's not something many players take nowadays.

Jackson: Not many players get that time!

Conley Jr.: Right, right. Not many players get six years, or four or five years, with one team. I've been here, what, eight years? Same team. That doesn't happen very often, so I've been lucky and blessed to have this opportunity.

Jackson: Everyone -- and I mean everyone -- always says that once the playoffs start it really becomes a game of matchups -- almost to the point that that's all that matters. You've been through it, but you being in the West and knowing that in every series your matchup is going to more than likely be the most difficult one that anyone on the team is going to have, how do you differentiate between personally dealing with your matchup and the responsibility of running the entire team?

Conley Jr.: Yeah, it's tough out here in the West. The matchups are going to be crazy every series. You got the  (Russell) Westbrooks, the Tony Parkers, the (James) Hardens, I just have guys I have to matchup to. But at the end of the day, us as a team and me as a player, we have to go out there and think about what we are going to do. Not so much of what the other team is going to do to us but how we are going to implement what we do as a team on them.

Jackson: In a seven-game series, does that change, though? Does it ever become you saying, "I have to win my matchup against this dude?"

Conley Jr.: Yeah. And it's crazy because in one series I could be worried about the defensive end and stopping this guy from getting 30. You know, "if I can hold him to 18 ..." Telling myself, "This is where I want him to be." And then the next series could be like, "I gotta score 30."

Jackson: Full disclosure: I was really against and went public with my feelings about the organization trading  Rudy (Gay) and firing Lionel (Hollins). I didn't see where you all were going. It didn't make sense to me the direction the organization was taking. But at this point, I have to say you all have proven me wrong. I don't know where you stood on this, but how did -- and have -- you stay grounded in knowing that everything was going to be cool and that the bottom wasn't going to fall out?

Conley Jr.: Well, to be honest, it was tough, first off. It was tough to see Lionel go. He was like a second father figure almost for me. But at the same time, when it was done, it was done. We couldn't take it back; (his firing) happened. (Dave) Joerger is our coach, and the only way for us to continue to get better is to jump over to Joerger's ship and say, "Hey, we're with you. We're behind you 100 percent" and try not to forget about Lionel, never forget about him, but use what he taught us and apply it to what Joerger is teaching us going forward and keep this thing moving.

Jackson: You came in the league without Lionel and you're probably going to leave without him.

Conley Jr.: I still gotta do my job.

Jackson: I already know that this is different than previous years. I mean, there are now expectations with you all that weren't there before. There's serious expectations (especially since adding Jeff Green in a January trade) in some circles for you all to win it all. I want to know, have those expectations changed everything around you all? Has that at all changed your or the team's approach?

Conley Jr.: Our expectations are a lot higher, but I think the way we approach each game hasn't changed. We're a one-game-at-a-time type of team. We understand that we aren't going to go out there and blow anybody out, so we always have to be locked into each possession.

Jackson: Still that grind.

Conley Jr.: Yeah. And know that each possession means something. I think that's what's going to help us in the playoffs, for that very reason. But our approach has to be the same. It can't change.