Utah Jazz: Major media outlet drastically underrates Mike Conley

This isn’t the first time this summer that Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley has been underrated in direct comparison to Kyle Lowry. Both men entered into NBA free agency this season. Both exited with 3-year deals: Conley’s for $72.5 million, Lowry’s for a heftier $90 million.

It’s confusing, because Mike Conley is better by every advanced metric that tracks on-court impact. His PER of 19.2 from last season is considerably higher than Lowry’s 16.5, his VORP of 2.4 exceeds Lowry’s 1.3, and his most pronounced advantage over Lowry comes in BPM, at 4.4 to 1.2.

If basic counting stats are more your speed, Lowry averaged 17.2 points per game and 7.3 assists per game last season to Conley’s 16.2 and 6.0. Obviously, Lowry’s marks are higher here, but it needs to be accounted for that he played 34.8 minutes a contest to Conley’s 29.4. On a per 36 minutes basis, Conley is more impressive again, averaging 19.9 points and 7.3 assists to Lowry’s 17.8 and 7.6.

These are two of the most comparable players in the league, so it’s difficult to ascertain why Lowry typically enjoys status over Conley. They’re similar in age (Conley is one year Lowry’s junior at 33), so rankings like CBS Sports’ can’t be accounting for expected improvement. They’re both relatively unathletic floor generals, each relying more on high basketball IQ, hustle and reliable floor-spacing to produce at All-Star levels.

It’s something of a mystery, but it seems that Lowry is a more highly esteemed player in spite of not being a more productive one. That’s not a knock on the veteran point guard. He’s exceptional, and was an integral part of the Toronto Raptors’ 2018-19 championship run.

He’s simply not better than Utah Jazz point guard Mike Conley, and the numbers back that position up handily.