Fin's Goodbye An End To An Era by Fish

[MavsFanFinley]

I'm sure Cuban had this planned all along.

Blue Waive
Fin's Goodbye An End To An Era

By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com

The Michael Finley-in-Dallas timeline rises and falls like one of his top-of-his-game long-range jumpers: High-flying newcomer. Loyal teammate. Captain. Face of the franchise. Ironman. A member of "The Big 3.'' All-Star. Lightning rod. Scapegoat. Fading star. Disgruntled piece
.
And now, because of the NBA's new amnesty rule ex-Maverick, a final timeline entry as unprecentedly ignominious as it gets: a waived ex-Mav.

Ignominious, we say, because the fact that Finley retains the remaining $51 mil on his contract aside, this transaction qualifies as disgraceful, dishonorable and shameful. Disgraceful, dishonorable and shameful for the proud Finley? Sure. This fate could not have been imagined by him before the amnesty rule. But disgraceful, dishonorable and shameful for the Mavs, too. Because the end of an era -- an end marked in the last 13 months by departures by Don Nelson and Steve Nash, too -- comes without a trade piece coming in exchange for Finley, comes without a parade to guide him gracefully out of town, comes without a Mavericks title that would have made all this tumult seem worth it.

"We thank Mike for his contributions on and off the court while he was in Dallas," said Mavw owner Mark Cuban late Monday, after the Mavs had exhausted attempts to find a better solution to beat the amnesty deadline. "He has been invaluable to the Mavericks. We cannot thank him enough for all he has done for our fans and for the organization."

Know this about Cuban: He is as much sportsman as businessman, as much friend to his Mavericks as boss. So while even Fin's most ardent fans would concede that at 32, his flaws are noticeable (Michael's numbers the last three years are in decline, injuries may be taking a toll, and his style of play may not be best suited for coach Avery Johnson's plans), no one wanted it to go this way. "This way'' meaning that in the scenario that played itself out, everyone except Finley's banker loses.

This is the wrong time to focus solely on what Michael couldn't or wouldn't do. "Why didn't he drive to the hole more?'' and "why didn't he become a better ballhandler?'' and "what happened to his defensive want-to'' are questions the coaching staff almost certainly focused on, and pondered, before offering its support of the transaction. It is the right time to note that Finley was, to us, a bit of an enigma: Billed as "the funniest guy on the team,'' we never heard him -- not once! -- say something humorous. Billed as "the leader,'' we always saw Steve Nash as head-and-shoulders above the other Mavs in that department. The "comedian'' and "leader'' was intensely private -- all these years, and except for his love for his mother, do we know anything about him off the court? -- and intense, period.

This is probably a good time to note that, to bow to it, that intensity. It won the Mavs a lot of games in the last 10 years.

Finley will have no shortage of suitors, and he needn't be bothered with their salary offers because of the $51 mil already guaranteed him. Nash has talked openly about Phoenix being a player here. Rumors have circulated that Miami is interested. Finley could be of some help to an established contender like San Antonio, or an up-and-comer like Denver. If the Pacers were willing to talk swap, they will certainly be willing to talk to Fin the free agent. And of course, for years, his hometown Bulls have always had a rumored fondness for Finley.

None of which, we say, will make Finley as satisfied as remaining a Mav would have. He didn't take kindly to accepting a reduced role last year; we'll assume he bristles still at the news that his "replacement'' will be Doug Christie. But much of that is motivated by Fin's view, however outdated, that the Mavs are "his'' team. There's that intensity again. You have to kind of admire that.

Dallas attempted to make this a win-win; that's why the only news came so late, so near the 11 p.m. (Dallas time) deadline. DB.com's educated guess at an attempted trade partnership with the Pacers was apparently accurate -- but obviously not accurate enough.

Fin fans will need a bit of healing time here. We'll try to speed the process by reminding that while the amnesty rule is new -- and yes, ignominious -- even team captains and ironmen and All-Stars come and go. In 1996, the Mavs moved on despite losing Jason Kidd; they moved on in part because Kidd was swapped to the Suns for a relatively unknown dunking machine named Michael Finley. If the Mavs brass' judgement is correct here, this club will move on, taking up the slack for Fin with its Josh Howards and its Marquis Danielses and its Doug Christies and its Jerry Stackhouses. Oh, and one more thing: Dallas is likely not done dealing. ... so evaluating the present roster, sans Finley, with the cloud of this process making the lineup more difficult to make out, might be premature. And know that the Mavs front office has been dealing other transaction ideas along with the "what to do with Fin'' process.

"It's been a real tough process to go through," said Mavs president Donnie Nelson. "You have to make a decision in the best interest of the Mavericks and say goodbye."

Goodbye.

[chumdawg]

"His" team won 58 games last year. You reckon that's easily duplicated?

[chumdawg]

Hey, Fish. The late dealings weren't with Indy. They were with Houston. Which is why, you will recognize, the Rockets didn't waive Weatherspoon until just before the Mavs waived Fin.

And Fish, ironmen and captains and All-Stars don't come and go--well, they don't go under the amnesty rule. Unless you can point to another team captain, and ironman and All-Star, who was thrown out today on the same trash heap Finley was? No, your mistake is in using the plural. An Iron Man and Captain and (multiple) All-Star went today. And only one franchise was on the delivering end of that boot.

And please don't resurrect the Mavericks ghost of Jason Kidd. How dare you. Jason Kidd didn't evaporate into the night. Several players changed team that day, in case you don't remember. One player changed teams tonight. The Mavs lost one. A big one. And they didn't get one back.

So please don't shine us on with your Mavericks-self-serving-DB.com-mouthpiece shill. Those of us who have been here long enough know better.

[Murphy3]

...former all-star...former ironman...and a guy that was struggling with his leadership duties.

I'm not happy that he's gone, but I don't think him being gone is just about the money. It was partially due to his actions last year. He was called out by Nellie for not putting out effort to get the little things done over a stretch of multiple games. Once AJ took over, the same problem again popped up.

It's a sad day. But, it was a sadder day when one of our team leaders decided that doing the little things was below him.