The Official: Michael Finley: Thread

[Epitome22]

Quick question. What do Tracy McGrady, Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen have in common?

Answer: They are the only other 2 guards by my estimate that are having a stronger season so far than the Flying Tiger. Even Kobe Bryant, though he will most likely return to expected form and finish the season with comparable numbers to hos others, is not having as strong a season as Finley is so far.

This is completely subjective on my part and not really based on hard objective analysis, but I think a thorough glance at the statistics of Mr. Finley and his contemporarys will lead to a similiar conclusion. Michael Finley is a strange beast. He goes from being the lone Mav superstar and perrennial favorite of most NBA fans' all-underrated team. With the emergence of the Mavs other players, he goes from leader of the big 3, to being questioned if he should be a big 3 at all. He is now the routine dog of many Mavs fans unoblivious to finger pointings and blame bearing. On his bad days, half the Dallas faithful would have him shipped off somehwere in exchange for a center. On his good days, he's not much more than invisible.

Nowadays, it seems he's more underrated than what he was supposed to be back in the late 90's. New blood rising out of the waters and forging out strong seasons from the 2 guard spot (I.E. Maggete, Redd) cannot claim to be having as strong a season as Fin Dawg. Yet we see no pieces about Finley. No interviewers picking his brain. He is the ever dependable invisible soldier. Like clockwork, 17-19 points per game, 4-6 boards a game, 2-3 assists, a steal, 83-85% of his free-throws, 40% of his threes.



This is not meant to be some championing of Mike Finley. There will be nothing about "The heart and soul of the team" or "leader of the franchise". This was not meant to be a piece to defend Finley from his would be detractors either. Just an acknowledgement that a Mav with a fairly long tenure who's put up quite a string of "pretty good" seasons, is having yet another "pretty good" season, and has been by far the most consistent player on the squad recently, during a stretch where the Mavs have strung togehter 8 in a row.