Utah Jazz: Major media outlet drastically underrates Mike Conley

Unlike in the case of Kyle Lowry, the cognitive biases that led CBS Sports to perceive that Ja Morant should be ranked ahead of Mike Conley are obvious. Morant is younger, and his brand of basketball is considerably more exciting as a high flying, flashy passing offensive machine. Furthermore, he is by far the most important player on his squad, whereas Conley is typically regarded as the third banana on the Utah Jazz.

None of which makes Morant better than Conley, which, at this point in his career, he is not.

Conley’s 2020-21 PER (19.2) trumps Morant’s mark of 17.1. His VORP (2.4.) surpasses Morant’s 1.8, but once again, Conley’s most substantial advantage comes in BPM. His 4.4 mark in that metric towers over Morant’s relatively weak -0.2.

Again, Morant’s basic counting stats are a little more impressive than Conley’s, as he averaged 18.4 points and 7.3 assists in the 2020-21 season. However, as previously noted, Morant was the most important player on his team. Accordingly, his 26.6% usage rate was significantly higher than Conley’s 23.1.

Context matters. Morant’s Memphis Grizzlies were a vastly inferior club to Conley’s Utah Jazz last season, so it’s only rational that Morant would have a higher usage, and therefore, higher basic counting stats. It does not follow from that point that he’s a better NBA point guard at this young stage in his career than Conley.

Meanwhile, Conley bested Morant in every advanced metric. Simply put, it does follow from that point that Conley is better than Morant.

Ja Morant is a rising star in the NBA, and the franchise player for Conley’s longtime team. With his athletic gifts and floor vision, it’s very possible (if not likely) that Morant will complete a more decorated NBA career than Conley when it’s all said and done.

As it stands, it is not all said or done, and the numbers tell us that Conley deserves to be ranked ahead of Morant in any objective list.