SALT LAKE CITY — All signs are pointing to the idea that Utah Jazz starting point guard Mike Conley will return to action Tuesday night against the Orlando Magic at Vivint Arena after a five-game absence because of left hamstring tightness.
The Jazz are generally very guarded about players’ returns from injuries even up until tipoff of their first game back, but Conley was made available to the media on Sunday (injured players aren’t), and coach Quin Snyder and Conley’s teammates talked openly on Sunday and Monday about his reintegration into the lineup.
Conley is officially listed as probable for Tuesday’s contest.
While it would be a complete curveball if Conley were to come off the bench for some reason, his return to the starting lineup is primed to help that second unit, and perhaps significantly so.
How so?
From the start of the season through Dec. 2 when Conley last played, Snyder could stagger his lineups so that some combination of at least one starter (usually Donovan Mitchell) and new sixth man Joe Ingles or two starters were on the floor at all significant times to help a bench unit that was thinned over the summer.
“Mike Conley helps. That kind of goes without saying. His presence can impact the game in a lot of ways. We’ve just got to be more consistent as a group, whether it’s during that stretch with our bench.” — Jazz coach Quin Snyder
The two most-used lineups with at least three nonstarters both had a positive net rating.
Since Conley has been out, however, Ingles has been in the starting lineup, and while he has played much better in that role, the bench unit of Emmanuel Mudiay, Georges Niang, Jeff Green and Ed Davis — playing with Mitchell — has been rather terrible. In 26 minutes, that group (which never played together before Conley’s injury) has a net rating of -22.2.
On various occasions in a couple of the recent games, that group either gave up leads, caused the Jazz to fall behind or allowed a deficit to get even bigger.
Although the Utah bench isn’t exactly strong, having Conley back will give Snyder more depth that will come in handy at various points of upcoming contests (the Jazz will have a three-game Eastern Conference road trip after Tuesday’s home game).
“Mike Conley helps,” Snyder said with a chuckle on Monday. “That kind of goes without saying. His presence can impact the game in a lot of ways. We’ve just got to be more consistent as a group, whether it’s during that stretch with our bench.
“There’s some things that we can control, and we have to really focus to control those things. Obviously a player of Mike’s caliber helps. He’s another guy that has an opportunity to play minutes. Other guys that are playing heavy minutes play a little less. You can play with more focus and urgency if you’re playing less minutes, too.”
A starter for the past few seasons, Ingles had a slow beginning to the campaign in his new role but has found a groove in Conley’s absence. Much of that stems from the success he and Rudy Gobert have had in running pick-and-roll, as Ingles has been credited with assists on 14 Gobert baskets over the last five games (the Aussie has 36 assists total in the stretch).
That chemistry has caused some to wonder if Ingles should be in the starting lineup so his minutes can be more easily aligned with Gobert’s, but Ingles said Monday, “I think it’s pretty obvious I will be, right?” in regard to going back to the bench.
Added Ingles: “I’m much more excited to have (Conley) coming back than anything else, so we’ll figure it out. I’ll figure it out, but just glad to have him back in our group.”
Utah on Monday will face a Magic team that is 12-14 and has been pretty up-and-down so far this season. Orlando is coming off a 130-119 win over the New Orleans Pelicans in which All-Star big man Nikola Vucevic returned from a nearly monthlong injury absence to score 20 points and pull down nine rebounds.