Plenty of Minnesota Timberwolves fans have grown a bit disillusioned with Mike Conley due to his declining quality of play at this late stage in his career. But one piece of news coming out of the team on Wednesday serves to remind us all of how incredibly valuable he still is: Conley reportedly called a mandatory team dinner in Oklahoma City on Tuesday in an attempt to keep the group together emotionally.
The Star Tribune's Chris Hine reported this news after the Timberwolves' shootaround on Wednesday. "When you have games like we just had, guys can get down, confidence can go up and down," Conley said. "It's the perfect time to bring it all back together."
This move was a wonderful display of self-awareness from the veteran. Conley's on-court performances certainly haven't been nearly as consistent or impressive as they were two years ago, and he's beginning to show a bit more age on the hardwood. But his veteran savvy and know-how still shines through in moments like this.
Calling a team dinner is something that is of course not nearly as visible an act as, say, making a big shot in a close game. But it's an underrated part of bringing leadership to a team and doing what's necessary for them to continue performing to the best of their ability.
Mike Conley continues to bring value to the Wolves
Mike acknowledged that Minnesota had just had a couple of difficult games, and that's an understatement. The Wolves are coming off back-to-back defeats where they held leads late in the final period of play, and couldn't get the job done. It would be easy for some of the younger and less experienced guys to get down on themselves
As a result, getting everybody together for dinner was almost certainly just what the doctor ordered. Get everyone in the room together, break bread, enjoy your time together, loosen up a little, and re-focus to avoid over-thinking about your last couple of games.
Conley has been in this league for a long time. He's been in these situations before, and he's probably seen his team boil over because they avoided spending some time together off the court during a rough stretch. This was the perfect move to make, and it embodied why Minnesota Mike is still an asset to this group.
Mike Conley may not be a guaranteed elevating presence every time he steps on the court anymore, but he still brings an element to this team that can't be measured in a box score. He might be averaging a career-low in points per game this season, but Conley remains an important piece for the Timberwolves.