Michael Finley

Michael Howard Finley (born March 6, 1973) is an American retired professional basketball player, current film producer and the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Dallas Mavericks. He played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Mavericks but also for the Phoenix Suns (who drafted him in 1995), the San Antonio Spurs and the Boston Celtics. He was a two-time NBA All-Star and won an NBA championship with the Spurs in 2007.

Michael Finley
Finley in 2009
Personal information
Born (1973-03-06) March 6, 1973
Melrose Park, Illinois
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High schoolProviso East (Maywood, Illinois)
CollegeWisconsin (1991–1995)
NBA draft1995 / Round: 1 / Pick: 21st overall
Selected by the Phoenix Suns
Playing career1995–2010
PositionShooting guard / Small forward
Number4, 40
Career history
1995–1996Phoenix Suns
1996–2005Dallas Mavericks
2005–2010San Antonio Spurs
2010Boston Celtics
Career highlights and awards
Career statistics
Points17,306 (15.8 ppg)
Rebounds4,804 (4.4 rpg)
Assists3,245 (2.9 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  United States
Goodwill Games
1994 St. Petersburg National team
Summer Universiade
1993 Buffalo National team

High school career

Finley attended Proviso East High School in Maywood, Illinois, graduating in 1991. In Finley's senior season, Proviso East won the 1991 IHSA class AA boys basketball tournament,[1] and Finley was named to the all-tournament team. Finley's teammates, known collectively as the "Three Amigos", included future NBA draftees Sherrell Ford and Donnie Boyce.

In 2007, Finley was voted one of the "100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament".[2]

College career

The 6' 7" shooting guard/small forward was originally drafted out of University of Wisconsin–Madison by the Phoenix Suns as the 21st overall pick of the 1995 NBA draft. Finley held the all-time scoring record at Wisconsin for eleven years before being passed by Alando Tucker on March 10, 2007.[3]

College Career Statistics
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1991–92 Wisconsin 312829.7.453.361.7424.92.70.90.812.3
1992–93 Wisconsin 282835.0.467.364.7715.83.11.80.622.1
1993–94 Wisconsin 292936.1.466.363.7866.73.21.40.720.4
1994–95 Wisconsin 272737.0.379.284.7735.24.01.90.620.5
Career[4] 1289635.1.577.321.68912.32.3.53.816.5

NBA career

Phoenix Suns (1995–1996)

Finley was named to the 1995–96 NBA All-Rookie First Team and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting after averaging fifteen points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. He became only the third rookie in Suns history to score over 1,000 points in a season. Despite playing all 82 games in his rookie season, Finley was injured on the final day of regular season and did not play in the playoffs. He was traded by the Suns on December 26, 1996[5] to the Dallas Mavericks along with Sam Cassell, A. C. Green and a second-round draft pick for Jason Kidd, Tony Dumas and Loren Meyer.

Dallas Mavericks (1996–2005)

In his first season with the Mavericks, Finley led the team in scoring, assists and steals. Along with point guard Steve Nash and forward Dirk Nowitzki, he became an integral part of the Mavericks' late '90s "run and gun" offense.

In 2000, he was selected to represent the Western Conference in the 2000 All-Star Game, in which he scored eleven points. On January 23, 2001, Finley tied an NBA record by recording eight steals in one half of a game.[6] In 2001, he was again selected to represent the Western Conference on All-Star weekend. He played for the US national team in the 2002 FIBA World Championship,[7] which lost a record-three games and failed to win a championship for the first time in a major competition since FIBA opened international competitions to NBA players.

While Finley began to play more of a supporting role (small forward) as he aged and teammate Dirk Nowitzki blossomed, he remained a clutch player for the Mavericks. In 2005, he was waived by Dallas to avoid luxury taxes (as part of the league's new labor agreement) on his 51.8 million US$ salary over the next three years. Finley became an unrestricted free agent and after being pursued by Detroit, Miami, Minnesota, and Phoenix, he elected to remain in Texas with the San Antonio Spurs.

San Antonio Spurs (2005–2010; First NBA title)

In San Antonio he adapted well to a secondary role as Manu Ginóbili's backup, developing and emphasizing his outside shooting. The Spurs were knocked out of the 2006 NBA Playoffs by his former team one year after he made the switch. During the series, Finley was punched below the belt by former teammate Jason Terry during Game 5, which earned Terry a suspension for the next game of the series.

In the fifth and final game of San Antonio's first-round series against Denver in 2007, Finley set the Spurs' record for three-point field goals in a playoff game, making eight of nine attempts. He eclipsed the previous record of seven set by teammate Bruce Bowen in 2003. Finley won his only NBA championship in 2007 with the San Antonio Spurs in his 12th NBA season.

At Finley's request, the Spurs bought out the final year of his contract and waived him on March 1, 2010, freeing him to sign with another team.

Boston Celtics (2010)

On March 4, 2010, Finley reached a verbal agreement with the Boston Celtics to join the team for the remainder of the 2009–10 season.[8] He signed with the Celtics on March 6, 2010.[9] The Celtics would reach the 2010 NBA Finals, but would lose to the Los Angeles Lakers in seven games. At the end of the season, Finley announced he would retire.

Personal life

Finley began playing basketball in elementary school. His favorite player was Michael Jordan and he would occasionally go to Chicago Bulls games.[10] He majored in business management at Wisconsin.[5] Finley attended the same high school as current Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers.

Other work

Basketball

He works in the front office (credited as an assistant vice president) for the Mavericks.[11]

Film

Finley was one of the producers of the films Lee Daniels' The Butler and The Birth of a Nation.[12]

NBA career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
 †  Won an NBA championship *  Led the league

Regular season
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1995–96 Phoenix 827239.2.476.328.7494.63.51.0.415.0
1996–97 Phoenix 271829.5.475.255.8124.42.5.7.113.0
1996–97 Dallas 563635.6.432.387.8074.52.8.9.416.0
1997–98 Dallas 828241.4*.449.357.7845.34.91.6.421.5
1998–99 Dallas 505041.0.444.331.8235.34.41.3.320.2
1999–2000 Dallas 828242.2.457.401.8206.35.31.3.422.6
2000–01 Dallas 828242.0*.458.346.7755.24.41.4.421.5
2001–02 Dallas 696939.9*.463.339.8375.23.3.9.420.6
2002–03 Dallas 696938.3.425.370.8615.83.01.1.319.3
2003–04 Dallas 727238.6.443.405.8504.52.91.2.518.6
2004–05 Dallas 646436.8.427.407.8314.12.6.8.315.7
2005–06 San Antonio 771826.5.412.394.8523.21.5.5.110.1
2006–07† San Antonio 821622.2.412.364.9182.71.3.4.29.0
2007–08 San Antonio 826126.9.414.370.8003.11.4.4.110.1
2008–09 San Antonio 817728.8.437.411.8233.31.4.5.29.7
2009–10 San Antonio 25615.8.381.317.6671.50.8.2.23.7
2009–10 Boston 21115.0.506.463.3331.61.1.2.15.2
Career 110387534.5.440.390.8134.12.9.9.315.7
All-Star 2014.5.476.2501,0002.02.5.0.011.5

Playoffs
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2001 Dallas 101043.4.360.362.8185.34.41.2.219.7
2002 Dallas 8846.6.466.378.9006.32.31.5.524.6
2003 Dallas 202041.1.435.412.8645.83.01.3.618.3
2004 Dallas 5569.382.269.6003.22.6.8.613.0
2005 Dallas 131337.8.425.393.8894.32.21.3.013.1
2006 San Antonio 13431.6.476.383.9003.81.4.6.210.5
2007† San Antonio 202026.9.410.419.8972.91.1.6.211.3
2008 San Antonio 171123.0.402.3651.0001.91.0.3.26.7
2009 San Antonio 5528.6.441.467.7503.01.0.2.28.0
2010 Boston 1806.0.250.2731.000.6.2.2.0.8
Career 1299630.3.418.388.8663.51.8.8.211.8

Finals
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2007† San Antonio 4418.5.261.083.6672.0.81.3.03.8
2010 Boston 202.5.000.000.000.0.0.0.0.0
Career 6413.2.250.077.6671.3.5.7.02.5
gollark: 3 megajoules, actually.
gollark: Oops. I seem to have accidentally had broken offsite backups for the past 1.5 weeks.
gollark: Factorio is at least 3.
gollark: It's going to be very !!FUN!! if advancing technology in 20 years or so means people can just print bioweapons on their desktop.
gollark: Probably chemical weapons, if I couldn't just use nuclear ones.

See also

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 17, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. IHSA – Legends of Boys Basketball
  3. Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Wisconsin Badgers – Recap – March 10, 2007 – ESPN
  4. "Michael Finley College Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  5. NBA.com : Michael Finley Bio Page
  6. "Regular Season Records: Steals". Archived from the original on April 20, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  7. 2002 USA Basketball Archived July 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. Stein, Marc (March 4, 2010). "Michael Finley says he has agreement to join Boston Celtics". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
  9. "Celtics sign Michael Finley". NBA.com. March 6, 2010. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
  10. "Michael Finley". JockBio.com. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  11. http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/nba/dallas-mavericks/article106006812.html
  12. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1186828/
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.