Michael Finley

Michael Finley

Finley with the Spurs
Personal information
Born (1973-03-06) March 6, 1973
Melrose Park, Illinois
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight 225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High school Proviso East (Maywood, Illinois)
College Wisconsin (1991–1995)
NBA draft 1995 / Round: 1 / Pick: 21st overall
Selected by the Phoenix Suns
Playing career 1995–2010
Position Shooting guard / Small forward
Number 4, 40
Career history
1995–1996 Phoenix Suns
1996–2005 Dallas Mavericks
2005–2010 San Antonio Spurs
2010 Boston Celtics
Career highlights and awards
Career statistics
Points 17,306 (15.7 ppg)
Rebounds 4,804 (4.4 rpg)
Assists 3,245 (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

Michael Howard Finley (born March 6, 1973) is an American retired professional basketball player and a film producer. He played 16 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a two-time NBA All-Star and won an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2007.

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," recognizing his superior performance in his appearances in the 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, but was passed by Alando Tucker on March 10, 2007.[3]

NBA career

Phoenix Suns (1995–1996)

Finley had an impressive rookie season, being named to the 1995–96 NBA All-Rookie First Team, finishing 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 went injured on the final day of regular season and did not play in the playoffs. And despite his solid play, he was traded by the Suns on December 26, 1996[4] 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)

Finley played for nine seasons with the Mavericks

In his first season with the Mavericks, he led them in scoring, assists and steals. Along with another 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.[5] 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,[6] 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 as he aged and teammate Dirk Nowitzki blossomed, he remained a clutch player for the Mavericks. For financial reasons, however, 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 aggressively pursued by Detroit, Miami, Minnesota and Phoenix, he elected to remain in Texas with the San Antonio Spurs.

Finley won a championship with the Spurs in 2007.

San Antonio Spurs (2005–2010)

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 an NBA championship in 2007 with the San Antonio Spurs in his 12th NBA season. He was given the "game ball" by his teammates, and specifically mentioned in post-game interviews by Robert Horry and Tim Duncan. Out of the original trio from the Dallas Mavericks, he became the first to achieve a title, surpassing the 2006–07 NBA MVP Nowitzki and previous two-time MVP Nash.

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.[7] He signed with the Celtics on March 6, 2010.[8] 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

Michael Finley began playing basketball in elementary school. His favorite player was Michael Jordan and would occasionally go to Chicago Bulls games.[9] He majored in business management at Wisconsin.[4] Finley attended the same high school as current Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers.

Other work

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

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
† Denotes seasons in which Finley won an NBA championship

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1995–96 Phoenix 82 72 39.2 .476 .328 .749 4.6 3.5 1.0 .4 15.0
1996–97 Phoenix 27 18 29.5 .475 .255 .812 4.4 2.5 .7 .1 13.0
1996–97 Dallas 56 36 35.6 .432 .387 .807 4.5 2.8 .9 .4 16.0
1997–98 Dallas 82 82 41.4 .449 .357 .784 5.3 4.9 1.6 .4 21.5
1998–99 Dallas 50 50 41.0 .444 .331 .823 5.3 4.4 1.3 .3 20.2
1999–00 Dallas 82 82 42.2 .457 .401 .820 6.3 5.3 1.3 .4 22.6
2000–01 Dallas 82 82 42.0 .458 .346 .775 5.2 4.4 1.4 .4 21.5
2001–02 Dallas 69 69 39.9 .463 .339 .837 5.2 3.3 .9 .4 20.6
2002–03 Dallas 69 69 38.3 .425 .370 .861 5.8 3.0 1.1 .3 19.3
2003–04 Dallas 72 72 38.6 .443 .405 .850 4.5 2.9 1.2 .5 18.6
2004–05 Dallas 64 64 36.8 .427 .407 .831 4.1 2.6 .8 .3 15.7
2005–06 San Antonio 77 18 26.5 .412 .394 .852 3.2 1.5 .5 .1 10.1
2006–07† San Antonio 82 16 22.2 .412 .364 .918 2.7 1.3 .4 .2 9.0
2007–08 San Antonio 82 61 26.9 .414 .370 .800 3.1 1.4 .4 .1 10.1
2008–09 San Antonio 81 77 28.8 .437 .411 .823 3.3 1.4 .5 .2 9.7
2009–10 San Antonio 25 6 15.8 .381 .317 .667 1.5 0.8 .2 .2 3.7
2009–10 Boston 21 1 15.0 .506 .463 .333 1.6 1.1 .2 .1 5.2
Career 1103 875 34.5 .440 .390 .813 4.1 2.9 .9 .3 15.7
All-Star 2 0 14.5 .476 .250 1,000 2.0 2.5 .0 .0 11.5

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2001 Dallas 10 10 43.4 .360 .362 .818 5.3 4.4 1.2 .2 19.7
2002 Dallas 8 8 46.6 .466 .378 .900 6.3 2.3 1.5 .5 24.6
2003 Dallas 20 20 41.1 .435 .412 .864 5.8 3.0 1.3 .6 18.3
2004 Dallas 5 5 39.2 .382 .269 .600 3.2 2.6 .8 .6 13.0
2005 Dallas 13 13 37.8 .425 .393 .889 4.3 2.2 1.3 .0 13.1
2006 San Antonio 13 4 31.6 .476 .383 .900 3.8 1.4 .6 .2 10.5
2007† San Antonio 20 20 26.9 .410 .419 .897 2.9 1.1 .6 .2 11.3
2008 San Antonio 17 11 23.0 .402 .365 1.000 1.9 1.0 .3 .2 6.7
2009 San Antonio 5 5 28.6 .441 .467 .750 3.0 1.0 .2 .2 8.0
2010 Boston 18 0 6.0 .250 .273 1.000 .6 .2 .2 .0 .8
Career 129 96 30.3 .418 .388 .866 3.5 1.8 .8 .2 11.8

Finals

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2007† San Antonio 4 4 18.5 .261 .083 .667 2.0 .8 1.3 .0 3.8
2010 Boston 2 0 2.5 .000 .000 .000 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0
Career 6 4 13.2 .250 .077 .667 1.3 .5 .7 .0 2.5

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.marchmadness.org/records/yearly/1991baa.htm
  2. ↑ IHSA – Legends of Boys Basketball
  3. ↑ Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Wisconsin Badgers – Recap – March 10, 2007 – ESPN
  4. 1 2 NBA.com : Michael Finley Bio Page
  5. ↑ Regular Season Records: Steals
  6. ↑ 2002 USA Basketball
  7. ↑ Stein, Marc (March 4, 2010). "Michael Finley says he has agreement to join Boston Celtics". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2010-03-04.
  8. ↑ "Celtics sign Michael Finley". NBA.com. March 6, 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-07.
  9. ↑ "Michael Finley". JockBio.com. Retrieved 2013-05-26.

External links

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