Timberwolves’ Mike Conley, battling wrist trouble, not worried about early shooting struggles – Twin Cities

Timberwolves guards play a mini-game after practice using the organization’s Shot Analysis Tool, which measures the arc of a shot and the extent and location of its impact in the rim.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker rushed to Mike Conley after Thursday’s practice to tell the floor general that he had hit the “perfect” shot according to the machine’s parameters.

Cute. Conley noted that a little earlier he himself made two in a row, which is almost impossible.

“Hopefully it will translate into the game now,” Conley said.

The veteran is well aware of his shooting struggles through four games, making just 27% of his three-point attempts and 23% of his field goal attempts.

To be fair, slow starts are no stranger to Conley.

October is the only month of his career when the defenseman struggles to shoot. He shot 38% from the field in October, including 33% from deep. This is the only month of the season in which he is shooting under 42% from the field and under 37% from 3-point range.

But it is easy to identify an additional reason for this year’s early problems.

Conley suffered a wrist injury – a torn ligament that is still unrepaired and has never been put back into place – years ago, it never healed, and it flared up again in the offseason and caused ongoing problems.

“I was depressed. I haven’t played golf all summer. I couldn’t. I was in and out of plaster casts and braces and stuff like that, just trying to calm down,” Conley said. “I didn’t touch a ball until training camp started.”

He said the surgery needed to completely resolve the problem is “complicated” and won’t be something he will do until his career is over.

“When I turn 50, I’ll have surgery,” Conley said. “Not now”.

Conley’s wrist is often taped shut. He noted that the wrist does not worsen with overuse, adding that the pain has since subsided and efforts have been focused on restoring wrist strength.

“There are times when I take it off and I think, ‘Ah, this is good,’ and it ends up being two feet too short,” Conley said. “So you just try to figure out how to appreciate the differences and continue to work on it as the season goes on. It doesn’t bother me, I’ve been through it before. It’ll be terrible for a week or so, and then we’ll figure it out.”

Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said Conley is simply struggling with some stiffness, adding that he hasn’t seen any negative side effects from the ailment so far during Conley’s time in Minnesota.

“I’m sure it affects his shot to some extent. All his shots look good. They look like they’re about to fall,” Finch said. “A lot has been said, but this is the only thing I noticed.”

Indeed, Conley went 2-for-6 against Dallas on Thursday. All four misses were rim outs.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Finch said. “As far as rotation goes, I just feel like I’m killing him every four minutes, so it’s not good. So, I need to try to find a way to maybe lengthen some of his runs so he can play in a more rhythmic mode. But yeah, he’ll be fine.

“His summer wasn’t the same with his wrists and everything, so he wasn’t able to prepare properly and pre-season. So right now he’s just playing catch-up.”