MILWAUKEE — Mike Conley will get his first start of the season when the Celtics face the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night. Conley, who has mostly been out of the rotation, played a season-high 11 minutes on Friday night against the Charlotte Hornets.
In his 20th NBA season, Conley is averaging career-lows across the board; he’s tallying just 3 points and 0.3 assists in 7 minutes per game across three appearances. But, on Sunday night, he’ll get a rare opportunity to see more extended minutes.
Conley,
who has been a starter in the NBA for the majority of his career, told CelticsBlog before the season that he knew mentorship would be one of his important responsibilities while his on-court minutes vary.
“It’s part of the job at this stage of my career,” he said. “I understand it. I understand there’s going to be a lot of times where I don’t play. There’s going to be some times where I’m needed. There are other times where I’m just needed to be the voice for a big stretch of the season. Being comfortable with that, and being able to own that, is my role and my job.”
And, while Conley hasn’t played much so far, he has been a crucial voice in the locker room, particularly to Payton Pritchard, who has routinely asked him questions throughout the season.
“As somebody that’s looked up to Mike, [I ask him] how he thinks of the game and how he was able to create his shots and create shots for his teammates and maybe handle playing the point guard position, momentum swings,” Pritchard said. “He’s been in a lot of great environments, great playoff series. How was he able to kill in those moments and dominate the game?”
The Celtics’ starting lineup has changed quite a bit this season
The Celtics’ most popular starting lineup this season has been Derrick White, Jordan Walsh, Paul George, Jayson Tatum, and Neemias Queta. That group started Friday night in a 119-80 win over the Charlotte Hornets.
But Joe Mazzulla has tinkered with the starting lineup quite a bit; Hugo Gonzalez started 3 games in place of Walsh, while Sam Hauser and Baylor Scheierman have each gotten one start this season. Mitchell Robinson started the first five games of the season before Queta established himself as the team’s starting center.
The three guys who have mostly found themselves out of the regular rotation are Conley, Chris Cenac Jr., and Ron Harper Jr. Cenac Jr. is currently with the Maine Celtics, and Conley will get his first start of the season.
