Michael Conley Receives Big Extension. Why?

Michael Heisley to Grizzlies fans on announcing the Conley Extension

News broke yesterday that the Memphis Grizzlies have given starting point guard Mike Conley, Jr. a 5 year, $45 million extension.  Approximately $5 million is tied to bonuses that Conley isn't likely to reach (he has to become an elite PG, and the Grizzlies have to be a 50 win playoff team).

The big question though, is why sign Conley to such a big extension?  Why sign him to an extension at all?  The reason given is that Conley is a mere 23 years of age, and has shown big improvement during the preseason and 3 games.  Have the Grizzlies ignored the fact that over the last three years, Conley simply hasn't been that good?  He hasn't even been average.  This guy's inconsistency is the reason the Grizzlies have gambled on headcases like Jamaal Tinsley and Allen Iverson.  Its why they drafted Greivis Vasquez this summer and also why they had O.J. Mayo experiment at the point guard during Summer League.  Now he has one good week and you give him an extension, and not just any extension, but one that he likely wouldn't have even gotten in the open market after this year.

(More after the jump)


Michael Heisley this summer mentioned that he had never read the CBA during the debacle with arguing over a few hundred thousand dollars on the rookie contracts of Xavier Henry and Vasquez (eventually the team relented and signed the rookies to the full 120% scale contract that they wanted), and its painfully obvious now that he wasn't exaggerating.  Conley was set to become a Restricted Free Agent this year if he hadn't received an extension.  By being a RFA, the Grizzlies would have been able to match any offers by other teams.  Sure you chance a team overpaying for him and not being willing to match him, but this is Mike Conley we're talking about, who hasn't shown the ability to have a good season yet.  Even if he did have a breakout season, the contract offer he just got would probably be the highest he'd be offered, and the Grizzlies could've easily matched it.  The Grizzlies did the same thing this summer with Rudy Gay.  Unlike Conley, Gay is actually pretty good, not an All-Star yet, but still pretty damn good.  The Grizzlies decided against having him be a RFA and threw a max contract at him.  They could've let the market determine his value and simply matched if they were willing to offer the most money, and they would've been able to offer the most money.  There was essentially no pro to waiting and seeing what the value was, as they simply could've matched and retained him anyway.  Now the Grizzlies have over $120 million locked up between Rudy Gay and Mike Conley.

Why is this so bad? Even if Conley breaks out and actually becomes a good point guard, the Grizzlies are now stuck with having to decide who to keep between Marc Gasol, O.J. Mayo and Hasheem Thabeet, not to mention if they feel they want to keep Zach Randolph.  Gasol is perhaps the best player on the team and will be a Restricted Free Agent after this season, with Mayo coming the next year.  Both Mayo and Gasol have been vastly better than Conley in their career to date, with Gasol probably being the Grizzlies best player.  But because of this extension, and the new CBA, which threatens to lower the salary cap, the Grizzlies could lose out on retaining Gasol and possibly even Mayo because of all the money locked up in Gay and Conley.

It's just a baffling, baffling extension and will be even more so if Conley returns to form with his inconsistency after this admittedly good start.  Matt Moore, respected blogger and Grizzlies fan, had this to say on Twitter when news of the extension broke out.  Read from the bottom up, its quite funny, but it epitomizes the absurdity.