A candid Mike Conley spoke at length with The Athletic exclusively about a year of difficult personal growth, his uncertain future and determination to get the individual acclaim he feels has been too long in coming.



“I say with my wife, I think she’s too nice sometimes. I tell her, ‘You’re so nice to people, you do so much for people, they’re gonna keep asking for stuff, you’re gonna feel overwhelmed.'”



The irony of that statement is not lost on Conley, who quickly adds:



“And she’ll say the same about me.”



Conley is the last one left. And he’s never complained. Marc Gasol, Tony Allen, Zach Randolph, Lionel Hollins, Dave Joerger, everyone else with an on-court connection to Grit and Grind is gone. When the team unceremoniously dumped Hollins, the coach who first believed in him, Conley didn’t make a fuss. When David Fizdale was brought in and then fired after a public feud with...