The official fire Chris Finch thread

[cupcakesnake]

Malone, Jenkins are probably better coaches than Finch...if the team ends up having underwhelming playoffs, then wouldn't be surprised to see the team move on from Finch

I don't necessarily agree that Malone and Jenkins are better. To be honest, after the Top 3 or so coaches, there's probably a glut of roughly 10-15 coaches that don't have much separation in their actual coaching ability. What separates guys to make it feel like a difference is situations. I don't think Mike Malone suddenly overhauled his coaching philosophy in his time between Sacramento and Denver. Nick Nurse has a title to his name too, so why did things go so poorly in Philadelphia?

That being said, the repeated same issues for the majority of the past four seasons are concerning. And that's the kind of thing that can potentially result in a coaching change. I don't think it's as dire as others think though, and I don't think a change is some magic cure-all either.

There is one thing that is worth monitoring, however. Micah Nori. I have to think he could be one of the heavy favorites to land the coaching job in Denver. Regardless, I don't want to lose him, especially not to a division rival. So if we have to make a change in order to keep him in town, I honestly think it is worth considering.

Every year Finch is given a weird, difficult roster problem. Every year, he figures out a way to make it work.

2022: Build around KAT and D'Lo, two of the worst pick & roll defenders at their position. This should have been a bottom 10 defense, instead Finch comes up with an innovative trapping scheme that unearths actual defensive strengths for Towns (switchability and speed on traps) and D'Lo (nail help and communication). The league eventually figures the scheme out and beats the traps (while also figuring out how to make Vando unplayable), but this scheme was why we made the playoffs and finished with a 13th ranked defense instead of a 25th ranked one. Finch even builds a second, more conservative scheme that helps us finish the season strong.

2023: Ok Finchy, now build around 2 centers in the starting lineup. One can shoot and one can't defend. Oh now the shooter is injured, and the defender has a big back. After an ugly start to the season, this team coalesces around a top 10 defense. On the offensive end, Finch gets the ball out of the hands of the erratic D'Lo and lets SloMo run the show. We end up getting a point guard upgrade and go into the playoffs looking strong. Unfortunately Jaden punches a wall, and Towns looks a little weak coming back from injury. We still look respectful against the eventual champs.

2024: All the ingredients in place, no new funky roster problems to solves, Finch keeps the ship steady on the way to the best season since 2004 and arguably ever. I'm still mad Finch couldn't throw more at Luka. Ironic that I'm most mad at Finch in by far our best season.

2025: After all the mental gymnastics Finch did over the years to make Towns work, they trade him. Now we ask Finch to approach last seasons' success, but now there are 2 bigs that can't shoot. We're also out of high IQ passers, because SloMo is gone and Conley is old now. Oh and Randle decides to start the season with the defensive effort level of a sloth on fentanyl. Oh and Rudy looks older and like he maybe can't play offense anymore. Ugly awful start, but once again... Finch figures this roster out. We become a whirling dirvish of drive and kicks, putting Randle and Ant in playmaking situations they're actually comfortable with. Finch finally lets Jaden out of his cage as a driver. We finish the season a top 5 defense, and a top 10 offense.

We're just being one of those fanbases that blames the coach for anything going wrong we can't understand. To me, Finch has been a consistent problem solver who has been given complicated roster puzzles and that he always eventually solves.

I don't get the Nurse example. Nurse got a healthy-ish roster in Philidelphia for a few months last season, and it was the best Embiid and the Sixers have ever looked in this era. The roster has been injury hell since then, and the roster is very much built our of complimentary players for the teams stars. I think it's really silly fan thinking to even have coaching on the list of Phili's problems. Malone has been good in Sacramento and Denver. I've always felt he was solid. If there was something going on behind the scenes there, it is what it is.

[thinktank]

You can say “so many 4th quarter collapses and poor clutch play.”

You can also say “yeah but so many 4th quarter comebacks.”

To which I say, “both of those point to vast inconsistency and that’s on a coach to mitigate that. Finch hasn’t.”

Just mentioned this in another thread, but it feels more appropriate to throw into this one.

Last night's collapse had nothing to do with coaching. The scheme we used to shred the 2-3 zone was the correct scheme and it worked. Extremely sloppy passing is what did us in, and the coaching staff cannot make the players passes crisper.

Schematically, the Wolves were set up fine. Conley (or Ant) lured out traps, Naz cut to the nail, and boom the zone was broken and Milwaukee was repeatedly put into scramble mode. We'd always end up 1-2 passes away from an open shot, but we repeatedly bungle the passes, throwing them WAY too close to Milwaukee's arms. It wasn't great defense by Milwaukee, our players simply kept handing them the ball. The coaching staff even had a nice counter: elevator screens for Ant so he could split the trap, get into the middle and attack the basket.

There is a tendency to treat coaching as a magic "je ne sais quoi" that motivates the troops to inspired play or fails to. Sometimes it can be hard to break down what is coaching and what isn't. Last night- to my eye- it was super obvious. Right schemes, poor execution. Schemes are on the coaches, execution is on the players. Last night can't be put in the pile of data in the case to fire Finch. Coaches did their job. Players didn't.

Do you think it’s a coincidence that out of the top 15 teams we’re by far the worst team in the clutch?

That our players are that collectively ignorant?

I don’t. A complete coach has his guys locked in at a much higher level than our are.

Lifelong bball player and fan talking.

I’m sorry you disagree but that’s what I see. I see a team that needs more and better coaching, including more offensive structure, more motivation, more adherence to planning, etc.

It has to be built into what they do all the time. I don’t know that Finch has all these things (offense that works in clutch time), or if he does and he can’t get them to land, but I think we do have a coaching problem.

[bluethunder0005]

Neither Jenkins or Malone are good coaches but I'm pretty fed up with Finch right about now. Rudy and Randle shouldn't share the court together for more than a couple minutes here and there yet Randle continues to start. Remember all that growth Jaden had until both of them were back and now he's relegated to standing on the perimeter again? Plus the abysmal basketball IQ of this team is hard to watch.

Jenkins had better records and Malone won a chip. Do those guys have better command of the locker room and how players play? Maybe Ant needs to go elsewhere to learn to play team game?

Jenkins has had more talented teams and Malone has a player that might end up in the GOAT conversation by the end of his career. Let's be real, a coach can only take players so far and at times maybe a different coach can maximize different things. JB Bickerstaff has the Pistons as a top 6 team in the East, last year he was coaching the Cavs and won less than 50 games with them, look at them now with Atkinson.

Talent matters a lot on a team, and Finch doesn't have a stacked roster. They're good by Wolves history standpoint, but around the league it's not a strong roster. Our 2nd best player is a mostly one dimensional defensive player, depending who you ask the answer will change on who our 3rd best player is which is an issue in itself. The team has some rookies with potential and Finch needs to get more out of their development but let's not act like a team that has Julius Randle as it's 3rd or 4th best player (at least in the eyes of most people) is some stacked team that should be winning 60 games.

[Baseline81]

Every year Finch is given a weird, difficult roster problem. Every year, he figures out a way to make it work.

2022: Build around KAT and D'Lo, two of the worst pick & roll defenders at their position. This should have been a bottom 10 defense, instead Finch comes up with an innovative trapping scheme that unearths actual defensive strengths for Towns (switchability and speed on traps) and D'Lo (nail help and communication). The league eventually figures the scheme out and beats the traps (while also figuring out how to make Vando unplayable), but this scheme was why we made the playoffs and finished with a 13th ranked defense instead of a 25th ranked one. Finch even builds a second, more conservative scheme that helps us finish the season strong.

2023: Ok Finchy, now build around 2 centers in the starting lineup. One can shoot and one can't defend. Oh now the shooter is injured, and the defender has a big back. After an ugly start to the season, this team coalesces around a top 10 defense. On the offensive end, Finch gets the ball out of the hands of the erratic D'Lo and lets SloMo run the show. We end up getting a point guard upgrade and go into the playoffs looking strong. Unfortunately Jaden punches a wall, and Towns looks a little weak coming back from injury. We still look respectful against the eventual champs.

2024: All the ingredients in place, no new funky roster problems to solves, Finch keeps the ship steady on the way to the best season since 2004 and arguably ever. I'm still mad Finch couldn't throw more at Luka. Ironic that I'm most mad at Finch in by far our best season.

2025: After all the mental gymnastics Finch did over the years to make Towns work, they trade him. Now we ask Finch to approach last seasons' success, but now there are 2 bigs that can't shoot. We're also out of high IQ passers, because SloMo is gone and Conley is old now. Oh and Randle decides to start the season with the defensive effort level of a sloth on fentanyl. Oh and Rudy looks older and like he maybe can't play offense anymore. Ugly awful start, but once again... Finch figures this roster out. We become a whirling dirvish of drive and kicks, putting Randle and Ant in playmaking situations they're actually comfortable with. Finch finally lets Jaden out of his cage as a driver. We finish the season a top 5 defense, and a top 10 offense.

We're just being one of those fanbases that blames the coach for anything going wrong we can't understand. To me, Finch has been a consistent problem solver who has been given complicated roster puzzles and that he always eventually solves.

I don't get the Nurse example. Nurse got a healthy-ish roster in Philidelphia for a few months last season, and it was the best Embiid and the Sixers have ever looked in this era. The roster has been injury hell since then, and the roster is very much built our of complimentary players for the teams stars. I think it's really silly fan thinking to even have coaching on the list of Phili's problems. Malone has been good in Sacramento and Denver. I've always felt he was solid. If there was something going on behind the scenes there, it is what it is.

You realize even Klomp, who wears about as blue-tinted glasses as anyone on this forum, posted:

That being said, the repeated same issues for the majority of the past four seasons are concerning. And that's the kind of thing that can potentially result in a coaching change.

[BlacJacMac]

I look at teams like OKC, CLE, BOS and HOU. And yeah, they have talent, but I always see 5 guys on the floor that appear connected and purposeful.

On offense they 4 guys without the ball are moving, setting screens, doing things to make it easier for the ballhandler. On defense they look like they have a singular plan. They're not always scrambling.

Then I look at us "free flowing" around like our guys just got dropped into a pick-up game and have never met each other.

Its order vs chaos. And sometimes you absolutely need chaos, but it can't be your default setting.

[Baseline81]

Do you think it’s a coincidence that out of the top 15 teams we’re by far the worst team in the clutch?

That our players are that collectively ignorant?

I don’t. A complete coach has his guys locked in at a much higher level than our are.

Lifelong bball player and fan talking.

I’m sorry you disagree but that’s what I see. I see a team that needs more and better coaching, including more offensive structure, more motivation, more adherence to planning, etc.

It has to be built into what they do all the time. I don’t know that Finch has all these things (offense that works in clutch time), or if he does and he can’t get them to land, but I think we do have a coaching problem.

I could be wrong, but it's possible some of these posters advocating for Finch haven't actually played the sport. shrink, for example, is here more for the GMing side of things.

[thinktank]

Like BJM says above, that’s what I see too.

In that very good group of teams I see teams that know what they value in play, they have a value hierarchy in what they want to execute, and they have the discipline to execute that strategy regularly, ie dictate on offense and mitigate on D.


Last night, with that zone, there was no strategy. There was no understanding of what type of action they should run to generate what type of shot.

They passed to each other, with no cutting, casually, from the top of the key to the wings extended, in terrible position where if there’s a steal it’s an automatic dunk. And there was, and it was.

The dissatisfaction with that type of decision needs to be plain and Finch was casual about it. It’s toward passing the buck.

[Klomp]

You realize even Klomp, who wears about as blue-tinted glasses as anyone on this forum, posted:

That being said, the repeated same issues for the majority of the past four seasons are concerning. And that's the kind of thing that can potentially result in a coaching change.

For the record, I said potentially. And I'm not convinced that a change would be absolutely the correct decision. It might be, but then it also might be a Phoenix situation.

[cupcakesnake]

You can say “so many 4th quarter collapses and poor clutch play.”

You can also say “yeah but so many 4th quarter comebacks.”

To which I say, “both of those point to vast inconsistency and that’s on a coach to mitigate that. Finch hasn’t.”

Just mentioned this in another thread, but it feels more appropriate to throw into this one.

Last night's collapse had nothing to do with coaching. The scheme we used to shred the 2-3 zone was the correct scheme and it worked. Extremely sloppy passing is what did us in, and the coaching staff cannot make the players passes crisper.

Schematically, the Wolves were set up fine. Conley (or Ant) lured out traps, Naz cut to the nail, and boom the zone was broken and Milwaukee was repeatedly put into scramble mode. We'd always end up 1-2 passes away from an open shot, but we repeatedly bungle the passes, throwing them WAY too close to Milwaukee's arms. It wasn't great defense by Milwaukee, our players simply kept handing them the ball. The coaching staff even had a nice counter: elevator screens for Ant so he could split the trap, get into the middle and attack the basket.

There is a tendency to treat coaching as a magic "je ne sais quoi" that motivates the troops to inspired play or fails to. Sometimes it can be hard to break down what is coaching and what isn't. Last night- to my eye- it was super obvious. Right schemes, poor execution. Schemes are on the coaches, execution is on the players. Last night can't be put in the pile of data in the case to fire Finch. Coaches did their job. Players didn't.

Do you think it’s a coincidence that out of the top 15 teams we’re by far the worst team in the clutch?

That our players are that collectively ignorant?

I don’t. A complete coach has his guys locked in at a much higher level than our are.

Lifelong bball player and fan talking.

I’m sorry you disagree but that’s what I see. I see a team that needs more and better coaching, including more offensive structure, more motivation, more adherence to planning, etc.

It has to be built into what they do all the time. I don’t know that Finch has all these things (offense that works in clutch time), or if he does and he can’t get them to land, but I think we do have a coaching problem.

For me, our crunch time problems have long been about that our best scorers are often our poorest decision makers. Ant is a bit overly lusty for the moment, and while that's led to some heroic moments in the past, it's been a huge problem this year. Randle is also not the type of on-ball guy you trust to not do something insane. We had a similar problem with KAT.

It's a bit the opposite to me. Offensive structure is to make the full 48 minutes high yield. You can draw up nice crunch time plays, and some coaches have a couple moments per season where the play design clearly bamboozled the defense and won the game, but there is also plenty of random chaos in crunch time and that's when you need your best players capable of fast processing and organic reads. That has simply not been the strength of our top scorers.

I've followed a few teams over the years where this has been the thing. Coach's game plan puts them in a good position, but in crunch time the team's stars are at a disadvantage. The first team that comes to mind is the final years of the Nurse/Siakam/FVV Raptors. The gameplan gave them this huge edge in possessions, but in crunch time it was hard for FVV and Siakam to get a bucket when they're going up against bigger stars. Budhenholzer's Hawks had this problem too, as his best hope at crunch time offense was running pin downs for Kyle Korver or letting Teague or Millsap iso. Ant is a huge star, and sometimes his tough shot making is an awesome crunch time weapon. Those shots have been missing this year though, and you want Finch to fix that.

I think every team's fanbase thinks everything is the coach. We can't all be right, right? Like even Miami fans have been calling for Spo's head this year. When things feel off and fans are frustrated, we nitpick the coach.

[thinktank]

Just mentioned this in another thread, but it feels more appropriate to throw into this one.

Last night's collapse had nothing to do with coaching. The scheme we used to shred the 2-3 zone was the correct scheme and it worked. Extremely sloppy passing is what did us in, and the coaching staff cannot make the players passes crisper.

Schematically, the Wolves were set up fine. Conley (or Ant) lured out traps, Naz cut to the nail, and boom the zone was broken and Milwaukee was repeatedly put into scramble mode. We'd always end up 1-2 passes away from an open shot, but we repeatedly bungle the passes, throwing them WAY too close to Milwaukee's arms. It wasn't great defense by Milwaukee, our players simply kept handing them the ball. The coaching staff even had a nice counter: elevator screens for Ant so he could split the trap, get into the middle and attack the basket.

There is a tendency to treat coaching as a magic "je ne sais quoi" that motivates the troops to inspired play or fails to. Sometimes it can be hard to break down what is coaching and what isn't. Last night- to my eye- it was super obvious. Right schemes, poor execution. Schemes are on the coaches, execution is on the players. Last night can't be put in the pile of data in the case to fire Finch. Coaches did their job. Players didn't.

Do you think it’s a coincidence that out of the top 15 teams we’re by far the worst team in the clutch?

That our players are that collectively ignorant?

I don’t. A complete coach has his guys locked in at a much higher level than our are.

Lifelong bball player and fan talking.

I’m sorry you disagree but that’s what I see. I see a team that needs more and better coaching, including more offensive structure, more motivation, more adherence to planning, etc.

It has to be built into what they do all the time. I don’t know that Finch has all these things (offense that works in clutch time), or if he does and he can’t get them to land, but I think we do have a coaching problem.

For me, our crunch time problems have long been about that our best scorers are often our poorest decision makers. Ant is a bit overly lusty for the moment, and while that's led to some heroic moments in the past, it's been a huge problem this year. Randle is also not the type of on-ball guy you trust to not do something insane. We had a similar problem with KAT.

It's a bit the opposite to me. Offensive structure is to make the full 48 minutes high yield. You can draw up nice crunch time plays, and some coaches have a couple moments per season where the play design clearly bamboozled the defense and won the game, but there is also plenty of random chaos in crunch time and that's when you need your best players capable of fast processing and organic reads. That has simply not been the strength of our top scorers.

I've followed a few teams over the years where this has been the thing. Coach's game plan puts them in a good position, but in crunch time the team's stars are at a disadvantage. The first team that comes to mind is the final years of the Nurse/Siakam/FVV Raptors. The gameplan gave them this huge edge in possessions, but in crunch time it was hard for FVV and Siakam to get a bucket when they're going up against bigger stars. Budhenholzer's Hawks had this problem too, as his best hope at crunch time offense was running pin downs for Kyle Korver or letting Teague or Millsap iso. Ant is a huge star, and sometimes his tough shot making is an awesome crunch time weapon. Those shots have been missing this year though, and you want Finch to fix that.

I think every team's fanbase thinks everything is the coach. We can't all be right, right? Like even Miami fans have been calling for Spo's head this year. When things feel off and fans are frustrated, we nitpick the coach.

You’re trying to put words in my mouth:

“Ant is a huge star, and sometimes his tough shot making is an awesome crunch time weapon. Those shots have been missing this year though, and you want Finch to fix that.”

Don’t do that. Just listen to me to understand:

I want Finch to have more structure, and adherence to that structure, so we don’t have to rely on Ant and Randle hero ball so much.

Finch is supposed to put that structure in and reinforce it so it can be relied upon in crunch time.

(Ex: Steve Kerr can make a championship series winning shot with an assist from Jordan. Ant is talking about dropping his shorts after making a game 7 winning shot? Please. He is a long way away from the right mindset, much less getting there if and when he finds the right mindset. He needs BETTER COACHING.)

[Note30]

You can say “so many 4th quarter collapses and poor clutch play.”

You can also say “yeah but so many 4th quarter comebacks.”

To which I say, “both of those point to vast inconsistency and that’s on a coach to mitigate that. Finch hasn’t.”

Just mentioned this in another thread, but it feels more appropriate to throw into this one.

Last night's collapse had nothing to do with coaching. The scheme we used to shred the 2-3 zone was the correct scheme and it worked. Extremely sloppy passing is what did us in, and the coaching staff cannot make the players passes crisper.

Schematically, the Wolves were set up fine. Conley (or Ant) lured out traps, Naz cut to the nail, and boom the zone was broken and Milwaukee was repeatedly put into scramble mode. We'd always end up 1-2 passes away from an open shot, but we repeatedly bungle the passes, throwing them WAY too close to Milwaukee's arms. It wasn't great defense by Milwaukee, our players simply kept handing them the ball. The coaching staff even had a nice counter: elevator screens for Ant so he could split the trap, get into the middle and attack the basket.

There is a tendency to treat coaching as a magic "je ne sais quoi" that motivates the troops to inspired play or fails to. Sometimes it can be hard to break down what is coaching and what isn't. Last night- to my eye- it was super obvious. Right schemes, poor execution. Schemes are on the coaches, execution is on the players. Last night can't be put in the pile of data in the case to fire Finch. Coaches did their job. Players didn't.

Do you think it’s a coincidence that out of the top 15 teams we’re by far the worst team in the clutch?

That our players are that collectively ignorant?

I don’t. A complete coach has his guys locked in at a much higher level than our are.

Lifelong bball player and fan talking.

I’m sorry you disagree but that’s what I see. I see a team that needs more and better coaching, including more offensive structure, more motivation, more adherence to planning, etc.

It has to be built into what they do all the time. I don’t know that Finch has all these things (offense that works in clutch time), or if he does and he can’t get them to land, but I think we do have a coaching problem.

We have no one in the clutch besides Ant. That's not Finch's problem. Any out of bounds play he draws up is **** because we don't have the personnel.

The only player besides Ant who should be on ball is Divencenzo.

I'm not saying that coaching couldn't be better but let's not pretend like we have Kobe, Jordan, Horry, and Kerr out there in the clutch.

We got one maybe two guys. It's not great.

[cupcakesnake]

Do you think it’s a coincidence that out of the top 15 teams we’re by far the worst team in the clutch?

That our players are that collectively ignorant?

I don’t. A complete coach has his guys locked in at a much higher level than our are.

Lifelong bball player and fan talking.

I’m sorry you disagree but that’s what I see. I see a team that needs more and better coaching, including more offensive structure, more motivation, more adherence to planning, etc.

It has to be built into what they do all the time. I don’t know that Finch has all these things (offense that works in clutch time), or if he does and he can’t get them to land, but I think we do have a coaching problem.

For me, our crunch time problems have long been about that our best scorers are often our poorest decision makers. Ant is a bit overly lusty for the moment, and while that's led to some heroic moments in the past, it's been a huge problem this year. Randle is also not the type of on-ball guy you trust to not do something insane. We had a similar problem with KAT.

It's a bit the opposite to me. Offensive structure is to make the full 48 minutes high yield. You can draw up nice crunch time plays, and some coaches have a couple moments per season where the play design clearly bamboozled the defense and won the game, but there is also plenty of random chaos in crunch time and that's when you need your best players capable of fast processing and organic reads. That has simply not been the strength of our top scorers.

I've followed a few teams over the years where this has been the thing. Coach's game plan puts them in a good position, but in crunch time the team's stars are at a disadvantage. The first team that comes to mind is the final years of the Nurse/Siakam/FVV Raptors. The gameplan gave them this huge edge in possessions, but in crunch time it was hard for FVV and Siakam to get a bucket when they're going up against bigger stars. Budhenholzer's Hawks had this problem too, as his best hope at crunch time offense was running pin downs for Kyle Korver or letting Teague or Millsap iso. Ant is a huge star, and sometimes his tough shot making is an awesome crunch time weapon. Those shots have been missing this year though, and you want Finch to fix that.

I think every team's fanbase thinks everything is the coach. We can't all be right, right? Like even Miami fans have been calling for Spo's head this year. When things feel off and fans are frustrated, we nitpick the coach.

You’re trying to put words in my mouth:

“Ant is a huge star, and sometimes his tough shot making is an awesome crunch time weapon. Those shots have been missing this year though, and you want Finch to fix that.”

Don’t do that. Just listen to me to understand:

I want Finch to have more structure, and adherence to that structure, so we don’t have to rely on Ant and Randle hero ball so much.

Finch is supposed to put that structure in and reinforce it so it can be relied upon in crunch time.

(Ex: Steve Kerr can make a championship series winning shot with an assist from Jordan. Ant is talking about dropping his shorts after making a game 7 winning shot? Please. He is a long way away from the right mindset, much less getting there if and when he finds the right mindset. He needs BETTER COACHING.)

I get all that and don't disagree. I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth, just vocalizing how I interpreted what you were saying. My bad for the mischaracterisation.

I think when it comes down to crunch time possessions, there are a lot of broken plays. A coach might draw up a slick SLOB play, but it gets well defended and then you end up lucky just to get the ball in the hands on one of your better players and all you can do is run iso. Other times, there's a primary action installed with an iso as the counter or back up, by design. Always though, star players are empowered to make reads and change plays. Ant especially can and does call his own number. He's very vocal about it, and how important it is for him to take that last shot. We'd have to look at specific plays to know if we disagree, but there's been a lot of times where I come away from a loss shaking my head at an Ant decision, and maybe in those moments you're shaking your head at Finch. Yelling FINNNNCH! in the style of KHAN! (While I'm like ANNNNNT)

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but you and I might disagree on any given possession whether something was coaching vs. execution. We could maybe figure it out sitting down breaking down film together, but it's hard to come to a strong conclusion on a message board using our words.

[Slim Tubby]

Just mentioned this in another thread, but it feels more appropriate to throw into this one.

Last night's collapse had nothing to do with coaching. The scheme we used to shred the 2-3 zone was the correct scheme and it worked. Extremely sloppy passing is what did us in, and the coaching staff cannot make the players passes crisper.

Schematically, the Wolves were set up fine. Conley (or Ant) lured out traps, Naz cut to the nail, and boom the zone was broken and Milwaukee was repeatedly put into scramble mode. We'd always end up 1-2 passes away from an open shot, but we repeatedly bungle the passes, throwing them WAY too close to Milwaukee's arms. It wasn't great defense by Milwaukee, our players simply kept handing them the ball. The coaching staff even had a nice counter: elevator screens for Ant so he could split the trap, get into the middle and attack the basket.

There is a tendency to treat coaching as a magic "je ne sais quoi" that motivates the troops to inspired play or fails to. Sometimes it can be hard to break down what is coaching and what isn't. Last night- to my eye- it was super obvious. Right schemes, poor execution. Schemes are on the coaches, execution is on the players. Last night can't be put in the pile of data in the case to fire Finch. Coaches did their job. Players didn't.

Do you think it’s a coincidence that out of the top 15 teams we’re by far the worst team in the clutch?

That our players are that collectively ignorant?

I don’t. A complete coach has his guys locked in at a much higher level than our are.

Lifelong bball player and fan talking.

I’m sorry you disagree but that’s what I see. I see a team that needs more and better coaching, including more offensive structure, more motivation, more adherence to planning, etc.

It has to be built into what they do all the time. I don’t know that Finch has all these things (offense that works in clutch time), or if he does and he can’t get them to land, but I think we do have a coaching problem.

We have no one in the clutch besides Ant. That's not Finch's problem. Any out of bounds play he draws up is **** because we don't have the personnel.

The only player besides Ant who should be on ball is Divencenzo.

I'm not saying that coaching couldn't be better but let's not pretend like we have Kobe, Jordan, Horry, and Kerr out there in the clutch.

We got one maybe two guys. It's not great.

We don't necessarily need more "clutch" players. What we really need are effective offensive sets that ultimately result in an uncontested, reasonable shot. Ant, Randle, Jaden, Conley, NAW, DDV and Reid are all capable shotmakers.

I'm not asking for Finch to get fired but I'm far from impressed when it comes to his offense, the coddling of his star players and a repeated inability to manage/address scoring runs by our opponents.

Sent from my N152DL using RealGM mobile app

[Shaka_Zulu]

He should be fired on the mere fact he benched Rudy in 4th quarter after that scuffle.


That LITERALLY lost us the game. Handed it to Bucks in a platter.

[Klomp]

He should be fired on the mere fact he benched Rudy in 4th quarter after that scuffle.


That LITERALLY lost us the game. Handed it to Bucks in a platter.

I'm guessing it had to do with trying to attack the zone defense. Yes the scuffle happened and Gobert was taken out immediately after, but Reid was already at the scorer's table. Not saying it was correct or incorrect, but that was what I would guess the reasoning was.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

I look at teams like OKC, CLE, BOS and HOU. And yeah, they have talent, but I always see 5 guys on the floor that appear connected and purposeful.

On offense they 4 guys without the ball are moving, setting screens, doing things to make it easier for the ballhandler. On defense they look like they have a singular plan. They're not always scrambling.

Then I look at us "free flowing" around like our guys just got dropped into a pick-up game and have never met each other.

Its order vs chaos. And sometimes you absolutely need chaos, but it can't be your default setting.

Can't agree more. 4th quarter yesterday was a perfect example of poor coaching. 8 TO in one quarter, probably our record, ball in the hands of Randle and ANT most of the time ( 5 TO combined for them in this quarter) when Mike was on the bench or sleeping in a corner where he did not see the ball. No Rudy ( we gave 2 costly offensive rebound at the end), DDV on the bench way too long, no ball movement at all, just bricking 3.... we can blame the player ( and they deserve it ) but most is on coaching. Call a time out, Set up mandatory systems for 2 min ( ANT like it or not, i don't give a s...). Put the ball in the hand of people who don't TO the ball 4 times per game, attack the rim instead of only doing 3....lots of possibilities but Finch let the guys in autogestion mode and we have seen the result. A coach is here to fix issues when there is and yesterday Finch did a lousy job.

[Klomp]

There is one thing that is worth monitoring, however. Micah Nori. I have to think he could be one of the heavy favorites to land the coaching job in Denver. Regardless, I don't want to lose him, especially not to a division rival. So if we have to make a change in order to keep him in town, I honestly think it is worth considering.

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[Loaf_of_bread]

There is one thing that is worth monitoring, however. Micah Nori. I have to think he could be one of the heavy favorites to land the coaching job in Denver. Regardless, I don't want to lose him, especially not to a division rival. So if we have to make a change in order to keep him in town, I honestly think it is worth considering.

Read on Twitter

We need an overhaul, wish Micah best if that is the case.

[Klomp]

Something worth considering....

I don't think it's a stretch to say one of the team's biggest deficiencies on the court is Basketball IQ. How long will it take the players to adjust to a new system, especially if some keptics would say they're still learning what to do at times four years into playing the same system?

[Note30]

Do you think it’s a coincidence that out of the top 15 teams we’re by far the worst team in the clutch?

That our players are that collectively ignorant?

I don’t. A complete coach has his guys locked in at a much higher level than our are.

Lifelong bball player and fan talking.

I’m sorry you disagree but that’s what I see. I see a team that needs more and better coaching, including more offensive structure, more motivation, more adherence to planning, etc.

It has to be built into what they do all the time. I don’t know that Finch has all these things (offense that works in clutch time), or if he does and he can’t get them to land, but I think we do have a coaching problem.

We have no one in the clutch besides Ant. That's not Finch's problem. Any out of bounds play he draws up is **** because we don't have the personnel.

The only player besides Ant who should be on ball is Divencenzo.

I'm not saying that coaching couldn't be better but let's not pretend like we have Kobe, Jordan, Horry, and Kerr out there in the clutch.

We got one maybe two guys. It's not great.

We don't necessarily need more "clutch" players. What we really need are effective offensive sets that ultimately result in an uncontested, reasonable shot. Ant, Randle, Jaden, Conley, NAW, DDV and Reid are all capable shotmakers.

I'm not asking for Finch to get fired but I'm far from impressed when it comes to his offense, the coddling of his star players and a repeated inability to manage/address scoring runs by our opponents.

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You are heavily overestimating Conley, NAW, and Jaden.

Randle is out unless we set him up out of bounds. Same thing with Reid.

Which leaves Ant and DDV (who is better off the catch anyhow).