Finley headed to Boston
by Gary Washburn
Globe Staff
Henry Thomas, the agent for Michael Finley, confirmed Thursday afternoon that his client is signing a contract with the Celtics for the remainder of the season and will report to practice Saturday with his new team.
Finley, who turns 37 Saturday, was released from the San Antonio Spurs on Monday at his request and the Celtics contacted Thomas this week to show their interest. Finley averaged 3.7 points this season in an injury-plagued final year with the Spurs.
"The opportunity to earn minutes in the rotation," Thomas said. "And the chance to seek a ring and the chance to play for Doc (Rivers) and with (Kevin Garnett) and some of the other guys. All of those things made Boston attractive."
Finley suffered a badly sprained left ankle early this season and was limited to 25 games for the Spurs. When he returned from injury, he was out of the San Antonio rotation and requested to be waived. General manager and coach Gregg Popovich reluctantly agreed.
"It was difficult in the sense that he grew very fond of the organization," Thomas said. "It was an organization where he won his first and only ring. He has nothing but respect for his time there. This was a rather sudden thing for him."
Finley has piled up more than 17,000 points since entering the league with Phoenix in 1995 out of Wisconsin. He played 9 1/2 seasons in Dallas before signing with the Spurs after the Mavericks bought out his contract. He is a career 37 percent 3-point shooter ,but that number dropped to 31.7 percent this season.
"He is very excited about playing with the guys on the team," Thomas said. "He still thinks he has the ability to contribute some things on the court and provide the things to the team that they need to get another ring."
Thomas said Finley is completely healthy and could be in action Sunday against the Washington Wizards.
No they don't. As illustrated by the complex math problem below, our chances are the same.
0 = 0
I think the Spurs have been missing his 3 point shot all year.
He had those flaws the day he joined the Spurs. He's just gotten progressively worse.
Does anyone think the 2010 Celtics look like the 2009 Spurs?
- HOF PF playing at 50% due to late season nagging injuries? Check
- All-star swingman whose body is breaking down? Check
- Young PG having to carry the entire load every night? Check
Finley just completes it all. It's going to be an ugly end this year for Boston.
Interesting. The Celtics lost three point shooting in House, but Robinson can make the three, in addition to Allen, Pierce and Wallace and their defense, which is what they pride themselves on, is already slipping, so I'm a bit surprised that they'll go with Finley over Allen.
Now, the Celtics will be worse defensively and have less athleticism and speed/quickness, than they already do. Eventually, when they're locked in a second round playoff series with the Cavs, they'll need Allen to be the secondary defender on James and this is when Finley will fall out of the rotation because there's no room for eleven players to play at that point. The Spurs had this problem and I'm glad it's been cleared up. Sure, the Spurs rotation is not without it's issues, but at least it's clearly defined now.This is exactly the type of thing that creates tension in the locker room. Having a bunch of veterans who are used to being in the rotation and either have their role changed, minutes limited, or are cut out of the rotation entirely.
Yeah right. I don't see how Hairston gets any meaningful playing time down the stretch. This team already is laboring to make three's, so when Pop goes beyond the top eight and needs another perimeter player, I doubt he'll go with Hairston over Mason.
I've been saying this for a while now, only I think they're more like the '08 Spurs.
- terrible 3rd quarter team
- constantly blowing double digit leads
- still good, but clearly slipping defensively
- go on major scoring droughts because they don't have enough players who can create offense or put up big numbers
Well, good luck to Finley and the Celts. I think they will need it.
Glad Finley is not available to mess up the rotations. He's a pro and did some good things for the Spurs, but was clogging up the works here.
In all fairness, Finley has been missing his 3 point shot all year as well.
Boston is looking for any help they can get. Their downfall started with not keeping Posey. Then they lost Powe and House. Adding Daniels, Robinson and possibly Fin doesn't make up for what they lost.
good for them
I don't think he'll get any more minutes or anything, but have you watched a Celtics game this year? Those guys are no more of contenders than we are.
Dropkick Murphys, "Shipping Up to Boston"
They've been playing Scalabrine at sf at times. That should tell you something about how much they were wanting some sf help.
Looking at some of the Boston boards they seem to like the signing if he's used properly. Some are not crazy about it but agree he was the best of what was available.
If Allen and Scalabrine are the odd men out and Finley strictly plays as Pierce's backup then he could get 10-15 minutes a night easily. Some nights maybe he gets more and some nights less depending on the situation.
I can't stand Finley, and feel that he's been stealing money from the Spurs since the 2007 le. However, his self-ejection from the Spurs is an indictment of Pop as well.
Nobody loved Finley more than Pop, yet Finley bailed on him. Finley has been around...he knows a sinking ship when he sees one, and Pop's caoching is taking the Spurs down no matter how much dead weight we can throw over the edge.
I don't see how Finley's departure is "an indictment of Pop". Apparently, he wanted to leave because Pop had the good sense not to play him. Pop had indeed faced the facts and had few , if any, minutes for Finley. Hopefully his less than gracious farewell will be a little extra motivation for the Spurs to come at Boston hard when we play down the road. Hopefully they'll put him on Manu or RJ!
I say the same thing about bonner. I'm glad we have one less of this type of player on our team now. Good luck fin, but this was a fail move for you.
Why are some people so in love with his 3 point shot? He is more of a 3 point play waiting to happen....for the other team!
Finley played some of his best ball as a Spur. He was never the scorer, but we never asked him to be. Pop had him playing decent defense for a lot of the time.
But he's 37, he's slow and can't get back on defense at all anymore, and he's really only better as a spot up 3 point shooter at this point, a la Barry or Kerr. But he didn't want that kind of role, and wasn't hitting his shots anyway.
He could have that role for the C's, but he's not gonna get more than 10 min a game tops, so I predict he will be unhappy very soon.
Yes! I thought the Celtics could use a backup 4.
Well, Michael made the right decision.
Celtics do have a bigger chance to win the championship than the Spurs right now.
Anyyyyyythingggg issssssss possssssible!
Rumor has it that Pop is Danny Ainge's Chief Basketball Advisor.
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