제목대로 댈러스 매버릭스에서 웨이버 공시로 방출된 마이클 핀리가...
가장 가능성이 적었었던... 샌안토니오 스퍼스와 계약을 해 버렸습니다...
그것도 첫해 연봉이 단돈 250만불이라는 아주 저렴한(-_-;) 금액으로 말이죠...
이 소식이 전해짐과 동시에 NBA 많은 팀들이 두려움에 떨고 있을 것 같습니다.
왜냐하면 올 자유계약 시장에서 스퍼스는 소리소문 없이 알찬 계약을 진행하고 있기 때문입니다.
일단 백업 포인트 가드에 (사실 백업이라고 하기 민망합니다만) 닉 반 엑셀을 둘 수 있게 되었고요
작년 우승에 결정적인 역할을 해 버린 '더 빅샷' 로버트 오리와 재 계약을 했습니다.
센터에는 라쇼와 나지 모하메드를 그대로 두게 되었으며
결정적으로 마이클 핀리라는 강펀치를 다른 팀들에게 날려 버린 것입니다.

현재 결정된 라인업은 다음과 같습니다.

PG - 토니 파커 (닉 반 엑셀, 베노 우드리)
SG - 마누 지노블리 (브렌트 베리)
SF - 부르스 보웬 (마이클 핀리)
PF - 팀 던컨 (로벗 오리, 파브리치오 오베르토)
C - 나즈 모하메드 (라쇼 네스트로비치)

현재 라인업이 12명인데 주전이 8명이라는... 아주 엽기적인 라인업을 구성했죠..
정말로 샌안토니오의 프론트진... 존경할만 합니다...
사치세를 무는 것도 아니고 싼 가격에 도저히 데려올 수 없을 것만 같은 선수들을...
끌어모으고 있는데요, 이런 경영진이라면 어느 사업을 해도 성공 할 것만 같습니다..

아무튼 벌써 다음 시즌 예상에 샌안토니오가 우승하는거 아니냐는 섯부른 예측도 나오고 있구요.. 저도 그렇게 생각합니다..
뭐... 농구공도 역시 공이기에 변수가 일어날 수도 있겠지만, 부상없이 저 멤버 그대로 플옵에 간다면 아마 2연패를 하는 것은 무난하지 않을까 싶습니다.

이하는 핀리의 이적에 대한 기사 원문과 논평입니다.

새로운 가드를 원하기는 했지만, 스퍼스 감독인 그렉 포포비치는 경쟁에서 이기리라는 생각을 하지는 못했습니다. 스퍼스는 겨우 2.5mil의 오퍼를 제시했을 따름이며, 포포비치는 화요일날 핀리는 돈 이상의 것을 생각하고 있다고 말했습니다.
- San Antonio Express-News



이 결정은 핀리가 마이애미로 갈 것이라는것은 생각할 필요도 없다 라고 말한 NBA 관계자들에게 충격이었습니다. 심지어, 스퍼스의 감독, 그렉 포포비치 조차도 핀리가 피닉스로 갈것이라고 생각했습니다. 핀리는 마이애미가 가장 많은 돈을 제시하게된 이래 마이애미로 가리라 예상되었습니다. 핀리는 또한 피닉스에 친구들을 두고 있습니다만, 샌안토니오로 향하는것은 state income taxes를 줄이는것이 될 것입니다. (아마, 샌안토니오가 다른 주에 비해 세금이 싼가보네요) 그는 댈러스와 같은 디비전에서 경쟁할 기회를 잡았습니다. 한 소식통은 이것이 그가 매버릭스측에 한방 먹일수 있는 최고의 방법이라고 말했습니다.
- WOAI.com



왜 샌안토니오를 선택했느냐는 물음에, 핀리가 답했습니다 "한마디로, 그들은 이미 챔피언이지만, 여전히 개선의 여지가 있기때문입니다. 그리고, 저의 능력이 그들이 원하는 개선방향으로 나가는데 도움이 되리라 생각합니다."
- ESPN.com





Finley chooses Spurs over Heat, SunsBy Marc Stein
ESPN.com



The team that won the Michael Finley Sweepstakes is the same team that just won an NBA championship.


Finley told ESPN.com on Wednesday that he has chosen to sign with the San Antonio Spurs, spurning a richer offer from the Miami Heat and the lure of an emotional return to the Phoenix Suns to reunite with close friend Steve Nash.




Hey Dallas, Michael Finley is heading to your conference rivals.The Dallas Mavericks tried for weeks to move Finley to an Eastern Conference team to prevent him from joining the Spurs or the Suns. When it couldn't swing a trade before the Aug. 15 deadline to exercise the NBA's new amnesty clause, Dallas reluctantly waived the two-time All-Star, making Finley an unrestricted free agent and the target of an intense two-week courtship that also involved the Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves.


Miami's Pat Riley, Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire and Minnesota's Kevin Garnett were among the big names to fly to Chicago last week to make face-to-face pitches to Finley. In the end, he went with the team that sent a one-man delegation -- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich -- to Finley's hometown.


The complete structure of the deal with San Antonio hasn't been finalized, including the length of the contract, but Finley will receive a starting salary of roughly $2.5 million this season.


"To be a part of a championship team, I'm excited," Finley said. "This is the closest I've ever been to a championship. I'm looking forward to the challenge of helping this team repeat."


Asked why he picked the Spurs, Finley said: "In a nutshell, they're already a championship team but they have room for improvement. And I feel my game can help them in the areas where they need improvement."


Landing Finley, 32, completes an impressive summer haul for the Spurs, who felt a need to be as aggressive as they've ever been in free agency after struggling to holds leads of 2-0 and 3-2 over Detroit in a taut-as-possible NBA Finals. They expect Finley to supply off-the-bench punch and a reliable 3-point stroke as the third wing of a swing trio that features All-Star guard Manu Ginobili and defensive specialist Bruce Bowen.


Since free agency began July 1, San Antonio has also re-signed playoff hero Robert Horry, added wily Argentinean post man Fabricio Oberto to the frontcourt rotation and Monday signed fiery veteran point guard Nick Van Exel, Finley's former Dallas teammate.


Popovich's foremost challenge next season will be massaging playing time and egos with a roster far deeper than the Spurs typically carry. It remains to be seen, for starters, what role remains for Brent Barry, who was San Antonio's marquee newcomer last summer.


Yet it's a challenge Popovich welcomes, after lengthy struggles to find a bench spark in the wake of Ginobili's emergence and knowing that the Spurs' perimeter shooting could use an upgrade to capitalize on the ability of Tim Duncan and Ginobili to collapse defenses. It's believed that Van Exel, like Horry, isn't interested in heavy minutes during the regular season and wants badly to fit in with the Spurs for a shot at a championship. It was also clear during the playoffs that San Antonio could use a playoff-tested alternative at point guard to the up-and-down Tony Parker, whose only backup last season was untested rookie Beno Udrih.


Missing out on Finley, meanwhile, comes as a blow to the Suns more than any other spurned suitor. With Nash as lead recruiter, and banking on Finley's fond feelings for the desert after starting his career there in 1995, Phoenix was hoping to land the 10-year veteran to start him in the guard slot vacated by Joe Johnson. Finley would have joined Raja Bell, Boris Diaw and the returning Jim Jackson in a group approach to replacing Johnson.


The Suns, though, could only offer Finley a veteran minimum salary of $1.1 million for next season. Failing to land Finley doesn't necessarily knock Phoenix from its top-two perch in the West, after the Suns made their own series of roster tweaks, but figures to make it tougher for them to close the gap on the team that knocked Phoenix out in last spring's Western Conference finals.

"Of course we are disappointed, but to Michael's credit, he didn't just take the money," Suns president Bryan Colangelo said. "He talked about a chance to win and ultimately he decided to play for the defending NBA champions."

“ In a nutshell, they're already a championship team but they have room for improvement. And I feel my game can help them in the areas where they need improvement. ”
  — Michael Finley on why he chose the Spurs
The Heat, widely regarded as the favorites in the Finley chase, were offering a starting salary at the full mid-level exception ($5 million) and the chance to team with Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade. Yet with the Heat already having added Antoine Walker, Jason Williams and James Posey in a five-team trade last month, Finley ultimately decided to pass on seeing how he'd fit into that mix. Instead he joins a club known for meshing quickly, with Duncan serving as the only constant on three very different championship teams.


Finley's decision will also come as a blow to the Mavericks and particularly star forward Dirk Nowitzki, who with Finley and Nash formed what was known in Dallas as a close-like-brothers Big Three. The Mavericks didn't want to see Finley follow Nash to Phoenix, but they were rooting against San Antonio, too, hoping their former face of the franchise would choose Miami or Detroit after the fruitless trade attempts.


The Mavericks decided they had to waive Finley because the amnesty clause will spare Dallas future luxury-tax payments on the nearly $52 million it still owes him. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban estimates the total savings over the next three seasons to be closer to $90 million, because Finley will receive his remaining Dallas salary in annual installments of less than $5 million.