Michael Finley

Michael Finley
Finley in 2016
Dallas Mavericks
PositionAssistant General Manager/ Vice President of Basketball Operations
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1973-03-06) March 6, 1973 (age 51)
Maywood, Illinois, U.S.
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: 1st round, 21st overall pick
Selected by the Phoenix Suns
Playing career1995–2010
PositionSmall forward / shooting guard
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 NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  United States
Goodwill Games
Bronze medal – third place 1994 St. Petersburg National team
Summer Universiade
Gold medal – first place 1993 Buffalo National team

Michael Howard Finley (born March 6, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player who is the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 15 seasons in the 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.

High school career

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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 response to winning the state championship, Finley was invited to travel to Deerfield, Illinois, where he played against Michael Jordan in a game of H-O-R-S-E and a 1-on-1 game to three points.[2][3] Jordan H-O-R-S-E and won the game of 1-on-1 three to one.[4] Both games were recorded and broadcast on a sporting chance segment for WBBM CBS Chicago.[5]

In 2007, Finley was voted one of the "100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament".[6]

College career

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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.[7]

College statistics

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1991–92 Wisconsin 31 28 29.7 .453 .361 .742 4.9 2.7 .9 .8 12.3
1992–93 Wisconsin 28 28 35.0 .467 .364 .771 5.8 3.1 1.8 .6 22.1
1993–94 Wisconsin 29 29 36.1 .466 .363 .786 6.7 3.2 1.4 .7 20.4
1994–95 Wisconsin 27 27 37.0 .379 .284 .773 5.2 4.0 1.9 .6 20.5
Career[8] 115 112 34.3 .440 .338 .769 5.6 3.2 1.5 .7 18.7

NBA career

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Phoenix Suns (1995–1996)

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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[9] 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.

Finley with the Mavericks in 2005

Dallas Mavericks (1996–2005)

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Finley flourished in Dallas. 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.[10] 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,[11] 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).[12] 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)

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Finley with the Spurs in 2009

In San Antonio, Finley adapted well to a secondary role as Manu Ginóbili's backup, developing and emphasizing his outside shooting. The Spurs would face Finley's former team the Mavericks in the second round of the 2006 NBA playoffs. In Game 5 of the series, Finley was punched by former teammate Jason Terry, earning Terry a suspension for the next game of the series and irritating Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.[13] The Spurs would force a seventh game after facing a 3–1 deficit, but ultimately fell to the Mavericks in overtime.

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)

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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.[14] He signed with the Celtics on March 6, 2010.[15] The Celtics would reach the 2010 NBA Finals, but would lose to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers in seven games. At the end of the season, Finley announced he would retire.

Personal life

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Finley began playing basketball in elementary school. His favorite player was Michael Jordan and he would occasionally go to Chicago Bulls games.[16] He majored in business management at Wisconsin.[9] Although he did not graduate at the time due to the NBA draft, he completed his bachelor's degree in 2014 in agricultural and applied economics at Wisconsin.[17] Finley attended the same high school as Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers.

Other work

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Basketball

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He works in the front office as the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Dallas Mavericks.[18][19]

Film

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Finley was one of the producers of the films Lee Daniels' The Butler and The Birth of a Nation.[20]

NBA career statistics

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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

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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
1999–2000 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

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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 39.9 .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

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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

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References

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  1. ^ "March Madness Record Book". marchmadness.org. Archived from the original on January 17, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2006.
  2. ^ Werle, Len (September 13, 2021). "Michael Finley Got To Play One-On-One Against Michael Jordan When He Was In High School". OpenCourt-Basketball. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  3. ^ Michael Finley vs Michael Jordan, retrieved August 13, 2023
  4. ^ "MICHAEL JORDAN vs MICHAEL FINLEY: That time Michael Jordan schooled a young Michael Finley in the game of HORSE and one-on-one". Basketball Network - Your daily dose of basketball. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
  5. ^ "Michael Finley vs Michael Jordan", Sporting Chance, retrieved August 13, 2023
  6. ^ "Legends". www.ihsa.org. Archived from the original on September 1, 2006.
  7. ^ "Wisconsin 53-41 Illinois (Mar 10, 2007) Game Recap". ESPN. Archived from the original on April 7, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  8. ^ "Michael Finley College Stats". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
  9. ^ a b "NBA.com : Michael Finley Bio Page". Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  10. ^ "Regular Season Records: Steals". NBA.com. Archived from the original on April 20, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  11. ^ "2002 USA Basketball". Archived from the original on July 14, 2007.
  12. ^ "Michael Finley was a great player before he was an executive". July 19, 2021.
  13. ^ "NBA suspends Terry for Game 6 | CBC Sports". CBC. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  14. ^ Stein, Marc (March 4, 2010). "Michael Finley says he has agreement to join Boston Celtics". ESPN.com. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
  15. ^ "Celtics sign Michael Finley". NBA.com. March 6, 2010. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
  16. ^ "Michael Finley". JockBio.com. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  17. ^ "Michael Finley, NBA All-Star and Badger legend, will address graduates at winter commencement". UW News. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
  18. ^ Kropa, Andy (October 4, 2016). "Ex-Maverick Michael Finley makes name for himself in movie industry". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  19. ^ Asher Low (April 10, 2020). "Where are they now: Michael Finley". USA Today. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  20. ^ "Michael Finley | Producer, Actor". IMDb. Retrieved December 18, 2023. [user-generated source]
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