Long ago Mavericks executive Michael Finleywho ran the team’s front office with him Matt Riccardi for most of last season as co-general manager, will transition to a new role this fall under a new president Masai Ujiriteam announced today in a press release.
Finley’s new position is senior director of player, community and alumni engagement. In this position, he will “provide support to the front office and focus on strengthening the relationship between Mavericks players, alumni and the North Texas community,” according to the club.
Amid the summer changes in Dallas, Finley was one of the few holdovers from the old regime. He has been in the Mavericks front office since 2013 and was the assistant general manager to the former president of basketball operations Nico Harrison.
Finley’s reassignment was one of several updates to basketball operations unveiled by the Mavs on Thursday. This was also reported by the team Niko Berg has been appointed as the organisation’s chief executive of health and performance, which confirms latest reporting from Mark Stein.
In addition, Tim Chung was hired far from Grizzlies as Dallas’ new director of basketball operations, albeit a long time coming Predators full-time employee Patrick Engelbrechtwho worked with Ujira in Toronto, will serve as the Mavs’ vice president of global talent acquisition and international affairs. Like Engelbrecht, Chung was with the Raptors prior to his time in Memphis.
Here are a few more of the most notable changes:
- Ex Bucks full-time employee Ijeoma Afamata joined the Mavericks as the team’s scouting manager and assistant general manager of the Texas Legends, Dallas’ G League affiliate.
- Like Stein reported earlierformer Raptors executive Matt Redfield was appointed to the position of assistant general manager, until Blaise Ross joined the team from the NBA league office as senior director of salary cap and basketball strategy.
- Joe Tuomoformer technical director of the NBA Africa Academy, has been hired as the Mavericks director of Africa/player development and scouting.
The full list of updates can be viewed at Mavs press release.
