Reply With Quote
Not bad. Now if we can only get rid of Barry...I'd rather a new SG learn the ropes from Findog than Brent.
Finley chooses to remain with Spurs, will make $3.1 million
By Marc Stein
ESPN.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2917810
San Antonio Spurs swingman Michael Finley notified the team Tuesday that he will bypass the opportunity to become a free agent July 1 and play out the final season of his contract with the newly crowned champions.
Finley had until Saturday to forfeit next season's $3.1 million salary and return to the open market, but called his decision a "no-brainer."
"I originally signed for three years, with the last year being an option [year] if I didn't enjoy it here," Finley told ESPN.com. "I like it here."
Although Finley, 34, conceivably could have opted out to seek a longer contract with the Spurs, he still has one guaranteed season left on his Mavericks contract valued at $18.6 million.
The Mavs released Finley in August 2005 with three years and nearly $52 million left on that contract to take advantage of the league's one-time "amnesty" provision. That enabled Dallas, by waiving its former face of their franchise, to save nearly $52 million in luxury-tax payments.
Finley admittedly struggled in his first season to make the short hop to San Antonio, as much with the psychological adjustment involved in moving from the Mavericks to their bitter rivals from South Texas as anything. But he gradually found a niche after choosing the Spurs over Phoenix and Miami and was an undeniable factor in the playoffs, emerging as one of the Spurs' most effective players in a seven-game classic with his old team in 2006's second round in which Dallas finally toppled San Antonio.
"Losing like that brought us closer together," Finley said recently. "It gave me something in common with those other [Spurs veterans]."
This season was much smoother as a result. Finley moved into the starting lineup late in the season -- into the spot vacated when Gregg Popovich asked Manu Ginobili to return to his old sixth-man role -- and eventually embraced repeated pleas from his coach to shoot more often as opposed to trying to fit in.
He finished fourth in playoff scoring for the Spurs at 11.3 points per game, shooting 41.9 percent from 3-point range and nearly 90 percent from the line in 26.9 minutes. The highlight: Finley drained a franchise-playoff-record eight 3-pointers in a first-round victory over Denver that closed the Nuggets out in five games.
"[Finley is] almost too professional of a player," Popovich said earlier this month. "He wants to please his coaches so badly that he's just too hard on himself at times. I think that he's learned with some humor and some discussion that it really is easier to play well if one can let go of a turnover or a missed shot and just go play, because the consequences aren't very huge. We're all going to get up in the morning like everybody else on the planet and conduct real life, so I think that's all helped him."
That reverence helps explain why Popovich, Tim Duncan and Finals MVP Tony Parker made repeated references during the Cleveland series about how badly they wanted to help Finley win his first ring.
"He's even more of a leader than I thought he would be," Popovich said. "He's more vocal than I thought he would be. And he commands even more respect than I thought he would. He's really a remarkable individual."
Marc Stein is the senior NBA writer for ESPN.com. To e-mail him, click here.
Last edited by timvp; 06-27-2007 at 01:26 AM.
Not bad. Now if we can only get rid of Barry...I'd rather a new SG learn the ropes from Findog than Brent.
Cool.
Oberto will do the same. I predict he re-signs here for 3 years, 10.5 mil which pays him slightly more than Elson.
Barry and Scola to Chicago for Nocioni, re-sign Vaughn for 1.7mil, Beno and a packet of beef jerky to Cleveland for a 2nd round pick, and it would be a perfect offseason.
Good for him, and good for the Spurs. The more players we know that are going to play next year, the better we can choose with whom we go with in the draft and internationally. Now we need to resign Oberto ASAP. He's important to this team and the Spurs know that.
mando
i love fin man!
GO FINDOG GO!!! Let's repeat in 08!
Adios Brent.
This should end the Grant Hill rumor.
The Spurs do not need him.
Ship Barry, Beno, and the 28th and let's get us a strong back up point or even Belinelli...
Or let James White finally shine!
dude, you've been watching to much KSAT.Cool.
Oberto will do the same. I predict he re-signs here for 3 years, 10.5 mil which pays him slightly more than Elson.
Barry and Scola to Chicago for Nocioni, re-sign Vaughn for 1.7mil, Beno and a packet of beef jerky to Cleveland for a 2nd round pick, and it would be a perfect offseason.
Good...I'm glad he's coming back!
For continuity sake, that's good.
Now perhaps we can forget about the Grant Hill rumors and the Spurs can draft a young, developing talent who can provide much-needed depth.
Grant Hill would be a good addition to this team.
Excellent news - I was worrying he would opt out as well as Oberto, which would leave us patching our rotation back up, not improving... As it is, getting Oberto back might be hard enough.
Being that Cuban is still paying him millions and millions, makes it easier.
The Fin haters cringe.
Great to see you coming back Fin
Good news, he was great in the playoffs except the Finals
Yeah!
Game 3 I think he had a pretty good game but yeah, I think he just ran out of gas.Good news, he was great in the playoffs except the Finals
That and he put a HUGE load on his own shoulders. That ALSO I think his back was starting to bother him, he hurt it before game 4 against Utah I believe.
Without Fin, theres no way in the Spurs get past the damn Nuggets, let alone to the Finals.
More yachts to water ski behind!
good for you Finley...good for you.
good news.
Of note, this came before the draft.
Finley staying means that the Spurs won't have to use some part of the MLE to replace him and frees up Barry to be moved. If the Spurs were so inclined they could see what teams were looking to offload a contract and might be interested in Shaggy's expiring contract.
Yeah, props to Mike for making a favorable, but also timely decision for the franchise. Although I guess this doesn't actually affect the players we won't draft with the picks we won't keep.
Well lets go
Scola???
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
