http://warriors.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/69889/20101102/agent_grizzlies_conley_sign_extension/



The Grizzlies signed Mike Conley Jr. to a contract extension late Monday night, according to the guard's agent.

Conley is represented by his father, Mike Conley Sr., and Bill Duffy.

The contract is worth $45 million over five seasons, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

Conley's strong play in the preseason and early in the regular season is believed to have sparked the team's decision to lock him up over the long-term.
----------------------------------



lol he went from being known as Greg Oden's sidekick throughout high school, and people saying the only reason he got a scholly was bc of G.O.

dude puts together a hell of a tourny run..gets taken top 5..has a couple mediocre seasons..and now is getting gwap while the guy whose coattails he was supposedly riding is still looking for an extension


funny how life works...



_______________________________
Heltah Skeltah - Nocturnal
The Pharcyde - LabCabinCalifornia

way out of ultra bust territory
but i see this being a deal the griz regret like shit in the future

____________________

Taking the piss

Is he really worth 9 mil a yr?

6-7 and 3 yrs with the 3rd yr optional and I'd be like ok, smart move, they gonna give him a chance to develop and he ain't denting the cap (especially with the cba uncertainty) and they could drop him if he didn't improve after 2 seasons.

NOW, they are stuck with him and jumped the gun after a pre-season and a handful of reg season games.

Really?

I ain't mad at Mike for getting his dough (go 'head bro and your agent earned every red cent) but THIS type of contract is why we might not have a season next year.

We're not going to see this anymore. Well, at least not on this scale.

>I ain't mad at Mike for getting his dough (go 'head bro and
>your agent earned every red cent) but THIS type of contract is
>why we might not have a season next year.

btw, i never heard anyone say that dumb ass shit.

>btw, i never heard anyone say that dumb ass shit.

oh, they were talkin plenty during the recruitment of the Thad 5




_______________________________
Heltah Skeltah - Nocturnal
The Pharcyde - LabCabinCalifornia

wit Oden his entire career
not sure how that can be denied or viewed as "hate"
does he make it to the nba without Oden?
iono maybe as a 2nd rounder or something
but wouldn't have been the 4th overall pick
and his nba career has supported those arguments
that much can't really be argued

Conley's strong play in the preseason

How did Conley go from "no extension" to $45 million?

So much for the idea that OJ Mayo would eventually run the point.

Over $100 million for Conley and Rudy means they are stuck in that 8-10 spot in the west for the foreseeable future.

>Over $100 million for Conley and Rudy means they are stuck in
>that 8-10 spot in the west for the foreseeable future.

gay has no upside and you're paying him for a bit. they have no upside at pf. they have some upside at pg and c....but they absolutely have to pay gasol next year.

what's mayo gonna do to get better and justify locking up all that money into a borderline playoff team?

it would be awesome if they were stuck with conley/mayo/gay forever and didn't make any commitments to the post.

All-Stah keeps sending letters suggesting they sign Mayo to a lifetime contract worth the max plus a $100 million bonus for being the 8th seed. Press conference scheduled for next week.

Seems kinda high but just look at the bloated point guard salaries around the league. If he continues his development and sticks as a legit starter, $9M is not off the mark. Look at what a lot of these guys make like Mo "I WAS ON THE ALL-STAR TEAM ONCE!" Williams, T.J. "Five days since my last injury ... make that One day since my last injury" Ford, et al.

stupid-ass Grizzlies.

Good for him though.

nm

Knuck if you Buck motherfuckers.

he'll snap out of it.

but he's still making tony parker look stupid and playing good D

Is Mardy Collins working at the Upper Darby Wendy's or Burger King?
_______________________________
Prodigy - The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson EP
DJ Quik - The Book Of David

ॐ शांति

" bring in the meat wagon, bragging MCs packed in with their feet dragon." (c) DOOM

It's genius...he's setting up a divisional rival for future mediocrity.

Step one: let Memph get it's first playoff wins
Step two: watch as overjoyed management gives out fat (thx 4 savin my job) contracts for it's main players
Step three: enjoy knowing that with these payouts Memph has hit it's ceiling for the next 3-4 years and can't sign any big free agents (CBA's a comin)
Step four: drink wine in in rich leather chair in dimly lit study by the fireplace and chuckle at these pawns.
Step five: make Bonner run laps

a yr anything is possible. But when Owners bitch they're going broke, they can look at contracts like this one, Calderon's, Outlaw's and such.

>a yr anything is possible. But when Owners bitch they're
>going broke, they can look at contracts like this one,
>Calderon's, Outlaw's and such.


^^^^^^^^^^

_______________________________

Capone N Noreaga - War Report
Jay Dilla - Ruff Draft
Pharcyde - LabCabinCalifornia

Team playing well? Nah, they lost three straight, 3-6 on the year.
Great individual game? Last one was 15/10/3 on 46% shooting. Not bad, though the guy he was guarding went for 30 & 1. Season numbers are solidly lower than that (12/7 or so)
Sarcasm/Clowning? Doubtful coming from a dyed-in-the-wool Buckeye.
Touting a fairly averaging starting PG got paid? Not sure I'm seeing the point in a world where Thad Young getting 5/$42M barely raises an eyebrow one way or the other.

I don't get it(c)ceej

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&p1=conlemi01&y1=2013&p2=hinriki01&y2=2006

^^^Same age

Bulls gave kirk about 9.5 per over 5 yrs based on them numbers.

We both said he was overpaid. But Conley isn't?

Ok.

There's better players out there but it's hard to think who'd be a better fit for this Memphis team. A defensive demon, he gets it inside to their big men, good enough outside shooter, just a real nice player.

after maybe jrue and steph, he might be the best value for a second contract point guard. always liked his speed and defense. i still think he has a lot of room to improve at the offensive end but he can manage games effectively.

.

I know youre not a Lin Hater but i was surprised how similar their numbers are


http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=0&p1=conlemi01&y1=2013&p2=linje01&y2=2013

jk

"similar" numbers aside (lol) no GM would take Lin and his revolving door defense over Mike Conley Jr.


(edit I do like Lin tho, always good to see Asian Americans cross new barriers)

he on one right now

all you naysayers are taking L's

-------------------------
�The other dude after me didn�t help my case. It was just like�crazy nigga factory going on.�
Dre makes no apologies for his own eccentricities. �I was young, and searching, trying to find myself,� he says. �Never did.�-- Andre B

all you "PG Warz" numb skulls....take notice, & pay homage.

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/58105/conley-a-difference-maker-on-both-ends


When the Memphis Grizzlies traded Rudy Gay to the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 30, they traded away their No. 1 option in late-game situations.

Enter Mike Conley Jr.

Conley, who had arguably the best game of his career in Memphis� Game 2 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder in which he finished with 26 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists, has capably filled Memphis� clutch-time void.

It was Conley with a team-high six points (and five rebounds) when the game was within five points in the final five minutes of the Grizzlies� win Tuesday.

Because it's been gradual, Conley�s emergence as a go-to guy doesn�t immediately jump out. But his splits over the course of the season demonstrate his progress.

Conley has led the Grizzlies in scoring (16.4), assists (6.4), 3-pointers (52), and free throw makes (128) and attempts (154) since the Rudy Gay trade. He averaged 13 points and 5.8 assists before the deal.

And in situations within five points in the final five minutes, Conley has led the team in scoring (49) since Gay was dealt.

Those 49 points ranked 11th in the league since Jan. 31, just behind Dirk Nowitzki and ahead of Russell Westbrook �- probably not company one might have expected Conley to be among just a season or two ago.

Conley's development as a one-on-one player might have helped facilitate his role as a late-game scorer.

Conley led the league in points per isolation (among those with at least 100 isolation plays). That�s not a misprint �- Conley finished ahead of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Tony Parker this season.

He scored at least a point on 51 percent of such plays this season, a major jump from the 26 percent scoring rate he posted a season ago.

But Conley�s offensive prowess still takes a backseat to the strongest part of his game: his defense.

In the regular season, the ball-hawking guard ranked first among guards in defensive win shares, a metric devised by basketball-reference.com to estimate the wins contributed by a player based on his defensive merits.

And a look at Memphis� splits based on Conley on and off the court, in the chart on the right, helps illustrate just how important he has been to the Grizzlies this postseason, particularly on the defensive side of the ball.


From an offensive standpoint, the team has seen dips in assists and in the percentage of points scored in the paint with Conley off the floor.

But on the defensive side, Conley�s presence has been the difference between a solid defensive team (98.1 defensive efficiency with Conley on court) and a sieve (120.8 defensive efficiency with Conley off court).

Conley�s rise has certainly helped carry Memphis this far, but it�s his sustained success Memphis needs if it wants to advance.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9272912/the-evolution-mike-conley-jr-memphis-grizzlies-point-guard

exerpt:

Grizzly Man
How Mike Conley Jr., Memphis's ambidextrous point guard, has grown up and led his team deep into the playoffs
By Zach Lowe on May 14, 2013
PRINT
Here's a fun exercise: Pick any NBA player and try to picture his go-to move on offense. For LeBron James, you'll likely think of him negotiating a pick-and-roll up high, probably going to his left, scanning the defense for a driving lane or a clear pass to a spot-up shooter in the corner. For Tim Duncan, it'll be a pet post-up move from the left block. Tyson Chandler is almost tearing off the rim while finishing a lob dunk, and Matt Bonner is shot-putting a 3-pointer from the top of the arc.

Now try it for Mike Conley, point guard of the Memphis Grizzlies, the team that just might be the favorite in the Western Conference after taking a 3-1 series lead with an OT win Monday night over the Thunder. This exercise is easy for most point guards, because they dominate the ball and get to imprint their stylistic flair into our brains. But it's tough for Conley, isn't it? If you're a regular Grizz watcher, you'll eventually land on his righty floater in the lane. But how did he get into the lane? And how does he score the rest of his 15 points per game (up to about 17.5 in the playoffs)? What are his trademark passes?

Conley sort of defies this exercise, even for those of us who spend unhealthy amounts of time watching NBA basketball. And that's fitting. Conley's game on both ends is one of refined subtlety, and it can take a long time in the NBA for that sort of player to find the right rhythms. That has been doubly so for Conley, who entered the league a "frail" 19-year-old, says his coach, Lionel Hollins. Conley spends the bulk of his time on the floor with two slow-moving behemoths who control the Grizzlies' pace, own the real estate south of the foul line, and prop up one of the league's last true inside-out offenses. Conley doesn't have spectacular pick-and-roll lob partners, a 3-point shooting power forward to open up space down low, or even all that much time when he's clearly the controlling figure in Memphis's offense. So how good, really, is Mike Conley?

I was right in that they paid him too soon but in the NBA, that's how it works.

But yeah, he's worked his ass off and gotten better.

Good for Mike. He is ballin' and might go to the finals this yr (although it's mostly thanks to Westbrooks knee lol)

i have no idea why people just state other PGs are so much better than him as FACT. i don't know that for sure.

his funeral.

http://i.imgur.com/wuNyczp.jpg

that boy BAWLIN right now..and IN CONTROL!!

he can actually score, distribute rebound AND play defense unlike some of the guys you clowns go back and forth over


just thought id remind youse.

That's all

As usual, Conley is shining -- even if few others notice it

Low-key point guard Mike Conley has been just the kind of leader the contending Memphis Grizzlies need.

POSTED: Jan 19, 2015 1:32 AM ET
BY IAN THOMSEN

http://www.nba.com/2015/news/features/ian_thomsen/01/18/mike-conley-leader-of-memphis-grizzlies-visits-national-civil-rights-museum/index.html?adbid=557258751267188736&adbpl=tw&adbpr=19923144&cid=NBAsocial_20150119_39011277



MEMPHIS - He arrived without entourage, and no heads turned to greet him as he walked in.

The world, as Mike Conley Jr. has learned, was not about to come to a stop and bow before him, in recognition of his talent for basketball. And in Conley's opinion, the world was acquitting itself rightly.

"Welcome to the National Civil Rights Museum," said a woman who had appeared from one of the back offices to meet Conley near the entrance. She handed out his ticket and then, with welled-up sincerity, she looked at him and said, "Thank you for coming."

"Oh," said Conley, taken aback. "I'm very happy to be here, thank you."

Conley has his followers, and his believers, but they are in the minority. He has never been an All-Star, and in the recent fan balloting he was not ranked among the top 10 guards in the West, even though he has been key in his Memphis Grizzlies being among the conference's best all season.

All my life I've been ranked lower than I thought I should be. And I don't care anymore.
- Memphis Grizzlies guard Mike Conley
Conley, their point guard, leads the Grizzlies with 6.1 assists per game and is second in scoring (17.9 points per game), which compares favorably with the production of Tony Parker last season (14.9 ppg, 4.7 apg) when he was guiding the Spurs to the championship. Conley's 43.3 percent 3-point shooting has created additional space inside for center Marc Gasol and power forward Zach Randolph, even as Conley has been pushing the tempo over the last two seasons to create easier baskets for everybody.

He is having a career year, and his Grizzlies -- in the absence of a dominant team-to-beat this wide-open NBA season -- are positioning themselves for a run into June. And yet the ultimate question continues to hover in the silence of his continuing improvement.

Does he have what his teammates need to lead them to the championship?

"All my life I've been ranked lower than I thought I should be," Conley would say quietly as he walked slowly past the enlarged black-and-white photographs that detail the achievements of Dr. Martin Luther King. "And I don't care anymore."

In print his words may sound bitter and resentful, but on this day, in his company, their meaning was entirely different. Conley was smiling as if liberated. He sounded grateful.

Conley grows up with the Grizzlies
"It all doesn't seem real," Conley was saying as he began his tour through the museum and its exhibitions of slavery, Jim Crow and Dr. King's struggle for civil rights. "Because you think of the world as it is today, and it's like that never happened."

He is a 27-year-old dressed in blue sweatpants, a white zip top and a baseball cap spun around backwards. He expressed gratitude to Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and other NBA players of the 1950s and '60s who had not been welcome at certain hotels in many cities.

"For us, we play basketball, and we go home," he said. "For them, it was like, OK, we played the game; now are we going to get home? Are we going to be safe to go home?"

Conley moved on to be faced by a kind of seating chart of a ship that had carried the slaves against their will, in chains and diseased squalor, from Africa to America. This room marked the beginning of his tour of the museum, which had been built onto the back of the old Lorraine Motel.

The tour would end at room 306 in the motel. He was going to spend this day trying to make sense of what he was seeing and feeling.

"I've sat next to Marc on every plane ride since he's been here," said Conley of Marc Gasol, who joined the Grizzlies in 2008 after Conley's rookie season. "One year on Martin Luther King Day we had a travel day after the game, and he was saying, 'So there really was racism, with people hating each other like that?' He says, 'We never had anything like that in Spain.' You learn a lot about people, about their culture, and what their beliefs are."

For us, we play basketball, and we go home. For them, it was like, OK, we played the game; now are we going to get home? Are we going to be safe to go home?
- Mike Conley
Conley, born in Arkansas, found himself reviewing his own life and country from the distance of Gasol's perspective. He and Gasol hit it off instantly as neither was the prototype of a future star. They were both humble, which in the NBA can be viewed as weakness, and both were focused on the needs of their team.

Those early years were especially difficult for Conley, at that time a scrawny 6-foot-1 point guard who was underperforming as the No. 4 pick of the 2007 Draft. When Gasol heard that the Grizzlies were on the verge of trading Conley to the Milwaukee Bucks, he reached out to Ron Tillery, who covered the team for the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

"I had no idea what I was doing," recalled Gasol. "I said, 'Write this down: We cannot trade Mike Conley. He is the one guy who actually cares about the team, that actually is trying to play the right way.' Well, supposedly a rookie is not supposed to do that. So I got a call from the owner, I got a call from everybody. And rightfully so. Rightfully so.

"But I felt like I had to protect the one guy who I felt actually cared about winning and losing -- because a lot of people say, 'I want to win.' But are you going to do the right things it takes to win? Do you want to win on your own terms, or do you want to win on the team's terms?"

"There were times we came close to trading Mike, because his development was so slow, and thank goodness we didn't," said Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace. "He never ever deviated from who he is. He's someone who is very good with the fans. He's very respectful and courteous, has a smile on his face, and if he does get down you don't see it. There was never any petulance or moodiness when he was young and this wasn't working."

The rise of the Grizzlies -- from 24 wins in 2008-09, to 46 in 2010-11, to 56 (and a West finals berth) in 2012-13 -- has run parallel to Conley's own improvement. As he thought back to the beginnings of his NBA career, he spoke quietly, as if in church; the tragic photographs and traumatic newspaper headlines, the exhibits of the sit-ins and young Rosa Parks and a firebombed bus that had been filled with voting-rights activists were combining with the rising cadence of Dr. King's voice to frame Conley's recollections of his own life, thereby deepening the meaning of his experiences.

"There wasn't a second when he didn't say my name or yell at me for something," said Conley of former coach Lionel Hollins, himself a former point guard who took over as coach 44 games into Memphis' 2008-09 season. "I could be in a game dribbling the ball right in front of him and he would be yelling at me to do something, and I could have the defender on top of me and I'm looking over at him -- and I'm spooked."

There was a feeling in those days, which lingers even now, that Conley was too accommodating, too sensitive and nice. It began at middle school in Indianapolis, where his teammate was Greg Oden, the domineering center who became the bigger star as they moved onto high school and then Ohio State together. But a different truth has emerged since then. Conley's kind personality and the loyalty he showed to his berating coach have proved to be expressions of the best kind of strength. For he did not surrender, as a weaker man might have done. He did not betray himself.

"To have gone through that, and understand that he wanted to help mold me to where I can take the criticism; it's almost like he broke me down to where I could build myself up stronger and stronger and stronger each year," said Conley. He was alert to the surroundings of the museum, which placed him in the company of fallen leaders whose sacrifices and achievements far exceeded his own.

"I would go home and tell myself the day he stops yelling at me is the day he stops caring. So every time I heard him say my name, I would be like, OK, he still believes I can be good; he still believes I can be better. And that was the way I looked at it."

A quiet (yet driven) competitor
"To be a good leader, you have to be a good listener as well," Grizzlies guard Tony Allen had been saying the previous day of Conley. "So he listens to what we've got to say, if we're complaining, or if we think they should go a different way; and he always brings us back, that we've all got to be on the same page to move forward. He needs to continue that. But I think I want him to be a little nastier, though. I need him to be a little more nastier, put a little more of a mean streak in him."

"He says there's another level I need to reach," said Conley, who went into his Tony Allen rasp: "He wants me being nasty, to put on a different Mike." He laughed. "He wants me to be in his space, grab his jersey, pound him in his chest, 'Snap out of it!' and all that stuff. I can try, but that's just not me for the most part. I'll slap him against the back of his head once in a while, because that is the only way to get his attention sometimes: You'll be talking to him and he's looking right past you, so you just got to hit him upside the head. Then he's listening to you again."

"Yeah," conceded Allen with a shrug, "he'll hit me upside my head." He was grinning as he clapped his hands. "'Snap out of it! Go onto the next play, we've got to make a run!' He'll tell me things like that, just keeping me engaged, and I think that's big. That's big."

This is where style is confused with substance. Just because Conley refuses to make a show of competing should not imply that he is lacking as a competitor. The opposite has always been true, even in high school and college, when he was consistently hearing that his own reputation was being propped up by his close friend, Oden.

He listens to what we've got to say, if we're complaining, or if we think they should go a different way; and he always brings us back, that we've all got to be on the same page to move forward.
- Memphis Grizzlies guard Tony Allen
"I never did believe it, though," Conley said. "It was one of those things where if you went to one of our practices or open gyms in high school, I would dominate. We are the fiercest competitors, and we would always play against each other, and argue and do all that stuff because we want to win.

"It would be the first team to win three; he'd win two games and then I'd win three in a row; and it would be vice versa the next day. And we were really unselfish, so it didn't matter if Greg was the guy or I was the guy or the next guy was the guy. We just wanted to win."

By their freshman season at Ohio State, which ended with a 84-75 loss to No. 1-seeded Florida in the NCAA championship game, Oden was being lauded as a potential heir to Bill Russell. But Conley knew that he was more than a sidekick. He recognized in himself the same qualities that were ascribed to Oden.

And so, as a teenager, he made the remarkable decision to shut himself off from the internet. "Because I didn't want to get caught up in the rankings," Conley said. "Then my dad pulled me aside and said, 'You know you could possibly go lottery in the NBA this year.' I said, 'Stop lying! Stop it.' I didn't believe him."

"Me and Mike had our first conversation about the Draft in between the Final Four and the championship game," said Conley's father, Mike Sr., who was about to become his agent. "The conversation went something like this: 'Dad, my cousin's telling me he's hearing that I could be a lottery pick. What is he talking about?' I said, 'We'll talk about it after the game.' "

Athletics a small part of Conley family legacy
"Well," Conley was saying, "most of my family is from Arkansas on my Mom's side, and my Dad's family is from up north in Chicago." But that was as far back as he could trace his own family tree, even as he walked these corridors toward room 306. "I think the more I ask about it, and the more I get older and mature, it will be something we'll probably all talk about down the line."


The truth is that he descends from one of the great American families. The Conley line was launched in the early 1800s, by way of three unions between white slaveholders and black slaves in Georgia and Alabama. Conleys became prominent in the development of the Free Black Elite leading up to the Civil War, and of the Talented Tenth of African-American leaders at the turn of the century.

All phases of American life would be advanced by the forebears of Mike Conley Jr. Houston Conley helped launch the desegregation of public schools in America. Sgt. Paschal Conley served in Cuba with Teddy Roosevelt; Booker Conley, Coleman Conley and James Conley III were Tuskegee Airmen. Maurice Cheeks, the NBA-champion point guard and former NBA coach, is a Conley descendant.

"I didn't know that until recently about Maurice -- even though I've known him, we're both from Chicago," said Mike Conley Sr. "We have something called the Conley Family Reunion, where everybody with the last name of Conley gets together and figures out how we're related. I've been to it twice. Thousands of people come every year."

Mike Conley Sr. grew up to become an Olympic and world champion in the triple jump in the early 1990s and is in the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame. His little brother, Steve Conley, was a linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts. The natural assumption is that they and their lineage would have created a standard of expectations and pressures for Mike Conley Jr. to overcome.

On the contrary: He was oblivious.

If you asked me to this day, after that national championship game, I would have told you 100 percent that I was coming back to school because I never thought I was going to make it to the league.
- Mike Conley
"I wasn't worried about making it to the NBA," Conley said. "It was about the next day, the next game. I was worried about 11th grade, about college. Am I going to be good enough? And when I got to college, man, I've got to get ready for the next week, playing against a Big Ten team and they've got three All-Americans or whatever it is.

"If you asked me to this day, after that national championship game, I would have told you 100 percent that I was coming back to school because I never thought I was going to make it to the league."

The reason he believed in himself without getting ahead of himself had everything to do with his parents. From his father, he received the genes of athleticism as well as daily unglamorous lessons of living in the moment, training meticulously and investing in self-discipline. "And then he's always been big on treating people right, and understanding how you have to talk to different people in different ways and learn people," Conley said. "That's what I wanted to be -- mild -- mannered, to blend in with any group of people, be real approachable."

From his namesake father came the how-to, and from his mother, Rene Conley, came the belief. She raised him to be religious. The teachings of his father put him in this position, and the teachings of his mother have seen him through.

"I've always been a leader," Conley was saying. "I've not always been the vocal one, though, I think that's become new to me as the years have gone on. I just know when I'm tired, I can't act tired. If I'm sick or mad or upset we're in a slump, that doesn't mean I stop talking and stop getting in people's faces. I have to do it. And that's been the thing that I've noticed a lot that I've adjusted to, is being able to go out there and have a bad game, just plain terrible, and still engage with everybody.

"When I go home at night, did I do what I was supposed to do today? Whether it was on the basketball court, or going to the hospital to visit somebody that was supposed to go visit. Go meet a kid. Show up at an appearance or whatever it is. Those are things sometimes where you don't feel like doing it, I'm sore, I'm tired, I feel sick. But once you get done doing it, you're like, oh, that was worth it, every second.

"My faith is my foundation," he said. "At the lowest points in your career, your life or whatever, it's to believe and have faith in something higher. To understand that it's not about you. It is not just about you. It is not about that. It's something bigger."

The children of other distinguished American families are often raised on the mythology of their background -- to believe that they are of special stock, as if entitled by blood. Rene and Mike Conley Sr. practiced none of that. Their approach was fundamentally American. Mike Conley Jr. was encouraged to reach toward tomorrow, and to tap into something bigger than himself.

"I'll give you a good one, and Mike doesn't know about it," Mike Conley Sr. was saying by phone the other day. "Mike was in the Civil Rights Museum, right? Well, I was actually christened by Dr. King. He came to Chicago, to the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and my Mom brought me to be christened by him."

The year was 1962. The end of the tour was six short years away.

Dr. King's story affects Conley
A tour guide named William Young approached Conley with a story about Dr. King's final visits to Memphis. Dr. King had been drawn to Memphis by the grievances of the city's African-American sanitation workers. "Dr. Martin Luther King came to Memphis to speak on their behalf," said Young, a young man in a coat and tie with glasses and an authoritative command of the material. "He said, the person who handles our garbage is just as significant as a physician, for if he does not do his job then diseases will run rampant. So Dr. King was showing support for the common brotherhood of man."

William Young led Conley around the corner. They were moving on to Dr. King's final visit.

"It was at the Mason Temple Church of God in Christ Headquarters here in Memphis that he would give his last speech," Young said. "Which is the mountaintop speech. Many people believe that he was forseeing his death, that he prophesied his own death."

"Where was that church at?" asked Conley quietly.

"It's six or seven minutes from here," Young said. "It is still standing today."

Conley nodded. He was going to visit that church.

"If you will step forward with me," Young said, "I can show you where Dr. King spent his last hours."

Dr. King's voice escorted Conley along ...

And so I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!


A look at the exterior of the Lorraine Hotel.
To Conley's right was room 306 on the second floor of the two-story Lorraine Motel. It was a room of two small beds. It was nothing like the rooms of the Ritz-Carlton or the Four Seasons where NBA players stay. The mattresses were narrow and thin and uncomfortable. The bedspreads were beige. There was a cheap lamp and a black rotary phone on the wall-mounted table that served both beds. Gospel music was filling the corridor.

"At around 5:45 p.m., Dr. King was on the balcony," said Young, gesturing through the window outside room 306. "He was talking to Jesse Jackson and the musician Ben Branch. He was talking about this particular song that is playing now, Precious Lord, Take My Hand. He wanted the song to be played at the rally that they were going to be having later on for the sanitation workers. However, at 6:01 p.m. ..."

Young clapped his hands together.

"... the shot rang out hitting Dr. King in the neck. Dr. King was taken to St. Joseph's Hospital, which is now on the campus of St. Jude Hospital, and was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m.. He was 39 years old at the time of his death and left behind his wife, Coretta Scott King, and four small children. Dr. King would be arrested 30 times for his civil rights activism."

'I can be much better'
Forty-six years and 290 days after his death, on the national holiday that commemorates his birth, the Dallas Mavericks will play a late-afteroon game against the Grizzlies.

In the lush NBA arena on Martin Luther King Junior Avenue, a half-mile from this museum that has swallowed up and transformed the old Lorraine Motel, most of the players will be African-American. They will be wealthy beyond the imagination of anyone from the late 1960s. They will be surrounded by nearly 18,000 people who have paid large sums to see them play. They will be booed for the color of their uniform, and not for their skin.

"For those people that went through it," said Conley, looking back on what he had seen, "I find them to be some of the strongest people: To be able to live in today's world, and to be the people they are -- and to not hate, to not be racist, after all that. After everything. It is unbelievable."

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life.

So said Dr. King on his final night in Memphis, in a church that will be visited.

Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now; I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land!

"You get a tremendous amount of respect for those before," Conley decided, finally. "It makes you want to be a better person when you leave. You can think you're good; and then you walk out of here and say, 'I can be much better.' "

And Mike Conley Jr. said it again, his own voice rising.

"I can be much better."

Ian Thomsen has covered the NBA since 2000. You can e-mail him here or follow him on Twitter.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.

I thought they paid him accurately on potential at the time but he's actually even better. We saw how key he was last year in the OKC series. I hope those two teams meet again and Memphis gets revenge, in fact I am flat out pulling for the Grizz this year. Always liked Conley and I love Gasol.

we've played some combo of Spurs, OKC, Clippers for 3 years
i wanna beat up on a new team.

>we've played some combo of Spurs, OKC, Clippers for 3 years
>i wanna beat up on a new team.

@rob_starrk

snap crackle & pop

https://vine.co/v/OFWXdpJ05Vu

Mike gettin busy.

https://vine.co/v/ezlMT0OEAd9

(missed the shot but got the W, business as usual)

#TrueGrit

In the last five, Conley averaged 19.6 points, 3.2 boards, 5.2 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.8 treys in 34.2 minutes per game.


and he's an unrestricted free agent this offseason.


$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

>http://warriors.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/69889/20101102/agent_grizzlies_conley_sign_extension/
>
>
>
>The Grizzlies signed Mike Conley Jr. to a contract extension
>late Monday night, according to the guard's agent.
>
>Conley is represented by his father, Mike Conley Sr., and Bill
>Duffy.
>
>The contract is worth $45 million over five seasons, according
>to sources with knowledge of the situation.
>
>Conley's strong play in the preseason and early in the regular
>season is believed to have sparked the team's decision to lock
>him up over the long-term.
>----------------------------------
>
>
>
>lol he went from being known as Greg Oden's sidekick
>throughout high school, and people saying the only reason he
>got a scholly was bc of G.O.
>
>dude puts together a hell of a tourny run..gets taken top
>5..has a couple mediocre seasons..and now is getting gwap
>while the guy whose coattails he was supposedly riding is
>still looking for an extension
>
>
>funny how life works...
>
>
>
>_______________________________
>>Heltah Skeltah - Nocturnal
>The Pharcyde - LabCabinCalifornia

Took short money last time. A team friendly deal. Not this time.
----------------------------
Same as it ever was!

If the Grizz wanted to keep him, they needed to dig into the pocketbook.

Just because he isn't Chris Paul, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, and Dame Lillard doesn't mean he isn't really damn good.

like he is

No one should be surprised that they opened their pocketbooks in a huge way to keep Conley. He's worth it to them.

the other 3 (and maybe up to 3 more depending on health/stability) are going to be in the same ballpark or breaking it next season.

how are these people going to feel when jrue gets 25 million+?

>Just because he isn't Chris Paul, Steph Curry, Russell
>Westbrook, and Dame Lillard doesn't mean he isn't really damn
>good.


And he's carried his team deeper in the playoffs than insurance salesman ever has.

I agree that Conley is the guy I'd prefer to have, he just doesn't put up those big stats that the ASG likes.

>I agree that Conley is the guy I'd prefer to have, he just
>doesn't put up those big stats that the ASG likes.

some of them even have podcasts

>

BUCKEYE

27 & 12....and after beating the warriors ass a few months ago, another gutsy win in Oakland...with a hobbled old ass team.


#TRUEGRIT


>http://warriors.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/69889/20101102/agent_grizzlies_conley_sign_extension/
>
>
>
>The Grizzlies signed Mike Conley Jr. to a contract extension
>late Monday night, according to the guard's agent.
>
>Conley is represented by his father, Mike Conley Sr., and Bill
>Duffy.
>
>The contract is worth $45 million over five seasons, according
>to sources with knowledge of the situation.
>
>Conley's strong play in the preseason and early in the regular
>season is believed to have sparked the team's decision to lock
>him up over the long-term.
>----------------------------------
>
>
>
>lol he went from being known as Greg Oden's sidekick
>throughout high school, and people saying the only reason he
>got a scholly was bc of G.O.
>
>dude puts together a hell of a tourny run..gets taken top
>5..has a couple mediocre seasons..and now is getting gwap
>while the guy whose coattails he was supposedly riding is
>still looking for an extension
>
>
>funny how life works...
>
>
>
>_______________________________
>>Heltah Skeltah - Nocturnal
>The Pharcyde - LabCabinCalifornia

It's a miracle they're even in the playoffs with 40 year old Vince and Jamychal whatever

>http://warriors.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/69889/20101102/agent_grizzlies_conley_sign_extension/
>
>
>
>The Grizzlies signed Mike Conley Jr. to a contract extension
>late Monday night, according to the guard's agent.
>
>Conley is represented by his father, Mike Conley Sr., and Bill
>Duffy.
>
>The contract is worth $45 million over five seasons, according
>to sources with knowledge of the situation.
>
>Conley's strong play in the preseason and early in the regular
>season is believed to have sparked the team's decision to lock
>him up over the long-term.
>----------------------------------
>
>
>
>lol he went from being known as Greg Oden's sidekick
>throughout high school, and people saying the only reason he
>got a scholly was bc of G.O.
>
>dude puts together a hell of a tourny run..gets taken top
>5..has a couple mediocre seasons..and now is getting gwap
>while the guy whose coattails he was supposedly riding is
>still looking for an extension
>
>
>funny how life works...
>
>
>
>_______________________________
>>Heltah Skeltah - Nocturnal
>The Pharcyde - LabCabinCalifornia

He got rejected quite a few times and let old, broken down Tony outshine him.

.

But if it does, the Spurs might actually have a shot...

and respect the fact that he's carved out a great career for himself.

My guy still solid and earning that big ass check (that was long overdue, Memphis was in arrears as far as I'm concerned)


Mike, as usual, is leading the charge, averaging 19.0 points, 6.0 assists and 3.8 rebounds in 30.6 minutes per contest.

.

for an old ass pg with a busted Achilles & years of wear and tear.. That's SOLID

Let me live

I'm hyping a small market perennially underrated pg from a university I *actually* attended

This post full of Ls from supposed nba experts who thought he was trash

Lol go debate Simmons vs the other trash w usual dickheads

19 and 6 on 38% in 6 games is solid now?

Nigga basically had a 6 game stretch of George Hills prime years.

He was borderline elite before the ruptured Achilles

And by mid-season hell be back to regular form. Even w the less than desirable surrounding cast.

You can have the last word tho

I'm about to log out hit happy hour w my girl and then got floor seats to the nets pistons game. Enjoy watching another knicks L.


And he carried that franchise for years
>19 and 6 on 38% in 6 games is solid now?
>
>Nigga basically had a 6 game stretch of George Hills prime
>years.
>

30mil to be solid over 6 games while not shooting 40%? Ugh

Oh knock jokes....haha you mad.

and 4 of the top 5 PGs in the league are (arguably) hall of famers.

you sound dense as hell

>30mil to be solid over 6 games while not shooting 40%? Ugh

Grizzlies 4-2 and look like an actual team again sorta,

>....haha you mad.

i had a great night, aside from the Pistons losing in OT.

my life is perfect.

i hope this back and forth brought you some joy though

you should be ashamed of yourself.

>you should be ashamed of yourself.



There's more to just shooting percentage, which you keep harping about and yes its not great but I'll bet it's 45% (where he finished 2 years ago) by January and I'll up this again

this 6 game stretch.

Wait til your man is actually doing good, then pop off. You popped off way premature and now copping pleas that he'll be better. wtf.

Don't be mad you're one of the many in here with an L on how his career would pan out.

And I can't make predictions on how his season will turn out?

There's other nonsensical posts on page 1 and you're cluttering up my shit with your idiotic petty nitpicking about shooting percentage lol

You do realize point guards have other responsibilities right?

I never said he was top 5, just a damn good underrated point guard that any sensible basketball fan would agree with, except you.


>
>Wait til your man is actually doing good, then pop off. You
>popped off way premature and now copping pleas that he'll be
>better. wtf.

please show me where i have this L?

I'll wait.

I get you all mixed up


>please show me where i have this L?
>
>I'll wait.

<Enjoy watching another knicks L.

><Enjoy watching another knicks L.

of the dudes we stay arguing about on this board.

I honestly dont know. I know top pgs would get crucified over 19 and 6 on 38%.

I think he is a solid player and he's definitely a locker room leader and so on. But is Kyrie or Kyle Lowry hanging 30 points on him and shutting him down?

I think that might be why I like Fox’s game so much. Reminds of a Uber athletic longer Conley.

He needs that smooth jumper though.

>I think that might be why I like Fox’s game so much.
>Reminds of a Uber athletic longer Conley.
>
>He needs that smooth jumper though.


its mind boggling how much talent the sacramento kings have let slip through their fingers over the past decade...

and yea Fox is a good one

film.

Grizz beat the Mavs and move into a tie for first place in the Western Conference by winning with defense, and clutch play from the most underrated guard in this league ...

everyone knows they can't sustain this all year, Conley already looks beat up along with Gasol..but while he's healthy

ill be here, just letting you all know

"Conley continues to be criminally underrated and I'll say this again....as an overall player, I think he's every bit as good as Kyrie Irving and arguably a top 5 PG. I'd take him over Lowry or Wall. Just look at the massive impact he makes. Doesn't play and the Grizzlies look like a completely lost franchise. Comes back and now everything they've been building for all these years makes sense again. Defensively he remains an absolute stud and one of, if not the, best defensive PG in the league..who also scores 18+ a game a season."

he's been ballin, he a winning player

first one in San Antonio since the 2014 season

and now first place in the west


Steady Mike.

Steady Mike.

ELITE.

https://media1.giphy.com/media/3ohzdCYZ8HSf9AFpoQ/source.gif

great observation.

I guess all of OKS have to change our minds on Mike Conley not being a good point guard.

edit, hes still averaging 20 points, 6 assists , 3 rebounds , 41% fg, and 35% 3 Point range on a team where his only offensive weapon is a plodding slow footed old ass (albeit skilled) dinosaur and a rookie in Jaren Jackson

blame yaself.

edit, and Mike Conley scored a team-high 26 points 4 assists and 4 3s vs the celtics, in 36 minutes.


elite numbers.

a top 2 pg in the league , 5 years younger scored 38 on him.

*shrug*

lolz

Conley good, bordering on elite and has been for years. *EVERYONE* in this thread knows it. Only an idiot would deny it.


Goodnight.

>lolz


Anti-gentrification, cheap alcohol & trying to look pretty in our twilight posting years (c) Big Reg
http://Tupreme.com

WCF player of the week

and better than any PG your alma mater has produced.

it's funny how there's a clear turning point in this post where people went from "he's overpaid" to "yea ok I was wrong he's good"

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2830818-mike-conley-says-hes-not-interested-in-grizzlies-rebuild-amid-trade-rumors

Conley wasn't even as good as Brogdon when he got 45mill.

Is he even a top 15 pg? Probably but just barely

worry about that, bum.

Bwaahaa.

At least conley can go down as the highest paid player to never make an all star game.

Hmmm, let me do some research

while packing for my trip to Bali . Ohio State beat the shit out of UNC last night and is currently top 5 in football and basketball.

Have a good day. Hope you get a hot meal from somewhere .

*skatin' the rings of saturn*


..and miles to go before i sleep...

Anti-gentrification, cheap alcohol & trying to look pretty in our twilight posting years (c) Big Reg

¨Your mother is Colin Powell¨ - Lurkmode

www.Tupreme.com

im still winning this one.


best player to never make an all star and its because he played in the west during the NBA's golden age of PGs, I get it.

but anyone who says he isn't a great pg is fucking stupid.


>http://warriors.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/69889/20101102/agent_grizzlies_conley_sign_extension/
>
>
>
>The Grizzlies signed Mike Conley Jr. to a contract extension
>late Monday night, according to the guard's agent.
>
>Conley is represented by his father, Mike Conley Sr., and Bill
>Duffy.
>
>The contract is worth $45 million over five seasons, according
>to sources with knowledge of the situation.
>
>Conley's strong play in the preseason and early in the regular
>season is believed to have sparked the team's decision to lock
>him up over the long-term.
>----------------------------------
>
>
>
>lol he went from being known as Greg Oden's sidekick
>throughout high school, and people saying the only reason he
>got a scholly was bc of G.O.
>
>dude puts together a hell of a tourny run..gets taken top
>5..has a couple mediocre seasons..and now is getting gwap
>while the guy whose coattails he was supposedly riding is
>still looking for an extension
>
>
>funny how life works...
>
>
>
>_______________________________
>>Heltah Skeltah - Nocturnal
>The Pharcyde - LabCabinCalifornia

Mike Conley is having one of his best statistical seasons in his career, and a key reason why Utah has been plowing over opponents this season. Conley is currently averaging 16.4 points and 5.6 assists per game while shooting 41 percent from three and shooting 6.7 threes a game (both career-highs). His effective field goal percentage is 56 percent (also a career-high).

There are only five players in the league that is taking more than 6.5 3’s a game while shooting above 40 percent from 3: Steph Curry, Zach Lavine, Gary Trent Jr, Terry Rozier and Mike Conley. One is an MVP, one is an All Star, and the other two are extremely good players that have nowhere near the usage and responsibility that Conley has.

Looking closer into the numbers, Mike Conley has proven to be one of the best in the game in the pick and roll. This season, as the primary pick-and-roll ball-handler, Mike Conley is scoring 1.05 points per possession (PPP) with an effective field goal percentage of 57 percent – that would put him in the 84th percentile in the league – the same as All Star Luka Doncic. Conley is behind James Harden (96th percentile – OMG!) and Damian Lillard (88th percentile) in this category, but is ahead of guys like Trae Young (81st percentile), Paul George (79th percentile), and Chris Paul (66th percentile).

Never change, Gramps.

Pass, now if have internet you can watch any game anytime anywhere. And between TNT, ESPN & NBA work there’s nationally televised games on every night. I probably watch more NBA ball than anyone here.

lmao.

big fucking deal. I've had league pass (since Day 1) and NBA season tickets (8 rows from the court) to the Brooklyn Nets for the last 4 years.

The Utah Jazz are having one of the best seasons in YEARS. and it wouldnt be possible without the contributions of Mike Conley JR...a player routinely underrated on these boards and in real life, so I upped a 10-year post pointing it out.

If you cant understand that, then I truly do not have the patience to go back and forth with you.


edit, also league pass >> all those janky roundabout ways of watching NBA for free.

>lmao.
>
>big fucking deal. I've had league pass (since Day 1) and NBA
>season tickets (8 rows from the court) to the Brooklyn Nets
>for the last 4 years.

What are those season tickets doing for you now? Did you enjoy seeing D-Lo get bounced out of town?

>The Utah Jazz are having one of the best seasons in YEARS. and
>it wouldnt be possible without the contributions of Mike
>Conley JR...a player routinely underrated on these boards and
>in real life, so I upped a 10-year post pointing it out.
>
>If you cant understand that, then I truly do not have the
>patience to go back and forth with you.

I still have as many all star appearances as Conley.

You probably didn’t even watch the game last night or you probably wouldn’t have upped the post after a loss lol

>edit, also league pass >> all those janky roundabout ways of
>watching NBA for free.

I’m a Lakers fan we are usually on nat’l tv anyway, don’t care to pay extra to see Twolves-Pistons. Like I said if you have internet is pretty easy to watch any game you want. If you get off bragging about paying for things most people get for free then do you lol. There’s a bottled water post in GD for you.

years.
>
>What are those season tickets doing for you now? Did you enjoy
>seeing D-Lo get bounced out of town?


I enjoyed watching D'Lo while he was here on a young fun scrappy Nets team, including a few playoff games vs Philly. Do you know how long it's been since NYC experienced playoff basketball? Also, it's pretty rare that you get to see a PG from a school you graduated from play in an arena less than 2 miles from your apartment.

I enjoyed watching Kyrie for half a season...and if and when things get back to normal..I'll enjoy watching the Big 3 play, or I'll enjoy the earnings from selling those seats. Or I'll get a $25k refund if this virus continues on.

Win Win situation for me.




>You probably didn’t even watch the game last night or you
>probably wouldn’t have upped the post after a loss lol


Dangelo Russell got more all star appearances than Ja Morant. He's clearly the better point guard by your (ridiculously childish and asinine logic) right?

Ok then.


I was going to up this after he torched the clippers a few weeks ago but I forgot. You are correcet, I did not spend my Friday night at home watching the Jazz vs Heat.

>
>I’m a Lakers fan we are usually on nat’l tv anyway,
>don’t care to pay extra to see Twolves-Pistons. Like I said
>if you have internet is pretty easy to watch any game you
>want. If you get off bragging about paying for things most
>people get for free then do you lol. There’s a bottled water
>post in GD for you.

it's $200, ...that's what I spend on a night out with my girl lol.

I guess im old fashioned in that regard..I like (having the option of) sitting back in my sofa w a whiskey and being able to turn on the tv and have 12 games at my fingertips.

>years.
>>
>>What are those season tickets doing for you now? Did you
>enjoy
>>seeing D-Lo get bounced out of town?
>
>
>I enjoyed watching D'Lo while he was here on a young fun
>scrappy Nets team, including a few playoff games vs Philly. Do
>you know how long it's been since NYC experienced playoff
>basketball? Also, it's pretty rare that you get to see a PG
>from a school you graduated from play in an arena less than 2
>miles from your apartment.
>
>I enjoyed watching Kyrie for half a season...and if and when
>things get back to normal..I'll enjoy watching the Big 3 play,
>or I'll enjoy the earnings from selling those seats. Or I'll
>get a $25k refund if this virus continues on.
>
>Win Win situation for me.
>
>
>
>
>>You probably didn’t even watch the game last night or you
>>probably wouldn’t have upped the post after a loss lol
>
>
>Dangelo Russell got more all star appearances than Ja Morant.
>He's clearly the better point guard by your (ridiculously
>childish and asinine logic) right?
>
>Ok then.
>
>
>I was going to up this after he torched the clippers a few
>weeks ago but I forgot. You are correcet, I did not spend my
>Friday night at home watching the Jazz vs Heat.
>
>>
>>I’m a Lakers fan we are usually on nat’l tv anyway,
>>don’t care to pay extra to see Twolves-Pistons. Like I
>said
>>if you have internet is pretty easy to watch any game you
>>want. If you get off bragging about paying for things most
>>people get for free then do you lol. There’s a bottled
>water
>>post in GD for you.
>
>it's $200, ...that's what I spend on a night out with my girl
>lol.
>
>I guess im old fashioned in that regard..I like (having the
>option of) sitting back in my sofa w a whiskey and being able
>to turn on the tv and have 12 games at my fingertips.

anyone with a firestick has that too, if you have league pass that’s fine. More than half the games are trash and most of the local commentators are annoying af. Some people pay for cable some don’t. It’s all personal preference about what you want to spend your money on.

I still have the same amount of AS appearances as Mike Conley.

I was under the impression that most of the board has outgrown the college fanboy stuff but apparently some haven’t.

and the Jazz are probably 3rd or 4th in the conference without Conley JR. Period.





>I was under the impression that most of the board has outgrown the >college fanboy stuff but apparently some haven’t.

Coming from someone who acted like he was related to Kobe, that's RICH lmao.

anyway

TOSU Class of 2006!

Masters at UCONN - Class of 2009!

have fun with your firestick.

>and the Jazz are probably 3rd or 4th in the conference
>without Conley JR. Period.
>
>
>
>
>
>>I was under the impression that most of the board has
>outgrown the >college fanboy stuff but apparently some
>haven’t.
>
>Coming from someone who acted like he was related to Kobe,
>that's RICH lmao.

When was this?! lol

>anyway
>
>TOSU Class of 2006!
>
>Masters at UCONN - Class of 2009!
>
>have fun with your firestick.

Hope you're doing ok.

people.

His beast season was 20&6. Other than Chauncey with a Finals MVP and Steve Francis who had stupid athleticism I can't think of any point guards in either conference making it with those numbers.

>people.
>
>His beast season was 20&6. Other than Chauncey with a Finals
>MVP and Steve Francis who had stupid athleticism I can't think
>of any point guards in either conference making it with those
>numbers.

;)

n/m

joins Kobe and KD on that list.

not bad Mike.

https://twitter.com/TheAcademy/status/1386488383841525762

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Mike Conley can add another trophy to his mantle place — the Utah Jazz guard’s short film “Two Distant Strangers” won an Oscar at Sunday night’s Academy Awards.

Conley served as an executive producer of the film that was released in November of 2020.

The film is about a Black man stuck in a loop, repeatedly killed by the same police officer and trying to figure out how to break the cycle.