The Official Chris Finch Thread

Battletrigger · Post #141 » by **Battletrigger** » Thu Apr 13, 2023 9:53 pm

Well, do you remember the injuries, personal problems and more or just checked the record?

Baseline81 · Post #142 » by **Baseline81** » Thu Apr 13, 2023 9:56 pm

Battletrigger wrote:Well, do you remember the injuries, personal problems and more or just checked the record?

If you look at this season, nearly every team dealt with injuries. Other than the Kings, the remaining playoff teams had their star player(s) out for one reason or another.

Neeva · Post #143 » by **Neeva** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 5:46 am

He’s gotta go. Another post season game where offense goes nowhere , little adjustments and one of the star players gets clowned.

Post #144 » by **Klomp** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 4:56 pm

Another postseason game where the No. 8 seed lost to the No. 1 seed. A postseason where since the No. 1 seed played its last game, the No. 8 seed has flown from Minnesota to Los Angeles to Minnesota to Denver with two extra games in that time. We are down multiple key rotation players.

It's a frustrating loss. We should have played better. But let's not act like this was 100% lost due to coaching.

Baseline81 · Post #145 » by **Baseline81** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 9:01 pm

Klomp when it comes to Wolves coaches:

Excuse... excuse... excuse

Krapinsky · Post #146 » by **Krapinsky** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 9:28 pm

Thought Finch and the team were looking great until Ant got hurt, Towns came back, and Rudy got stiff.

I'll say this though -- it does seem like Finch still doesn't have a plan for how to play Rudy and Towns together offensively.

The double big pick n' roll is completely worthless. Towns trying to drive and dish results in too many turn overs and offensive fouls. We should be posting up Towns more closer to the block or elbow. Have Rudy cutting off ball for easy short range lobs.

younggunsmn · Post #147 » by **younggunsmn** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 10:22 pm

Klomp wrote:Another postseason game where the No. 8 seed lost to the No. 1 seed. A postseason where since the No. 1 seed played its last game, the No. 8 seed has flown from Minnesota to Los Angeles to Minnesota to Denver with two extra games in that time. We are down multiple key rotation players.

It's a frustrating loss. We should have played better. But let's not act like this was 100% lost due to coaching.

16 teams played over the last 2 days and we were the only one that wasn't at least competitive.
The way we lost was inexcusable.

m2002brian · Post #148 » by **m2002brian** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:08 pm

Excuses will get you mediocrity

Post #149 » by **Klomp** » Mon Apr 17, 2023 11:27 pm

Baseline81 wrote:Klomp when it comes to Wolves coaches:
Excuse... excuse... excuse

That's fine if you don't want to believe those things matter, but you cannot deny that they exist.

Now, someone will come back against it, using the Eastern Conference 1v8 as proof, right? Let's examine it.

Okay, so Milwaukee had the same layoff as Denver while we played as many games as Miami, so it's the exact same situation, right?

HOWEVER...
Miami's only flight between Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 16th was to Milwaukee (played on the 6th in DC, not on the 7th). Again,
Minnesota went from Austin, Texas to Minnesota to Los Angeles to Minnesota to Denver between the 8th and 16th.

This is a rotation depleted without Jaden and Naz. This is also a situation where back spasms are one of the worst injuries to have with that schedule. That affects Gobert, which affects multiple aspects of the lineup.

I'm not even sure the greatest coaches in NBA history would've gotten much more out of that group last night.

Baseline81 · Post #150 » by **Baseline81** » Tue Apr 18, 2023 12:27 am

Klomp wrote:That's fine if you don't want to believe those things matter, but you cannot deny that they exist.

Now, someone will come back against it, using the Eastern Conference 1v8 as proof, right? Let's examine it.

Okay, so Milwaukee had the same layoff as Denver while we played as many games as Miami, so it's the exact same situation, right?

HOWEVER...
Miami's only flight between Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 16th was to Milwaukee (played on the 6th in DC, not on the 7th). Again,
Minnesota went from Austin, Texas to Minnesota to Los Angeles to Minnesota to Denver between the 8th and 16th.

This is a rotation depleted without Jaden and Naz. This is also a situation where back spasms are one of the worst injuries to have with that schedule. That affects Gobert, which affects multiple aspects of the lineup.

I'm not even sure the greatest coaches in NBA history would've gotten much more out of that group last night.

When you are going to admit Finch has to do better? It's always this or that -- never any blame falls on the coach with you. The board nearly revolted with Saunders and yet you still backed him. Take the blue-tinted glasses off.

shrink · Post #151 » by **shrink** » Tue Apr 18, 2023 4:19 am

Krapinsky wrote:Thought Finch and the team were looking great until Ant got hurt, Towns came back, and Rudy got stiff.

Finch and the team looked great .. the game before last.

shrink · Post #152 » by **shrink** » Tue Apr 18, 2023 6:07 am

will wrote:Not so sure Finch is the issue...than Gobert and/or KAT.

You’ll find many of the posters here pick their favorite scapegoat, blame them entirely for any loss, and are totally silent after good games.

If Ant throws a bad pass, somebody will say it’s Connolly fault for the Gobert trade, or Finch’s fault for not coaching him to throw to his own players. You can find your anti-Gobert or anti-Towns group without looking too far.

minimus · Post #153 » by **minimus** » Tue Apr 18, 2023 6:57 am

shrink wrote:
will wrote:Not so sure Finch is the issue...than Gobert and/or KAT.

You’ll find many of the posters here pick their favorite scapegoat, blame them entirely for any loss, and are totally silent after good games.

If Ant throws a bad pass, somebody will say it’s Connolly fault for the Gobert trade, or Finch’s fault for not coaching him to throw to his own players. You can find your anti-Gobert or anti-Towns group without looking too far.

Right now on reddit fans scapegoating McLaughlin, who has been playing poorly. Sometimes I think that some fans have real issues. I mean McLaughlin has been big part of success of whole G-league group: Naz Reid, Nowell (plus Vando and Beasley at some degree). Right now without Reid and Nowell, JMac doesn't play well because our rotations and bench are mess after Reid and McDaniels injuries. Yes, he should be 3rd PG in rotation, yes, he is clearly undersized, yes he misses open shots and he doesn't dunk anymore, but he always gives 100% effort on the floor, he is smart and unselfish. I don't blame him, he gets exposed because we miss three players from rotations (Reid, Nowell and McDaniels) and Conley is 35yo. I think he is a good end rotation guy, good locker room presence. I hope this summer Connelly will resign NAW and finds backup PG.

I mean blaming McLaughlin, really? He earns 2mil and his contract is not even guaranteed next year.

GopherIt! · Post #154 » by **GopherIt!** » Tue Apr 18, 2023 8:21 am

shrink wrote:
will wrote:Not so sure Finch is the issue...than Gobert and/or KAT.

You’ll find many of the posters here pick their favorite scapegoat, blame them entirely for any loss, and are totally silent after good games.

If Ant throws a bad pass, somebody will say it’s Connolly fault for the Gobert trade, or Finch’s fault for not coaching him to throw to his own players. You can find your anti-Gobert or anti-Towns group without looking too far.

If Ant takes a bad shot, I blame Kahn.
If Kat commits a stupid foul, I blame McHale
If Rudy fumbles a pass, I blame Gary Anderson.

my scapegoats are 100% natural and free of preservatives except for naturally occurring mn sports fan salty tears.

Guidus88 · Post #155 » by **Guidus88** » Tue Apr 18, 2023 8:31 am

Finch and his coaching staff have for sure some responsibility on how the team was inconsistent the whole year, in particular against teams with losing record, but if you compare our roster to the ones of other PO teams IMO we have much less talent.
Our players that could have a chance to play in others PO teams are: Gobert, KAT, Edwards, Conley/DLO, Mcdaniels, Prince, Slo-Mo, Reid. that's an only an eight players rotation and of this list:

KAT missed 51 games
Gobert missed 12 games
Slo-Mo missed 13 games
Prince missed 18 games
Reid missed 14 games

If I'm not wrong Twolves had full roster only in one game...It's evident that injuries had a huge impact on Twolves season.
Moreover, during the game vs the Pelicans it was showed that Twolves are a top5 team in clutch wins. We have to give credit to coaching staff for that...on the other hand we could investigate if some of these clutch wins could arrived before and avoid some tricky situation.

Therefore I'd prefer to give to this coaching staff/team another opportunity next season to see where we are at the all-star break also considering that we still have our own pick for FY24 draft.

m2002brian · Post #156 » by **m2002brian** » Tue Apr 18, 2023 1:20 pm

Did we play the “haven’t played together” card with DLo???

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/injured-reserve/

Lots of very good players miss games.
PG AND Leonard, LeBron AND AD, KD, Booker, Middleton, Ingram, Zion

All those teams play a more cohesive game than we do.

Kats played games:
22-23: 29
21-22: 74
20-21: 50
19-20: 35

That’s a whopping 35 games per year missed (47 played) average over the last 4 years. Finchy better get real good at figuring how to coach without him. Stop molding your offense around a guy who’s available less than half the time.

shrink · Post #157 » by **shrink** » Tue Apr 18, 2023 2:48 pm

What an interesting link Brian! Nice to be able to sort by games missed, and it’s so Spotrac to also be able to sort by “Cash earned while injured!” It made me laugh, but if we assume most players got contracts based on their expected production (not always true), it is also a good way to see which players injuries hurt their team the most. It’s like, “you put $100 mil of players on the floor, we’ll bring $70, and let’s see who wins?” Towns’ injury was the biggest loss that any team faced.

I’d also mention that while it’s true that other teams have lost players this season to injury, the timing here for MIN was especially problematic. The Gobert trade changed everything, (as well as the addition of Kyle Anderson and later Mike Conley for DLo). With changes this big, teams need a long time to work well together. I want to see what this team looks like next year, and if we still see team (not player) inconsistencies after an offseason together, then I think it’s fair to start questioning Finch’s coaching and Connelly’s team construction.

Finally, I don’t project Towns calf strain as a probable future injury, like I would for say, back problems, so I’m not willing to call him injury prone yet. We know he wants to play, after playing 82 games his first three seasons in the league. Also, I don’t think his calf injury could have been predicted for this season - that’s more of a random type of injury.

m2002brian · Post #158 » by **m2002brian** » Tue Apr 18, 2023 3:03 pm

I also hope to see this team together next season, BUT, if KAT does get hurt, if… are we still going to keep using the “not enough time together” card to excuse someone who hasn’t been on the court as much the last 4 seasons as a max contract guy should be expected to? I think by trade deadline next season we’ll have our answer.

wolves_89 · Post #159 » by **wolves_89** » Tue Apr 18, 2023 3:10 pm

For me it comes down to whether Finch is getting the most out of the talent that is available on a consistent basis. In 2021-22 the answer was a definite yes. This season the answer has been a pretty clear no. I think next season is going to decide his fate. If the team shows better consistency and comes closer to playing to their talent level, he stays. If the team continues to lose to the worst teams in the league, he will be gone.

Battletrigger · Post #160 » by **Battletrigger** » Tue Apr 18, 2023 4:25 pm

I am not very high on the fire Finch wagon for two reasons.

First, is that we historically have had very bad coaches. You can fire Finch and then, what? Another Rambis, another Ryan Saunders?

Second, last year he did a good job with that style, very offense and pace oriented team. But this year, the first Connelly did was destroy that team, bringing pieces that not are suitable at a very high price.

For me I am not going to blame Finch, I blame Connelly and he is the one that has to be fired.