Michael Finley

Michael Finley
Player information
Full name	Michael Howard Finley
birthday	6th March 1973 (age 47)
place of birth	Melrose Park , Illinois , United States
size	201 cm
Weight	102 kg
position	Shooting Guard / Small Forward
college	Wisconsin
NBA draft	1995 , Pick 21, Phoenix Suns
Clubs as active
1995–1996 Phoenix Suns 1996–2005 Dallas Mavericks 2005–2010 San Antonio Spurs 2010 Boston Celtics 00000
National team
1993-2002	United States	31 games

Michael Howard Finley (born March 6, 1973 in Melrose Park , Cook County , Illinois ) is a retired American basketball player who was active in the NBA from 1995 and 2010 . He had his best sporting time with the Dallas Mavericks , where he played alongside Dirk Nowitzki . Finley is a two-time All-Star and won the NBA Championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2007 .

Career

High school and college

Finley began playing basketball at Proviso East High School in Maywood , Illinois, and won the Illinois State Championship in 1991 in his senior year with later NBA players Sherrell Ford and Donnie Boyce.

After moving to the University of Wisconsin , he played for the college team until 1995 and became the best scorer in the history of university basketball in Wisconsin . In the 1995 NBA Draft , Finley was selected 21st by the Phoenix Suns and began playing in the NBA that same year.

NBA

In his first season, Finley was able to build on previous performances and averaged 15 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. Additionally, he was the Sun's third rookie to score more than 1,000 points in his debut season. Through this performance Finley qualified for the NBA All-Rookie First Team 1995/96.

After Finley's first season in the NBA, he was transferred to the Dallas Mavericks for Jason Kidd , Tony Dumas and Loren Meyer and was also a leading player here. He was the team leader in terms of points, assists and steals and formed the trio with Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki, often called the "Big Three". 2000 and 2001 Finley was appointed to the All-Star-Team of the Western Conference , with which he could win both games.

After the NBA had stipulated a luxury tax on high salaries in their collective agreement in 2005, and also introduced an "amnesty clause" for the 2005 offseason, which allowed a player to be fired and thereby prevent his salary from being offset against the luxury tax, the Mavs used this clause and released Finley from his three-year contract, saving $ 51.8 million over three years in luxury taxes. He was thus an unrestricted free agent and was courted by several clubs ( Detroit , Miami , Minnesota and Phoenix ). He finally decided to stay in Texas and moved to the San Antonio Spurs , with whom he was able to win the 2007 NBA championship.

After the 2007/08 season , Finley's contract with Spurs ran out. His decision as to where he would then play or whether he would continue to stay in San Antonio fell in favor of the Spurs. In August 2008 he signed a new contract with the Texas club. At his request, his contract with Spurs, which would have run until the end of the 2010/11 season , was terminated in 2010 .

On March 4, 2010, the Boston Celtics announced the signing of Finley. After the season he became a free agent and then retired from his career. During his 15-year career, Finley averaged 15.7 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.

National team

Finley was a member of the US squad for the 2002 World Basketball Championship but only finished sixth with the team.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Michael Finley. In: nba.com. Retrieved May 13, 2020 (English). 
2. ↑ usabasketball.com - All-Time USA Basketball Men's Roster // F ( Memento from January 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
3. ^ Sources: Finley, Spurs agree to terms of contract. In: espn.com. August 15, 2008, accessed May 12, 2020 . 

Web links

Commons : Michael Finley  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Michael Finley - player profile on basketball-reference.com
• Michael Finley - player profile on NBA.com