Suns looking to re-aquire Finley

[JS22]

Finley - ugh. The guy has had one great game in his entire playoff career - other than that, he's a shrinker. I think he would be a horrible addition to this team. We already have a Finley-type guy - his name is Jimmy Jackson. Focus on bigs on FA, not on guys who perenially choke when the playoffs come.

Cheese, I'm convinced that you hate EVERYONE.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Cheese, I'm convinced that you hate EVERYONE.

Just not a fan of guys who consistently prove they can't handle the pressure in this league. There's more of those than there are guys who can. We're at a stage in our franchise that we haven't been in a while, it's time to be criticval when it concerns who we're bringing in to build with this team. I just dn't see the reason to lvoe this guy simply because he played on the Suns years back. To me - that wreaks of Cardinal fan thinking. Screw nostalgia - live in the present and look toward the bright future.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

i dont get it guys....what part of getting mike finley doesnt sound good.....Have you thought about our potential guard rotation next year.....NASH (mvp, best pg in basket ball), JJ (Right about now this guy is developing into an all nba player...trust me) Jim Jackson (possible 6th man of the year)and Mike Finley. Trust me fins is a fraction of what he used to be but him coming off the bench and in all reality costing us no $$$ is like having two solid scoring, defending, passing big 2 guards. If anyone gets injured he would fill in admirably. My only question is that him and jackson have similar games and it might be a waste of a roster spot to have two of the same type of player (really three if you count JJ). A good backup PG is a serious need as well.But seriously what kind of luxury is it to have this guy coming off the bench??? In our system he will match the numbers he had last year and while he is not a high quantity three shooter as Q, he is more than able to take that role on the team. My question guys is what are the suns doing with this draft last night? I mean i look at nrob and even gotat(?) as 8th and 9th guys coming off the bench and bringing something to the team and at a fraction of the cost of vetrans. and then we trade the both (as optimistic as i am i am not a big dijonaise guy) Are we going to fill our roster w/ free agents? Is sarver one of the cheapest owners in the NBA? I dont get it...thats two years w/o using a pick and i think we will look back at not keeping nate the same way we do about not drafting iggy last year. I hope BC has some assurances he can get the guys he wants in free agency....my #1 suggestion is to give Swift the MLE (his value is WAY down from last year) and have that human pogo stick coming off the bench and getting boards and blocking shots. Really the perfect complement to KT and STAT........

 

[Arizona's Finest]

we dont need him to start cheese....its not like we are counting on him to win us 20 games this year. He would be a nice luxury on a championship team..

 

[coloradosun]

Get Hunter out of your mind! If he won't sign for 1.7, then HE WILL NOT BE A PHOENIX SUN. I just wish people would accept that and move on.

We just saved 885K by not using #21 and picking Petro. Add that amount to 1.7M and 2.5-2.75 might keep Hunter. Hunter is still a young big man that knows the system, with the Suns passing on taking any unknown commodities in the 1st round I think that they are more apt now to keep Hunter. That is right around the amount that Voskuhl is making and I think that is why Hunter would want to be compensated by that amount, he contributed much more than Jake. Getting rid of Voskuhl is key.

 

[Cheesebeef]

we dont need him to start cheese....its not like we are counting on him to win us 20 games this year. He would be a nice luxury on a championship team..

who the hell is saying I want him to start? Bottom line - luxuries aren't something we should be talking about until we get a backup PG and a Backup big man. We've got a solid guard rotation (we had that LAST YEAR also) - we don't have solid depth in the frontcourt - period. You don't focus on luxuries when thee are necessitites to be dealt with first.

 

[HooverDam]

Trust me fins is a fraction of what he used to be but him coming off the bench and in all reality costing us no $$$ is like having two solid scoring, defending, passing big 2 guards. If anyone gets injured he would fill in admirably. My only question is that him and jackson have similar games and it might be a waste of a roster spot to have two of the same type of player (really three if you count JJ). A good backup PG is a serious need as well.\

Agreed, also you have to think Finley may be playing more back up SF than SG. So he could come in for Marion and JJax could come in for JJ.

I'd love to have Finley coming off the bench for cheap. For all those worried about him not being great in the playoffs, I say to you ,he isnt going to be on the floor in crunch time (unless we are down by a lot and go w/ a 3 pt shooting lineup).

We really need to get some back up bigs though, right now we have no one under contract (I dont count Jake since he is awful)

 

[Joe Mama]

I have no particular affinity for Hunter, I just don't see which free agent will fill our needs better. If we had drafted a shot-blocker (Petro) then sure.

I am open suggestions.

I've been vocal about the fact that I thought Hunter was underused for most of the season. I've learned my lesson about saying something is never going to happen, but I do agree with Chaplin that it's highly unlikely he's back if he wants much more than the $1.7 million exception. Who knows? They may find that it makes sense to give him a deal starting at $3 million. I just don't think D'Antoni likes him much because he makes too many dumb mistakes, his game congests middle of the floor, and he isn't particularly strong on the boards.

Still, I do think they need to add someone with true center size to the roster, and I don't see many better options than Hunter that won't cost the suns most or all of the mid-level exception.

Cheese, Finley had a pretty good series against Houston just before the Mavs faced the suns. I also think his role would be much different here. Q was younger, but I would much rather have Finley. I still don't think the team needs a true backup point guard with JJ and Jjax on the roster. I think they would still play a lot of skillball, but they would have the opportunity to go to a more traditional lineup with Thomas on the roster.

Joe Mama

 

[DevonCardsFan]

I don't like the fact that we seem to want to get older. If we wanted an outside threat to replace Q we should have kept the #21, replace it with future considerations in the KT deal and drafted Jack, Garcia, or Luther Head.

It's not about getting older, It is about winning now. Suns have their core of the team and have a future MVP in Amare. Suns are trying to put together the right kind of role players for a championship run. I would love getting Finley back I'm all for it

 

[playstation]

i disagree with all you finley haters. even now, at this point in his career, michael finley is a better player than quentin richardson. he shoots a higher percentage, takes more diversified shots, is more discerning about the shots he wants to take, has more of a passing game, and still gets about 4 boards a game. defensively, say what you will, but at least he WANTS to play defense. keep in mind, dropping a guys minutes from 37 to a max of 24 will also enable him to be more fresh. don't judge by the playoff series, he was definitely injured. imo, not a star, not worth the money cuban is paying (so can't blame him for waiving finley), but an absolute no brainer to get him for our backcourt.

to get him for $1.7M or whatever would be a coup. that acquisition by itself shores up spots 1, 2, and 3. then, JJ can truly split time between the 1 and 2 (aka, play 40 min per game, but 20 as pg and 20 as sg). rotation time broken as follows:

pg- nash 30, jj 18
sg- jj 20, finley 20, barbosa 8
sf- marion 20, jackson 24, finley 4
pg- thomas 30, marion 18
c- amare 38, big man??? 10

this means barbosa once again relegated to garbage time/insurance against injury. this also means i expect to play 'big ball' 60% of the time and 'small ball' 40%.

finley + a big man for the MLE is all they need for this to be a successful 9 man rotation. what do you think?

 

[F-Dog]

You know, Steve Nash had a rep as a playoff choker, too. As we saw last year, the real problem was that he didn't have enough help in Dallas to allow him to live up to the sky-high expectations there.


Finley would be perfect with the Suns. He's not versatile at all anymore--he can't create offense, for himself or for others--but he can still shoot, and he can still defend a little, too. Finley shot over 40% 3pt last season, and it wouldn't surprise me if he shot even better in a Suns uniform.

The two things that Q has on Finley are rebounding and versatility, and the Suns didn't use Q's versatility at all last year. The thing that Finley has on Q is shooting percentage. I think Finley could step into Q's spot in the starting lineup next year and the Suns would hardly miss a beat.


As for need, I've already said that I don't think the Suns are looking to change what they did last year. That means Marion will still be the starting PF, and KT will be coming off the bench. What the team needs is a third (or second) swing player and a fourth big (a center).

SG/SF is easily their biggest need right now, and Finley is the best fit I can see. The Suns can get a third-string center with their LLE--Francisco Elson, Robert Traylor, DeSagana Diop, etc.

 

[Cheesebeef]

You know what - as lon as they get some kind of big man with the MLE, I wouldn'thave that big a problem with getting Fins back. But I still think there are better options out there than adding another mentally soft guy who is injury prone and old.

 

[F-Dog]

You know what - as lon as they get some kind of big man with the MLE, I wouldn'thave that big a problem with getting Fins back. But I still think there are better options out there than adding another mentally soft guy who is injury prone and old.

I wish that were true.

There's a reason the Suns spent $48m on Q in the first place, you know.

 

[Maximus]

For anybody who is afraid of the Suns risk of losing their run and gun style by picking up KT, Finley is an excellent mitigation of that risk.

Coach D then decides which lineup best matches the team we are playing. If we need big, we go Nash, JJ, Marion, Amare and KT. Or if we want to go small, we go Nash, JJ, Finley or JJ2, Marion, and Amare.

For how we used Q (sit back and bomb 3's), is there any doubt that Finley can do that as well as or better than Q? By upgrading Q, we essentially are stealing KT for Nate Robinson.

Man, free agency can be a wonderful thing.
Maximus

 

[Chaplin]

SG/SF is easily their biggest need right now, and Finley is the best fit I can see. The Suns can get a third-string center with their LLE--Francisco Elson, Robert Traylor, DeSagana Diop, etc.

You can't be serious.

 

[playstation]

ok, if i'm finley, can i really turn down what will most likely be the MLE from denver for a starting position so that i can be a backup with the suns for the LLE?

on second thought, i think getting finley will take the MLE AND serious recruiting. this will not be so easy.

 

[Cheesebeef]

You can't be serious.

Yeah - I did a double take on that on as well.

 

[elindholm]

I'm not thrilled about re-aquiring Finley, but I do think it's a virtual lock that it will happen. Cuban is waiving him, so he can go pretty much wherever he wants and the money will be the same. Why not come to a fun team where he started his career, will have a long-time friend playing alongside of him, get a chance at a ring, and be an important role player without crushingly high expectations? It's basically a perfect fit for him, and since the Suns have almost no other options for adding talent to their roster, I'd expect them to welcome him with open arms.

 

[elindholm]

ok, if i'm finley, can i really turn down what will most likely be the MLE from denver for a starting position so that i can be a backup with the suns for the LLE?

on second thought, i think getting finley will take the MLE AND serious recruiting. this will not be so easy.

Review the previous thread. Regardless of what Finley signs for, his total salary next year will be exactly the amount that he was scheduled to earn from the Mavericks, period. The only way that isn't true is if they agree to a buyout instead of a straight waiver, but there's no reason for Finley to do that since he holds all of the cards.

 

[Chaplin]

The money won't matter, he'll make the same amount no matter where he goes.

Starting, however, may be the biggest issue.

 

[fordronken]

I really don't get everyone's issue with this. What's the problem with signing a solid veteran player for the minimum? What's the downside, he stinks and doesn't get any playing time? We have to sign about 38 more players to fill out our roster anyway.

 

[coloradosun]

For anybody who is afraid of the Suns risk of losing their run and gun style by picking up KT, Finley is an excellent mitigation of that risk.

Coach D then decides which lineup best matches the team we are playing. If we need big, we go Nash, JJ, Marion, Amare and KT. Or if we want to go small, we go Nash, JJ, Finley or JJ2, Marion, and Amare.

For how we used Q (sit back and bomb 3's), is there any doubt that Finley can do that as well as or better than Q? By upgrading Q, we essentially are stealing KT for Nate Robinson.

Man, free agency can be a wonderful thing.
Maximus

I agree FA does offset a lot of things. Finley is a lot better mid range shooter than Q. I always wondered why Q jacked up so many 3's and it is that he was not able to create a shot for himself in the stain. Finley still elevates well on his jumper, something that helps a player get a shot off with a defender in his face. Q had to have a clear view and proved it in winning the 3pt. contest.

If it were actually a trade of Finley and Nate Robinson for Kurt Thomas and Q, I would imagine that the majority on this board would accept that deal.

Denver is going to make a run at Finley as well (the Kiki connection), I just feel the Suns are in a much better position to obtain Fins. Nash in on the court with him, Kiki is in the executive suite where he has no relation with him when it counts. The Nuggets are not like the Suns in the front office, there are not a lot of former Nuggets within the organization. I don't think there is any other franchise that has some many former players hanging around the team, be it in management, TV, radio etc. Even Barkely attends several games, the Suns have the upper hand, no question.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Finley was injured during the playoffs, bonespurs I think. They do limit mobility but not shooting, which seems to fit how he was playing.

Finley has always been a good defender. That is what he did best when he played for the Suns. He's way better than Q.

If he comes, you get a player better than Q for about $6 million per year less. Now thats a no-brainer.

BTW, isn't it the league itself that actually pays the vet min contracts? I thought that was one of the details in the last CBA. They count against your cap, but you don't have to pay it, there is some sort of league-wide pool that actually shells out the cash.

 

[F-Dog]

You can't be serious.

Yeah, you still don't get it.

Tell you what. Let's make a bet that Finley or Jim Jackson will be in the starting lineup next year...oh, wait.

 

[F-Dog]

I really don't get everyone's issue with this. What's the problem with signing a solid veteran player for the minimum? What's the downside, he stinks and doesn't get any playing time? We have to sign about 38 more players to fill out our roster anyway.

Finley won't sign for the minimum. We're talking about signing him for the MLE in this thread.