Reply With Quote
That makes me happy. Derek Anderson is a piece of .
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/c...y.2f4f997.html
Buck Harvey: Fin-less yet familiar: Why Spurs will lose another
Web Posted: 08/21/2005 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Michael Finley can get more money from Miami or Detroit. He can team with a friend, Steve Nash, in Phoenix. He can fill a starting slot in Denver, if just to prove to the world he's still got it.
Or, he can come to San Antonio, where the only real plus for Finley is that Bruce Bowen won't elbow him anymore. At least not in games.
Welcome to the latest Spurs free-agent exercise.
It's the Jason Kidd, Karl Malone, No-Thanks Event of the summer.
Miami is the favorite to land the 32-year-old shooter next week for the usual reasons. The Heat can pay about twice what the Spurs can, and, as Jerry Maguire knows, that offer qualifies as you-had-me-at- o. Money also was a factor two summers ago with Kidd.
Mark Cuban could add to the pot, too. He owes Finley about $50 million, albeit in an exaggerated stretch payment plan. According to reports, Finley will receive his money over about a 20-year period.
So if Cuban doesn't want Finley to help a franchise just 270 miles south? Cuban could always encourage an eastern move by restructuring the contract.
That said, the Spurs say they aren't officially out of the Finley sweepstakes. They hold out hope partly because they admire Finley and partly because of the Latrell Sprewell-like alternatives.
As for the dramatically-altered status of Derek Anderson: The Spurs have no interest in the same guy they tried to keep a few years ago with a $43 million offer.
Gregg Popovich is familiar with the prospects. He knows DA, naturally, and he coached Sprewell in Golden State. Popovich's relationship with Finley is less lengthy but still substantial; the two were together on the 2002 World Championship team.
Popovich has talked to Finley this summer, and he had something to sell besides a chance to win a ring. If Finley shoots well, as he likely would with Tim Duncan clearing floor space, he will find a place on the floor for a team in need of bench scoring.
Finley would also fit in a locker room of professionals. No one — including those in Dallas — thinks his March 2004 confrontation with Bowen would carry over.
Sure, Finley called Bowen "a coward player" after a game that season. But ask Ray Allen and Vince Carter. Wouldn't it be better to play with Bowen than against him?
In that game, for example, Finley retaliated and was ejected. Bowen stayed in, as he usually does after these incidents, and the Spurs won.
If Finley became a Spur, he would sit while Bowen started. And those who know Finley say this is a huge issue. Finley is stung and insulted at the perception that his game has dropped off, and playing 12 minutes a night in San Antonio would not cure this.
Finley might take Brent Barry's minutes as well as some of Bowen's. But there are no guarantees with Popovich. After all, Avery Johnson didn't see Finley as a perfect piece for his system, and that system is Popovich's system.
Maybe Finley is more than a spot player. After all, he had a knee cleaned up this summer, and afterward he announced he'd been hurting all last season.
That would explain his playoff drop against the Suns, at least. After scoring 31 points in Game 2, he scored only 34 points combined over the final four games. The low point came in the final game, in Dallas, when he scored just seven points in the loss.
But the knee isn't an excuse for the 2003 Western Conference Finals, when the Spurs forced him into 3-for-15 nights. The past two years of playoffs also suggest a career on the downward spiral. Over his last 18 postseason games, Finley has averaged just 13 points.
That's why, ultimately, he's probably more suited for the Spurs' limited role. But who passes on more money and more playing time?
Then there's the prospect of joining a team that has just won. Malone, for one, didn't like that dynamic when he turned down the champion Spurs to play for the Lakers in 2003. Besides, Miami, Detroit and Phoenix will have similar chances at a le this season.
Add it up — the money, the playing time, the ego — and what's his answer?
The Spurs have heard it before.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]
That makes me happy. Derek Anderson is a piece of .
I don't understand why money is the issue????
He's got $51 million coming from the Mavs? I would pick SA just to stick it to the Mavs...
Yeah, he's got the money coming, but...I don't understand why money is the issue????
He's got $51 million coming from the Mavs? I would pick SA just to stick it to the Mavs...
He won't see the full of it until he's well past 50. Apparently, Finley may be a bit impatient when it comes to his bank account. He wants to get paid now, AND then.[Dallas] owes Finley about $50 million, albeit in an exaggerated stretch payment plan. According to reports, Finley will receive his money over about a 20-year period.
Unless....
He and Cuban try to strike some sort of deal that will keep him out of the Western Conference (and off of Conference opponent benches), and then he can have his 55 million dollar cake and eat it, too.So if Cuban doesn't want Finley to help a franchise just 270 miles south? Cuban could always encourage an eastern move by restructuring the contract.
Just as I thought.They hold out hope partly because they admire Finley and partly because of the Latrell Sprewell-like alternatives.
I don't think Spree considers the Spurs (even if I think he could still help them). If his agent says he is worth MORE than the MLE, so I think the Spurs are not on his list anymore. But maybe the reports are wrong...Just as I thought.
What are Spurs fans complaining about? If someone offered you $5 mil a year would you take that or $2.5 mil?
Sprewell's done, ain't the Spree of 3 years ago, mentally or physically. He's so worried about his starving family and automotive accessories business.
If Minny would take Barry for Spree I'd do that. And I suspect so would Pop.
I did not complain about anything.
let me see i have a chance to make 5million with a team that has a legitimate chance at a le or i can take 2.5 from a team with a legitimate chance at a le....what would i take
No thanks.Barry for Spree
Id give Barry another year to prove himself.
Let pippi longstocking suffer somewhere else.
Be gone Spreewell.
No way in I do Barry for Spree. Pop might, but I wouldn't.
Man some of you have a utopian view of business. "I don't get why he's considering Miami, it's only twice the salary he could make here."
Really, how many of you would turn away a job offer with a 100% payraise? I sure as wouldn't, and you can't blame Finley for doing it either.
Pop would do it because it makes sense, especially for the same price. Barry gets far too much love for what he's done and is capable of doing.
Barrys only had 1 season.
Stephen Jackson got two.
Go ahead and give Barry another year, rather have Barry than the washed up Spreewell.
dude, it's always the issue. you know that. with ballas or former ballas especially, as is the case with finley.
what is mike fin worth? whatever a team is willing to pay him.
it really pisses me off when i agree with TPark.
good call though.
What for though? He and the Mavs ended on good terms, he's getting his contract payed by them still, everyone in the organization had only good things to say about him and vice versa. It was purely a money move, he's a professional and he knows that. You don't "stick it to" a team that has been your home and family for 8 years when you part peacefully.I would pick SA just to stick it to the Mavs...
You're utterly insane.
Barry is much more valuable at this point than Spreewell is. Besides, Spree would come free.
If something like that bothers you....it really pisses me off when i agree with TPark
You need to get some priorities straight if thats the case.
And you're an idiot. Nanny nanny poo poo.
For what? Another postseason meltdown?Barry is much more valuable at this point than Spreewell is.
When DET is offering twice? Get a clue.Besides, Spree would come free.
Would come without a trade, you dip.
The only way he would "come free" is if he signs for what the Spurs have left in cap room, which is roughly half of what DET has to offer.
Try again, "dip".
Last edited by Marcus Bryant; 08-21-2005 at 07:45 PM.
Actually, since a chunk of the "new" salary goes back to the old team to offset the salary that they must continue to pay him, the difference isn't 100%. However, the agent will get his full commission on the new deal. Any clue as to who is driving this process?
I really think that Finley will get fewer shots in Miami, even if he starts, that he would in SA. He's behind Shaq, Wade, and the two ball and shot hogs in the pecking order.
If I were one of the amnesty casualties, and had a fat payday already in the bank, I'd probably opt for a one year deal to see if the team is a "fit".
I don't really care if Fin comes here or not. He's not the missing piece, or anything. If he comes fine. If he doesn't, that's also fine. Miami's a nice place.
I think Finley will likely end up in Miami, but it's weird to me that he has reportedly been in Phoenix hanging out with Suns' brass since Thursday night. I know he was going to that wedding, but there's obviously a lot of shmoozing going on as well.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
