This Week in Say What?!

Among the many NBA trade deadline transactions is the release of veteran players who seek to play for title teams. Spurs veteran Michael Finley was one of the players granted his release, and promptly signed with the Celtics. This transaction was not interesting by itself; Finley was not playing in San Antonio, supplanted by younger, better players, and Boston has no such players populating its bench.

What was bizarre were the quotes that flowed from the story.

Henry Thomas, Finley’s agent: “I think the Spurs understood at the time not really being in the mix for the first time in his 15-year career," Thomas said. “They were very understanding of his situation and the fact he felt he still could contribute. [Not playing] was a difficult thing for him to handle.”

Even granting Thomas huge “agent-speak” leeway, this sentence is incomprehensible. San Antonio sits five games out from second place in the Western Conference, yet somehow the season is over? And at 31.7% shooting for the year, the only thing Finley will be contributing in Boston is money into his new teammates’ pockets, after losing game after game of HORSE after practice.

Thomas: “Unlike guys his age, normally it’s sort of a gradual thing, they move into the reality of being on teams and not being part of the mix. That wasn’t his experience.’’

One more thing: Isn’t Thomas supposed to be grateful that the Spurs granting Finley’s release, since it was technically a courtesy? What’s with all the passive-aggressive comments about the decline of the Spurs? It may be true, but since when is it ok for anyone other than Charles Barkley to speak the truth. In my mind, I had already read “Michael thanks the Spurs for the their professionalism, and looks forward to playing against them in the NBA Finals" before double-taking to Thomas' actual quote.

Gregg Popovich, Spurs coach: “I was very surprised, but we granted his request,” Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said before the Spurs faced the Hornets in New Orleans last night. “That’s for other teams to decide if they think he can be useful. But we did grant him his release before the deadline so he would have the opportunity to play some place in the playoffs if he so desired.”

Popovich has a stronger reputation for bluntness, but his word choice still seems harsh, and equally passive-aggressive (Can Finley play? Well we couldn’t afford to play his washed-up ass and be competitive, but feel free to try your voodoo on him.) Given the timing of the two articles, I can imagine the Spurs’ brass was less than pleased to hear from Thomas that they were eliminated from the playoffs sometime last month.