How playing with the Timberwolves has rejuvenated Mike Conley

When Mike Conley first joined the Timberwolves after the trade deadline in February, he didn't look to score all that much. In his third game with the Wolves, for instance, Conley took just six shots and didn't hit any.

Around that time, he and coach Chris Finch had a talk, and Finch told Conley that the Wolves wanted his role to be different than it had been in Utah. Finch wanted Conley to seek opportunities to score, because they helped keep defenses honest and would open things up for players like Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns.

It was a task Conley was happy to tackle after years of being just a facilitator and spot-up shooter in Utah.

"It just gave me more on my plate," Conley said. "I'm used to having that workload, but you get times where you get caught sitting in corners and you just kinda space out and you kinda just end up not being able to put an imprint on games."

Conley had five points and three assists in the Wolves' 121-112 preseason victory over the Knicks on Saturday in New York, just a few days after he turned 36. The Wolves brought Conley to Minnesota to serve as the connection force between Towns, Rudy Gobert and Edwards, who had 17 points Saturday.

But being that kind of player means more than just setting up the offense or passing to those players. For Conley, the change to Minnesota has meant he can pull out his bag of scoring tricks on a more frequent basis.

Conley attempted 1.1 more shots per game after coming to Minnesota, averaged 3.3 more points (14 compared to 10.7) and his usage rate went up to 16.8% from 16.1%.

"They gave me confidence in a lot of ways," Conley said of the Wolves after the trade. "Honestly, not that I needed it, but that extra little bit to say, 'Hey, Mike, we need you to be this, we need you to be aggressive, we need you to shoot that, we need you to look to break the paint and make plays.' "

How Conley played toward the end of last season had him re-think his summer workouts, and it gave him a new perspective on what his career could be at 36. He wasn't slowly receding into becoming a background factor on the offensive end anymore.

"I honestly thought we were kind of trending toward just corner spot-up shots and just being a spacer," Conley said. "... But to have that revamp me a bit going into summer workouts, I'm not working toward only spot-ups. Like, I'm off-the-dribble, getting in the paint, floaters, making plays."

Conley then joked he did a reverse layup in practice that day that made him look "like Jordan out there."

"Seriously though, it's good to feel that again and that confidence to go out there and be who you are," he said.

The Wolves also will be leaning on Conley to run a more structured offense this season. Specifically, the Wolves will be more structured early in possessions, in transition and late in games. A key component to that is getting in and out of sets quickly without much need for communication between him and Finch.

"It makes it easy, in a lot of ways, because you're having conversations about what's coming up in the game rather than what's happening in the moment a lot of times," Finch said. "Mike has such a good feel for the rhythm that everybody is in also. Making sure guys are getting their touches and all that."

That includes himself. But now that the Wolves have given him the green light to play with the freedom he likes, Conley won't take that for granted.

"It just gave me a little bit more extra motivation to go out there and be myself, get back to what I'm good at," Conley said.