shrink wrote:winforlose wrote:shrink wrote:To me, this sounds like you have chosen to make all the problems 100% about Finch.
Playing badly against bad teams - Ant has a wonderful ability to get up for big games. Unfortunately, he can’t maintain it for games against mediocre opponents, and we need Ant engaged to win. Also, Ant can be bad enough some nights to lose you games.
Not using our players well? Finch has overperformed Vegas predictions since he’s arrived. And it feels weird to criticize the coach now over Jaden, since he made a coaching change you liked. If it was working before, and he changed and it got worse, that would be more grounds for criticism, so it feels like he’s in a no-win situation.
Not giving young guys proper minutes? I disagree with this on the whole. His plan was to play Dillingham and Terrence Shannon Jr, then Conley traded for Randle and DiVincenzo. You’s like to develop the youth, I’d like to develop team chemistry between major players. Fan expectation is high, owner expectation after paying $100 mil in lux tax is probably high too. We aren’t a lottery team any more, and we don’t want to act like that with Ant.
Is there blame for Finch? Sure. But you should also be putting blame on individual players, and also blame the circumstances created by the major trade. Whether Terrence Shannon Jr gets developmental minutes in our stacked SG position cannot be a priority right now - we have bigger issues to work on.
Gonna break this down a bit.
1. When the HC gets multiple years with mostly the same roster he should have ideas on how to fix recurring problems. One example is the Wolves high turnover rate. Another is rebounding issues, especially related to long rebounds and poor box outs. If these problems persist, then yes some of it is on the players, but a real share of blame belongs to the coach. The coaches primary function is to get the best performance out of the players.
2. In any sport if the team comes out flat and plays poorly you blame the coach. In football a lot of penalties or poor offense (a lot of 3 and outs,) will get fans saying the coach didn’t have the guys ready to play. When the Wolves have this many bad 1st or 3rd quarters that absolutely falls on the coach and the culture (coaches are supposed to build culture.)
3. Ant not being motivated against bad teams is both Ant and Finch’s problem. Finch could have made it clear to Ant that any game he takes off the first half he won’t play the 2nd. This is the kind of coaching Ant responds to if you believe the broadcasters. Instead another recurring issue goes unaddressed.
4. Jaden was playing poorly in an assigned role by Finch. Jaden changes his role and plays well. Credit to Jaden and Finch for making the adjustment. Huge amount of shade and shame on Finch for letting it take 32 games to make the adjustment. If you are not getting the best out of your players for a 1/3 plus of the season you have failed that player/s.
1. This roster had a major change. Roster changes we’ve made (JMac out, Dilly in) cause turnovers, but you blame Finch, and also blame him for not playing more Dilly?!? Does that sound fair?
2. No responsibility to Ant, for coming out flat? And btw, Finch used to dominate third quarters last year, no credit for that?
3. Telling Ant he won’t play is ridiculous. Be realistic on your expectations for an NBA head coach, when holding it against him.
4. Um, if you’re going to blame Finch for the earlier section Jaden didn’t play well because it was Finch’s role, then a fair person gives Finch credit for putting other players in roles where they have thrived, right? Let’s give Finch all the blame for Jaden’s failures, and all the credit for Ant’s success the last three years because of the role he put him in. Wouldn’t that be fair?
1. The roster and rotation have more returning players than player changes. The turnovers are not limited to lineups with new players or to young players. Lineups without PGs put the ball in Ant and Randle’s hands a lot and that leads to turnovers, especially live ball turnovers. When your team spends every year in the bottom third of the league for turnovers that is beyond the players, that is on the coach too.
1A. Finding more minutes for young players while also being able to win those minutes is a sign of a good coach. If Finch cannot do it, that does not inherently make him a bad coach. Still losing and getting poor results from the vets is a sign of a bad coach. If Finch cannot make a lineup work and yet sticks to it to the exclusion of the players who could make it work, (not starting Naz or DDV,) what else do you call that other than bad coaching?
2. I didn’t say no responsibility to the player or limit it to Ant. We have as a team sucked coming out of the gate or the half and that points to a failure of coaching. Coaches build culture and establish leadership. A coaches #1 job is to get guys ready to play both through game plan and motivation. It is true of football, baseball, hockey, and any other team sport. If every so often a team is lazy or sloppy, the coach is probably a part of the issue rather than the issue. When it keeps happening over and over again, that is on the coach.
3. Ant loves to be coached hard and held accountable according to outside media and the broadcasters. If true, it is reasonable to tell him he cannot coast half a game and then expect to just keep putting his team 4 on 5. If Ant wants to rest he should do it on the bench rather than in the game. Especially when it is costing us games.
4. I have praised Finch in the past, and I gave him credit for making changes to Jaden’s role this month. I don’t think Ant has developed as well as he should, and I don’t believe Finch did the developing. The first couple of seasons Finch wanted Ant to drive more. Ant still doesn’t drive enough. The difference is Ant used the off season to develop his shot more. Ant still doesn’t “get up,” for bad teams, and he still doesn’t commit to playing defense in most games. Ant is a great example of a naturally gifted player who has not taken key steps forward (especially end of game,) precisely because he is poorly coached. Another example is Rudy not being used in the PNR much this season. It clearly still works (this month has been super successful with Rudy and anyone PNR.) The consequence of Finch going away form it is Rudy having a depressed season across the board. Finch does get some credit for some things working, but poor coaching is the main reason we have a 12-16 clutch record, have multiple players having bad seasons, and are only 3 games above .500 more than halfway through.
