There are officially no ties in Dallas to the dark days of the Mavericks. The Mavericks waived Michael Finley on Monday to save $51 over the next three seasons. With Shawn Bradley’s retirement earlier this summer and Finley being waived there are no more player who came from the era when 20 games was considered a good season and you could get floor seats from a scalper for less than $25.

I’ve been a fan of the Mavericks since the Reuonion Rowdies days of the late 80s. In the past, I thought of Finley as the gel that kept the Mavericks together. While Dirk and Nash got all the attention, Finley quietly led the team and held the whole thing together. Over the past few years, however, Finley’s stats have steadily declined while Dirk’s stats and leadership have grown.

I think the Mavericks are better off without Finley. He hasn’t been producing and his starter position could have been filled easliy by the likes of Stackhouse, Jameson, or Howard. Now we can look to the post-Big 3 era. I believe the Mavs have the best core of players they have ever had. It was a bitter end last year, losing to the Suns on our court, but I think having Avery Johnson as the head coach for a full training camp and season will pay off in a big way.

November 1 can’t come soon enough!!!