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Conley's wife says goodbye

Something weird is happening.

(1) In February, Mike gushed about Utah and basically begged to stay;
(2) Playoffs happen and Mike has to sit a lot and we lose.
(3) Mike is very non-committal about a return during media exit interviews and even uses past tense;
(4) Dennis Lindsey is also very non-committal during media exit interviews about bringing Mike back, and even makes a strange comment during exit interviews that “we don’t force guys to play” in reference to Mike’s hamstring injury, to me suggesting that Mike not playing may have been mostly a Mike thing;
(5) team does not do normal management-player exit interviews;
(6) Mike’s wife makes cryptic post about leaving Utah open for interpretation;
(7) rumor on reddit is that Mike did not renew his country club membership.

Maybe Mike is on Don’s **** least? Maybe Mike ticked off the coaching staff or management? Maybe Mike just changed his mind from 5 months ago? Maybe Smith just isn’t willing to risk going deep into the tax? Maybe it’s nothing, but the recent breadcrumbs are hard to square with what he said in February, suggesting SOMETHING happened.
 
Showed it to my wife. She thinks they’re goners. Usually when you go on vacation you say it. She makes it sound like this is it for Utah and then they’re leaving for good.

I think he’s going to go chase a ring. Who can blame him? Our franchise seems pretty dysfunctional right now and with few assets to actually improve the roster.
 
The Thriller said:
Showed it to my wife. She thinks they’re goners. Usually when you go on vacation you say it. She makes it sound like this is it for Utah and then they’re leaving for good.

I think he’s going to go chase a ring. Who can blame him? Our franchise seems pretty dysfunctional right now and with few assets to actually improve the roster.
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What I’m interested in knowing is that if he is leaving, is it because he wants to, or because he’s been told we’re not bringing him back? I mean, I guess it’s possible he’s been told “let us know where you want to go and we’ll figure out a sign and trade.”

Him not wanting to come back is really difficult to square with what he said to Tony Jones in February. Maybe Mike was exaggerating things, or maybe something changed in the meantime. But something isn’t adding up here. There is some variable we don’t have here.
 
Ineptimusprime said:
What I’m interested in knowing is that if he is leaving, is it because he wants to, or because he’s been told we’re not bringing him back? I mean, I guess it’s possible he’s been told “let us know where you want to go and we’ll figure out a sign and trade.”

Him not wanting to come back is really difficult to square with what he said to Tony Jones in February.
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If he's leaving, I think it's because his family would rather live elsewhere. That is not meant as a shot at Utah or Salt Lake, but he even mentioned it in his exit interview - he's never had a chance to be a free agent, and where he ends up playing will be a family decision. I'm not really sure what that means, but I think his family would rather be elsewhere.

The good thing is that most popular places to play are kind of capped out financially. So for in order for him to get paid, we can work out a sign and trade. The Knicks might have interest, but I just don't see them spending top dollar on Conley. Lowry fits the Thibs mold much more than Conley.
 
LoPo said:
If he's leaving, I think it's because his family would rather live elsewhere. That is not meant as a shot at Utah or Salt Lake, but he even mentioned it in his exit interview - he's never had a chance to be a free agent, and where he ends up playing will be a family decision. I'm not really sure what that means, but I think his family would rather be elsewhere.

The good thing is that most popular places to play are kind of capped out financially. So for in order for him to get paid, we can work out a sign and trade. The Knicks might have interest, but I just don't see them spending top dollar on Conley. Lowry fits the Thibs mold much more than Conley.
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Re-listen closely to DL’s exit interview comments about Mike. It seems like something is going on there. There seemed to be some slight edge of frustration that Mike wasn’t playing in the playoffs. Almost like DL was covering for him by saying “we don’t pressure people to play.” Like someone (maybe Don, maybe Quin) was frustrated Conley wasn’t giving it a go in the playoffs.
 
Ineptimusprime said:
Re-listen closely to DL’s exit interview comments about Mike. It seems like something is going on there. There seemed to be some slight edge of frustration that Mike wasn’t playing in the playoffs. Almost like DL was covering for him by saying “we don’t pressure people to play.” Like someone (maybe Don, maybe Quin) was frustrated Conley wasn’t giving it a go in the playoffs.
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I could see that too. Maybe it's all connected.

Maybe DL, Don or whoever knew Mike was probably going to leave this summer anyway because his family would rather be elsewhere. So Mike didn't push himself to play since he knew that free agency was only weeks away and he was going to leave. Didn't want to hurt his next contract.
 
LoPo said:
I could see that too. Maybe it's all connected.

Maybe DL, Don or whoever knew Mike was probably going to leave this summer anyway because his family would rather be elsewhere. So Mike didn't push himself to play since he knew that free agency was only weeks away and he was going to leave. Didn't want to hurt his next contract.
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Go about to the 30:00 timestamp in the last clip on the page with the DL interview. He responds to a question from Sarah Todd and talks about “not pressuring Mike to play” and even uses the line that Mike was treated with “great patience,” “care,” and “kid gloves.”

I was shocked that none of the local media people pointed this out or followed up. It seemed a pretty strange thing to say and suggestive of tension with Mike not playing, or at least that Mike wasn’t playing earlier because Mike didn’t want to play.
 
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The Thriller said:
Showed it to my wife. She thinks they’re goners. Usually when you go on vacation you say it. She makes it sound like this is it for Utah and then they’re leaving for good.

I think he’s going to go chase a ring. Who can blame him? Our franchise seems pretty dysfunctional right now and with few assets to actually improve the roster.
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Wives are smart... don’t get me wrong but wives have been known to take something somewhat innocent and make it mean something else.
 
Ineptimusprime said:

Go about to the 30:00 timestamp in the last clip on the page with the DL interview. He responds to a question from Sarah Todd and talks about “not pressuring Mike to play” and even uses the line that Mike was treated with “great patience,” “care,” and “kid gloves.”

I was shocked that none of the local media people pointed this out or followed up. It seemed a pretty strange thing to say and suggestive of tension with Mike not playing, or at least that Mike wasn’t playing earlier because Mike didn’t want to play.
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Sounds like a George hill situation.
 
Ineptimusprime said:

Go about to the 30:00 timestamp in the last clip on the page with the DL interview. He responds to a question from Sarah Todd and talks about “not pressuring Mike to play” and even uses the line that Mike was treated with “great patience,” “care,” and “kid gloves.”

I was shocked that none of the local media people pointed this out or followed up. It seemed a pretty strange thing to say and suggestive of tension with Mike not playing, or at least that Mike wasn’t playing earlier because Mike didn’t want to play.
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Maybe DL was not wanting to get sued and hadn't realized he was walking the plank.
 
LoPo said:
If he's leaving, I think it's because his family would rather live elsewhere. That is not meant as a shot at Utah or Salt Lake, but he even mentioned it in his exit interview - he's never had a chance to be a free agent, and where he ends up playing will be a family decision. I'm not really sure what that means, but I think his family would rather be elsewhere.

The good thing is that most popular places to play are kind of capped out financially. So for in order for him to get paid, we can work out a sign and trade. The Knicks might have interest, but I just don't see them spending top dollar on Conley. Lowry fits the Thibs mold much more than Conley.
Click to expand...
It's those damn Mormons isn't it? I knew it!
 
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