 Finley in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dallas Mavericks | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Interim general manager Vice president of player personnel | ||||||||||||||||||||
| League | NBA | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1973-03-06)March 6, 1973 (age 52) Melrose Park, Illinois, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 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: 1st round, 21st overall pick | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Drafted by | Phoenix Suns | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1995–2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Small forward /shooting guard | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Number | 4, 40 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Phoenix Suns | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996–2005 | Dallas Mavericks | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005–2010 | San Antonio Spurs | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | Boston Celtics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Career highlights | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Points | 17,306 (15.8 ppg) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 4,804 (4.4 rpg) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Assists | 3,245 (2.9 apg) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stats at NBA.com  | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |||||||||||||||||||||
Medals
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Michael Howard Finley (born March 6, 1973) is an American former professionalbasketball player who is an interim general manager and vice president of player personnel for theDallas Mavericks of theNational Basketball Association (NBA). He played 15 seasons in the NBA, predominantly with the Mavericks, but also for thePhoenix Suns (who drafted him in1995), theSan Antonio Spurs, and theBoston Celtics. He was a two-time NBA All-Star and won an NBA championship with the Spurs in2007.
Finley attendedProviso East High School inMaywood, 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 drafteesSherell Ford andDonnie Boyce. In response to winning the state championship, Finley was invited to travel toDeerfield, Illinois, where he played againstMichael Jordan in a game ofH-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]
The 6' 7"shooting guard/small forward was originally drafted out ofUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison by thePhoenix Suns as the 21st overall pick of the1995 NBA draft. Finley held the all-time scoring record atWisconsin for eleven years before being passed byAlando Tucker on March 10, 2007.[7]
| 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 | |
Finley was named to the1995–96NBA All-Rookie First Team and finished third inRookie 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 theDallas Mavericks along withSam Cassell,A.C. Green and a second-round draft pick forJason Kidd,Tony Dumas andLoren Meyer.
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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 guardSteve Nash and forwardDirk Nowitzki, he became an integral part of the Mavericks' late '90s "run and gun" offense.
In 2000, he was selected to represent theWestern Conference in the 2000All-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 theWestern Conference on All-Star weekend. He played for theUS national team in the2002 FIBA World Championship,[11] which lost a record-three games and failed to win a championship for the first time in a major competition sinceFIBA opened international competitions to NBA players.
While Finley began to play more of a supporting role (small forward) as he aged and teammateDirk 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 byDetroit,Miami,Minnesota, andPhoenix, he elected to remain inTexas with theSan Antonio Spurs.
InSan Antonio, Finley adapted well to a secondary role asManu Ginóbili's backup, developing and emphasizing his outside shooting. The Spurs would face Finley's former team the Mavericks in the second round of the2006 NBA playoffs. In Game 5 of the series, Finley was punched by former teammateJason 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 againstDenver 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 teammateBruce 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.
On March 4, 2010, Finley reached a verbal agreement with theBoston 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 reached the2010 NBA Finals, but lost to the defending championLos Angeles Lakers in seven games. At the end of the season, Finley announced he would retire.
Finley began playing basketball in elementary school. His favorite player wasMichael Jordan and he would occasionally go toChicago 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 asMilwaukee Bucks head coachDoc Rivers.
He works in the front office as the Vice President of Basketball Operations for theDallas Mavericks.[18][19]
Finley was one of the producers of the filmsLee Daniels' The Butler andThe Birth of a Nation.[20]
| 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 anNBA championship | * | Led the league |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | |
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