The Official Chris Finch Thread I

thinktank · Post #21 » by **thinktank** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 8:43 pm

Talked a bit about lack of continuity. Hot topic. DLo to Conley. Had almost forgotten about that.

Baseline81 · Post #22 » by **Baseline81** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 9:57 pm

Klomp wrote:

Watch on YouTube

In this video, Klomp, Finch even states, "You are what you are able to guard."

You tell me, which one of Gobert, Towns and Reid is defending the opposing SF? Or are you playing zone defense?

urinesane · Post #23 » by **urinesane** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 10:00 pm

Klomp wrote:

Watch on YouTube

When can we lock him up for 5 more years?

Post #24 » by **Klomp** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 10:02 pm

Baseline81 wrote:You tell me, which one of Gobert, Towns and Reid is defending the opposing SF? Or are you playing zone defense?

Read on Twitter

Baseline81 · Post #25 » by **Baseline81** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 10:31 pm

Klomp wrote:

Read on Twitter

Notice the "or" in Dane's tweet.

I'm not trying to be argumentative. It's a foolish idea. And if, a big if, we actually see the trio on the court at the same time, it will be short lived.

Post #26 » by **Klomp** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 10:45 pm

Baseline81 wrote:
Klomp wrote:

Read on Twitter

Notice the "or" in Dane's tweet.

I'm not trying to be argumentative. It's a foolish idea. And if, a big if, we actually see the trio on the court at the same time, it will be short lived.

Kevin Huerter is not a PF or C, in case you didn't know...

And yes, Finch admitted that a lineup like that may be forced to play zone or a 'junk' defense. Obviously this would be situation dependent. It probably wouldn't be for long stretches. It probably wouldn't be against a good starting lineup. But I do think it's possible to have success with the group. It's possible because Towns and Reid are not your typical bigs. This isn't putting Michael Olowokandi, Ervin Johnson and Oliver Miller on the court together.

Coaches often experiment in games. I don't think playing three Cs is any more absurd than when Dallas ran three PGs out there in the NBA Finals.

urinesane · Post #27 » by **urinesane** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 10:49 pm

It's amazing what an offhand comment can do. Obviously Finch wasn't saying that it would be a normal thing or that it's the plan, but I think he sees enough versatility in this roster that they could even play 3 bigs if the right moment presented itself.

Now people can get back to criticizing KAT for things they would applaud if ANT said.

Baseline81 · Post #28 » by **Baseline81** » Mon Jul 10, 2023 10:58 pm

Klomp wrote:Kevin Huerter is not a PF or C, in case you didn't know...

And yes, Finch admitted that a lineup like that may be forced to play zone or a 'junk' defense. Obviously this would be situation dependent. It probably wouldn't be for long stretches. It probably wouldn't be against a good starting lineup. But I do think it's possible to have success with the group. It's possible because Towns and Reid are not your typical bigs. This isn't putting Michael Olowokandi, Ervin Johnson and Oliver Miller on the court together.

Coaches often experiment in games. I don't think playing three Cs is any more absurd than when Dallas ran three PGs out there in the NBA Finals.

Yes, I know Huerter. I also know Towns defended Curry successively on one occasion... I'm sure you can see where I'm going.

And when I say actually use the three on the same court together, I don't mean a minute here or there once every seventh game or so.

TimberKat · Post #29 » by **TimberKat** » Tue Jul 11, 2023 1:31 am

I think the context of "You are what you are able to guard." has more to do with who is the center and what is the pwf. It's less about how good or bad a defender a player is. I totally expect Naz and Towns could guard some pfd and maybe a 3andD wing with limited offensive skills.

minimus · Post #30 » by **minimus** » Tue Jul 11, 2023 8:17 am

Last season 2022-23 we were bottom worst 2nd team in fouling, despite having more size than many NBA teams. Worse than MIN was only an awfull basketball team DET. MCD, Reid, TP were fouling at high rate. In 2021-22 Towns, Reid, MCD were also league worst in terms of fouling.

Top-4 best team which dont foul much:

LAL
MIL
MIA
DEN

I think an underrated part of Finch interview is Dane's question about structure, because I dont think we saw this structure often last season. Also our players like Towns and Reid are bad in space defenders, or lacks discipline, experience (NAW, Edwards and MCD). This is a big area for improvement, but I really doubt that three Towers (Gobert-Towns-Reid) can help in this regard. Playing within structure basically means staying in front of opponent, tag cutters, be aware of own help defense and rotation, dont overhelp, dont overreact. All things that Towns and Reid are not good at. I wonder how Finch will define rotation on the floor. For instance, Reid-Anderson combo looks very promising on paper, but was not impressive last season. Part of problme with fouling was our weak, undersized backcourt in first half of last season: Nowell, Rivers, Forbes, DLo are all bad to awfull defenders. This year we have complete turnaround with new additions: Conley, NAW, Milton are bigger and more athletic. Hopefully Brown can also hit 38% of threes without fouling. But once again it depends now mostly on coaching: installing structure.

minimus · Post #31 » by **minimus** » Tue Jul 11, 2023 8:38 am

I think the news of MIN hiring Corliss Williamson flew under radar. Is he development coach for bigmen? I could not find any info about his work after 2018 year, was he unemployed? I have just seen SL highlights and he was on the bench. I really think that Finch could use a few high end coach assistants.

NebWolvesFan · Post #32 » by **NebWolvesFan** » Tue Jul 11, 2023 2:32 pm

minimus wrote:I think the news of MIN hiring Corliss Williamson flew under radar. Is he development coach for bigmen? I could not find any info about his work after 2018 year, was he unemployed? I have just seen SL highlights and he was on the bench. I really think that Finch could use a few high end coach assistants.

I believe he was a college coach at the school his son attended.

He might help with big men, but Minnesota has an elite big man coach already in Kevin Hanson - who has done wonders with Anthony Davis, Karl Towns and Naz Reid. I can't wait to see what he does with Miller. I want to see him work with Rudy, but Gobert needs to quit playing for France and spend his offseason in the Twin Cities.

Post #33 » by **Klomp** » Tue Jul 11, 2023 11:38 pm

Read on Twitter

TimberKat · Post #34 » by **TimberKat** » Wed Jul 12, 2023 10:46 pm

Here is a good article that sums up the center, skill big, league trend, and Finch's common on playing 3 bigs.

https://zonecoverage.com/2023/timberwolves/are-the-wolves-on-the-forefront-of-the-skilled-big-revolution/

Post #35 » by **Klomp** » Wed Jul 12, 2023 11:34 pm

TimberKat wrote:Here is a good article that sums up the center, skill big, league trend, and Finch's common on playing 3 bigs.

https://zonecoverage.com/2023/timberwolves/are-the-wolves-on-the-forefront-of-the-skilled-big-revolution/

I 100% believe we'll see Finch try one of those lineups at some point.

Post #36 » by **Klomp** » Thu Jul 13, 2023 2:45 am

Read on Twitter

minimus · Post #37 » by **minimus** » Mon Jul 17, 2023 1:54 pm

Read on Twitter

This is such an underrated thing. something that we saw in Reid, Nowell and McLaughlin development dynamic, we they elevated each other games by playing organised basketball toghether, playing their roles. I really hope that we will reproduce this year in Iowa / end of bench rotation:

Garza-Miller-Minott-Moore-Clarke-??? I really hope that we keep Brandon Williams. I think he is smart enough to be a smart PG for this group

I hope Corliss Williamson will help Finch as development coach.

P.S. I guess Caleb Martin, Max Strus and Gabe Vincent grew together as well in MIA, playing together since 2021

Post #38 » by **Klomp** » Tue Jul 18, 2023 3:17 am

NebWolvesFan wrote:
minimus wrote:I think the news of MIN hiring Corliss Williamson flew under radar. Is he development coach for bigmen? I could not find any info about his work after 2018 year, was he unemployed? I have just seen SL highlights and he was on the bench. I really think that Finch could use a few high end coach assistants.

I believe he was a college coach at the school his son attended.

He might help with big men, but Minnesota has an elite big man coach already in Kevin Hanson - who has done wonders with Anthony Davis, Karl Towns and Naz Reid. I can't wait to see what he does with Miller. I want to see him work with Rudy, but Gobert needs to quit playing for France and spend his offseason in the Twin Cities.

I think about him more as bringing the skill work to the bigs, bringing the "nasty" to our frontcourt. He was a big SF as a pro. Kinda what Finch has discussed doing with Reid or Towns if all three share the floor. I see him potentially influencing Reid, Miller, Minott the most.

Post #39 » by **Klomp** » Sat Jul 22, 2023 3:43 am

I just realized that only NINE current NBA head coaches have had their current position longer than Chris Finch has been in Minnesota, and only FOUR of them had completed a full season on the job when Finch was hired (Popovich, Spoelstra, Kerr, Malone).

shrink · Post #40 » by **shrink** » Sat Jul 22, 2023 8:45 pm

Klomp wrote:I just realized that only NINE current NBA head coaches have had their current position longer than Chris Finch has been in Minnesota, and only FOUR of them had completed a full season on the job when Finch was hired (Popovich, Spoelstra, Kerr, Malone).

I would also add that Chris Finch is MIN’s #2 in history. He’s #2 in wins, #2 in winning percentage, and #2 in playoff appearances.

RIP Flip