Michael Finley
Michael Howard Finley (born March 6, 1973 in Melrose Park, Illinois) is a 6' 7" shooting guard/small forward who plays basketball in the NBA for the Dallas Mavericks. He was originally drafted out of the University of Wisconsin by the Phoenix Suns in the first round (21st pick overall) of the 1995 NBA Draft.
He had a solid rookie season, being named to the 1995-96 NBA All-Rookie First Team. He averaged a solid 15.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg and 3.5 apg his rookie season. He became only the third rookie in Suns history to score over 1,000 points in his rookie season. Despite his solid play, he was traded by the Suns in 1997 to the Dallas Mavericks for Jason Kidd, Tony Dumas and Loren Meyer. In his first season with the Mavericks, he led them in scoring assists and steals. Along with another ex-Sun, Steve Nash, he became an intricate part of the Mavericks' "run and gun" offense in no time.
In 2000 he was selected to represent the Western Conference in the 2000 All-Star game, and scored an impressive 11 points. In 2001 he was again selected to represent the Western Conference on All-Star weekend. He was a member of the 2002 Team USA at the 2002 World Championship which lost a record 3 games, failing to win a championship for the first time in a major competition since FIBA opened international competitions to NBA players. Despite their failure, he remains a clutch player for the Mavericks.
Finley attended Proviso East High School in Maywood, Illinois. Proviso East is the same school that produced NFL defensive back Ray Buchanan.