Once Mike Conley officially joined the Jazz, he queried the team brass about which players they had interest in pursuing in free agency, then made it a point to reach out to those of them he knew, including his then-prospective backup, Emmanuel Mudiay.
“When he reached out to me, he said, ‘Forget about the starting role, forget about stuff like that — just go learn as much as you can, try to get on a winning program, and see how it goes,’” Mudiay said. “And I know when you’re winning, you learn so much.”
Of course, as Mudiay seeks to lock down a regular role in the backcourt rotation — a distinct possibility early with Dante Exum being brought along slowly in his latest rehab — he is the first to acknowledge he’s got plenty of learning to do before the games themselves, let alone the winning of them, commences.