***(Pre-Season Game 3) Wolves vs Clippers - Monday Night -9:30PM CT NBATV Televised***

[winforlose]

Rosas had every opportunity to hire his own coach. He opted for Saunders because he had support from the players. Was Finch available at the time? IDK. Not a coach in the NBA coulda won with a young team with best players injured- let alone none of them have leadership pedigree. What about this defensive genius Vanterpool? Why don’t you rag on him for a while for +120/game instead of trying to belittle the down and out young coach and his “***” father? Classless.

Finch was available and was interviewed in 2019. Rosas tried to hire Finch and was overruled by Taylor. Ryan was elevated over Vanterpool who was more qualified probably because Finch was Rosas guy and giving the job to Vanterpool would make it harder to hire Finch. That is the same reason that when Ryan was fired Finch was hired ASAP. Glen Taylor liked Ryan and was friends with Flip and it was that personal connection that elevated Ryan way beyond his experience and ability level. Ryan Saunders poor coaching was evident in our slow starting every game. It was evident at the end of the game in close games when we were disorganized in ways that are very uncommon. It was evident by poor rotations and substitutions that often benched or neglected the hot hand.

As for my point about his father, people don’t like nepotism. When an unqualified and frankly unskilled kid jumps the line without paying his dues it raises questions. Glen Taylor has a history of putting personal relationships above the needs of the team. Ryan should never have let himself be made permanent head coach. He should have asked to return to assistant after the interim season ended and waited until he was ready. Instead he used his connections and last name to get the owner to overrule the POBO and doomed himself.

The first paragraph to my knowledge is pretty much right on.

I don't agree as much about Ryan not being qualified for the job. He grew up talking his dad's playbook from an early age. He played 4 years of college ball and was a graduate assistant. He spent 7 years as an assistant with Washington. 3 things killed Ryan. 1, Injuries absolutely killed him. No coach in history could win with that g league team. 2. He coached in a collaborative way with the front office and was slow to change when it didn't work. Bad scheme for the personnal. 3. Too chummy with the players.

That said, he certainly turned out to be not a good coach. That's different from not being qualified. Many other qualified coaches in the Wolves past bit the dust too.

I'm know Glen wanted him to get a shot. The team wasn't going to be very good anyway. So he might as well be the one to go through the meat grinder. I'm not sure any really strong coach would have touched that job unless it was a first timer.

BTW, nobody in their right mind would turn down a big contract and a head coaching position if it were offered. Ryan turning down the extension and promotion that is.

On the bright side he won his first game as a pro HC. It was pretty much all down hill after that. Cheers.

I disagree on a few points.

1. Turning down the job and returning to assistant coaching (maybe even rejecting the interim position) shows an awareness of his experience level and the dues he had yet to pay. Leap frogging like he did raises questions. The answers are not good for him long term. People will remember him taking a job based on his dads connections rather than earning it, and taking it away from others who did earn it. I think long term he will struggle to get hired again, and I think people in his position should recognize that just because you can shoot the big shot, doesn’t mean you necessarily should.

2. Living with a HC is not the same as getting HC experience. Ryan was clueless. He did everything wrong. The roster didn’t help and the injuries killed his winning percentage, but he could not hide behind them because all the classic coaching indicators (some of which were named above) said Ryan was god awful. Put simply, you watch someone pee into the punch bowl, then you say if only someone hadn’t peed in the punch bowl the punch would be good. The pee while relevant doesn’t tell the full story. Likewise, the injuries and losing don’t tell the full story.

3. The 2020 Wolves could and should have been competitive. Look how big an impact Finch made in the back half. By the time Finch came in there was nothing left to win. But Ryan had Beasley, Dlo, Ant, MCD and plenty of weapons to at least keep us on the outside looking in of 9/10. The argument we weren’t going to be good anyway just doesn’t work for me because we have the players to be good with the right coach to lead and inspire them.

[Klomp]

3. The 2020 Wolves could and should have been competitive. Look how big an impact Finch made in the back half. By the time Finch came in there was nothing left to win. But Ryan had Beasley, Dlo, Ant, MCD and plenty of weapons to at least keep us on the outside looking in of 9/10. The argument we weren’t going to be good anyway just doesn’t work for me because we have the players to be good with the right coach to lead and inspire them.

We all know that Karl-Anthony Towns is the lynchpin to the Timberwolves and their success.

In 2020-21, Chris Finch had Towns available in 39 of 41 games.
In 2020-21, Ryan Saunders had Towns available in 11 of 31 games.

[winforlose]

3. The 2020 Wolves could and should have been competitive. Look how big an impact Finch made in the back half. By the time Finch came in there was nothing left to win. But Ryan had Beasley, Dlo, Ant, MCD and plenty of weapons to at least keep us on the outside looking in of 9/10. The argument we weren’t going to be good anyway just doesn’t work for me because we have the players to be good with the right coach to lead and inspire them.

We all know that Karl-Anthony Towns is the lynchpin to the Timberwolves and their success.

In 2020-21, Chris Finch had Towns available in 39 of 41 games.
In 2020-21, Ryan Saunders had Towns available in 11 of 31 games.

This is fair, but it is not the entire story. For one thing a chunk of Finch’s games were missing Beasley, some of those also were missing Dlo, and were only won because we increased production from Ant. While time certainly helped Ant, so to did Finch. I contend that Ryan got so little out of the roster due to poor scheming, poor motivating, lack of accountability, and above all misuse of talent that he lost significantly more games than were necessary. I think we could have won half the games without KAT at least, not to mention some of the games once KAT was back. For proof see the efficiency differentials once Finch took over. Also remember because Finch took over just before the ASB in a condensed season with almost no practice time, he was stuck running a modified version of Ryan’s failed defense.

[Klomp]

This is fair, but it is not the entire story. For one thing a chunk of Finch’s games were missing Beasley, some of those also were missing Dlo, and were only won because we increased production from Ant. While time certainly helped Ant, so to did Finch. I contend that Ryan got so little out of the roster due to poor scheming, poor motivating, lack of accountability, and above all misuse of talent that he lost significantly more games than were necessary. I think we could have won half the games without KAT at least, not to mention some of the games once KAT was back. For proof see the efficiency differentials once Finch took over. Also remember because Finch took over just before the ASB in a condensed season with almost no practice time, he was stuck running a modified version of Ryan’s failed defense.

I don't think Russell, Edwards, Beasley, etc. are as essential to the team's success as Towns, which is why Finch was able to still see some level of success.

Of course Finch made a significant impact over Saunders. I would never argue otherwise. But I still believe that Towns is the most critical component to the team's success right now.

[Slim Tubby]

This is fair, but it is not the entire story. For one thing a chunk of Finch’s games were missing Beasley, some of those also were missing Dlo, and were only won because we increased production from Ant. While time certainly helped Ant, so to did Finch. I contend that Ryan got so little out of the roster due to poor scheming, poor motivating, lack of accountability, and above all misuse of talent that he lost significantly more games than were necessary. I think we could have won half the games without KAT at least, not to mention some of the games once KAT was back. For proof see the efficiency differentials once Finch took over. Also remember because Finch took over just before the ASB in a condensed season with almost no practice time, he was stuck running a modified version of Ryan’s failed defense.

I don't think Russell, Edwards, Beasley, etc. are as essential to the team's success as Towns, which is why Finch was able to still see some level of success.

Of course Finch made a significant impact over Saunders. I would never argue otherwise. But I still believe that Towns is the most critical component to the team's success right now.

I agree 100% with this. The more defensive attention teams have to spend guarding KAT will only make scoring the ball much easier for the likes of Ant, Russell, Beasley and McDaniels. If we stay healthy and KAT's personal rejuvenation is as real as it appears to be, the Wolves have a very good chance to be a Top 10 offense in the NBA this year.