For the second summer in a row, it was a sad day for Mavs fans as Mark
Cuban again watched his wallet instead of looking out for the best
interest of the team talent wise.  With the deadline to use the clause
approaching at 11 pm last night, Dallas released Michael Finley and used
the amnesty clause on his contract to get luxury tax relief.  Dallas does
have to pay the remainder of his contract (3 years, $51 million) and it
does continue to count against the team's salary cap.  The only benefit is
that it does not count against Dallas' luxury tax amount.  Teams over the
luxury tax threshold have to pay a dollar-for-dollar fine for each dollar
they are over the tax threshold - the money collected is later
re-distributed evenly to all teams.  Thus ends Finley's 8 1/2 year career
with Dallas.  Like Steve Nash last year, Dallas loses a quality player and
gets nothing in return.  After 48 hours for clearing waivers, Finley is
free to sign with any other team in the league (he is not allowed to
return to Dallas for the duration of his former contract).  He'll likely
elect to sign with a contender and the Mavs can only hope that he'll go to
an Eastern team, such as Miami, Detroit, or Indiana, instead of remaining
in the West with Phoenix or San Antonio.  Despites spin that has been
going on about how Finley has declined in recent seasons, he was still the
2nd highest scorer on the team during the regular season in averaging 15.7
points (40.7% FG, 42.7% 3-pointers, 83.1% FT) to go with 4.1 rebounds and 
2.6 assists in 36.8 minutes (his 2nd lowest minute average, trailing only 
his sophomore season).  Like all the Mavs, he was sporadic in the playoffs
and averaged 13.1 points (39.3% FG, 42.5% 3-pointers, 88.9% FT), 4.3 
rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 37.8 minutes.  He did have 31 points
including 12-18 FG, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in helping Dallas win game 2
vs Phoenix and 18 points in game 4 and 20 points in game 3 in wins vs
Houston.  He stepped back from the limelight without a complaint as Dirk
Nowitzki's skills improved and scaled back his game to fit the team's
needs.  I knew this was coming, but it still disgusts me that we let a
player of Finley's caliber go for money reasons only and we'll be paying
him while he helps another team improve.

On a smaller note yesterday, Dallas did re-sign Darrell Armstrong to a 1
year, minimum ($1.1 million) contract.

In other disgusting news, the Dallas Morning News has been reporting that
Dallas reached an oral agreement with Doug Christie for a 1 year, $3
million contract.  Christie was released by Orlando on Thursday and will
clear waivers on Wednesday (7 days waiver period for players released July
1 - Aug. 14; 48 hours for players released after Aug. 14) and Dallas is
expected to sign him then.  Talk about players dogging it.  After being
traded to Orlando midseason, Christie was so unhappy that he walked away
from the team and they put him the injured list for the rest of the
season.  He averaged 7.3 points (40.7% FG, 25.6% 3-pointers, 89.3% FT), 4
rebounds, and 4.9 assists in 32.1 minutes with Sacramento (31 games) and
5.7 points (36.7% FG, 5-23 3-pointers, 20-22 FT), 2 rebounds, and 2.2
assists in 25.2 minutes with Orlando (21 games) this past season.  He is
known some for his defensive work.  Worse is that not only do you get
Christie, but you also get his wife and their unhealthy relationship.  As
annoying as their constant hand signals during games are, their attitude
towards women is worse.  Women reporters are not allowed to talk to
Christie without his wife present.  Hopefully the Mavs' PR director is 
allowed to do her job without too much hassle from the Christies.

Dallas signed rookie free agents Rawle Marshall and Josh Powell to 1 year
contracts with a 2nd year at the team's option (don't know if part or all
of the first year is guaranteed).  Both played in this year's summer
league for Dallas.  Marshall is a 6-7 swing-man and was a senior with 
Oakland University last season where he averaged 19.9 points (44% FG) and
7.7 rebounds.  Powell, a 6-9 forward, also played for Dallas' summer 
league team last summer and the Mavs liked him, but told him he needed to 
spend a season on the court (not on the bench) and suggested he go to 
Europe and that Dallas would look at him again this summer.  He played in 
Italy last season and in the CBA the season before.  He declared for the 
draft after his sophomore season (02-03) at NC State.


patricia