The official fire Chris Finch thread

[Baseline81]

"Unless the Wolves fail miserably, like lose 4-0 in the first round or perhaps if they end up in the play-in not even making the playoffs, I would say let's circle back, but right now I have no sense that Chris Finch is in any sort of trouble," Wolfson said

Any of you hate Finch so much that you’d root for a 0-4 playoffs?

No, I'd rather my team win at this point. The issue is I have no faith in the coach.

[TimberKat]

"Unless the Wolves fail miserably, like lose 4-0 in the first round or perhaps if they end up in the play-in not even making the playoffs, I would say let's circle back, but right now I have no sense that Chris Finch is in any sort of trouble," Wolfson said

Any of you hate Finch so much that you’d root for a 0-4 playoffs?

No, I'd rather my team win at this point. The issue is I have no faith in the coach.

That would be the tail wagging the dog. We want to see how far Finch can take this team. I would keep Finch if we reach conference finals.

[Note30]

"Unless the Wolves fail miserably, like lose 4-0 in the first round or perhaps if they end up in the play-in not even making the playoffs, I would say let's circle back, but right now I have no sense that Chris Finch is in any sort of trouble," Wolfson said

Any of you hate Finch so much that you’d root for a 0-4 playoffs?

Da fuq. Dude ain't no Wolves fan hoping for anything other than 16 wins.

How much we hate Tim Connelly has nothing to do with this. We can also be realistic and say it unlikely we win this first round.

[Dewey]

"Unless the Wolves fail miserably, like lose 4-0 in the first round or perhaps if they end up in the play-in not even making the playoffs, I would say let's circle back, but right now I have no sense that Chris Finch is in any sort of trouble," Wolfson said

Any of you hate Finch so much that you’d root for a 0-4 playoffs?

Da fuq. Dude ain't no Wolves fan hoping for anything other than 16 wins.

How much we hate Tim Connelly has nothing to do with this. We can also be realistic and say it unlikely we win this first round.

I like them both, but at some point you need to win … and win it all.

[winforlose]

"Unless the Wolves fail miserably, like lose 4-0 in the first round or perhaps if they end up in the play-in not even making the playoffs, I would say let's circle back, but right now I have no sense that Chris Finch is in any sort of trouble," Wolfson said

Any of you hate Finch so much that you’d root for a 0-4 playoffs?

Da fuq. Dude ain't no Wolves fan hoping for anything other than 16 wins.

How much we hate Tim Connelly has nothing to do with this. We can also be realistic and say it unlikely we win this first round.

100% agree with the first part, mostly disagree with the 2nd part. TC has nothing to do with things at this point. He may not have made the moves I wanted him to make to balance the roster, but we have the talent to beat LAL in 5 or less. Breaking it down:

1. We avoided the play in so Finch had 6 full days to game plan for the Lakers.
2. He has plenty of data about what unlocks Jaden, Rudy, DDV, and Naz. All of these players are the keys to our offense being able to sustain our defense. Moreover I think we all know neither team has great matchups for the other. This is gonna come down to winning the possession battle, (rebounding, turnovers,) and minimizing empty trips.
3. We must avoid the classic Finch plays favorites trap. If Mike is super effective, more Mike. If Julius is super effective, more Julius. But overall, I suspect Mike and Julius are the key players for the Lakers to beat us.

[Note30]

Any of you hate Finch so much that you’d root for a 0-4 playoffs?

Da fuq. Dude ain't no Wolves fan hoping for anything other than 16 wins.

How much we hate Tim Connelly has nothing to do with this. We can also be realistic and say it unlikely we win this first round.

He may not have made the moves I wanted him to make to balance the roster, but we have the talent to beat LAL in 5 or less. Breaking it down:

Heavily disagree with this.

[winforlose]

Da fuq. Dude ain't no Wolves fan hoping for anything other than 16 wins.

How much we hate Tim Connelly has nothing to do with this. We can also be realistic and say it unlikely we win this first round.

He may not have made the moves I wanted him to make to balance the roster, but we have the talent to beat LAL in 5 or less. Breaking it down:

Heavily disagree with this.

We lack good roster balance. I wish we had a solid backup C and a better starting PG, but LAL isn’t exactly sitting on pocket aces either. They lack any C depth or rim protection. Bron is 40+ and playing 40+ minutes of high intensity basketball will be taxing. Reaves is on fire this year but hasn’t done anything in the playoffs yet. Luka is good, Joker is better, and we survived what we he did to us last year. Finch has winning cards, but any good poker player knows, “you don’t play the cards, you play the man.”

[Loaf_of_bread]

We should win this series. We have the talent, and defensive versatility.

I do have concerns that we may self implode, show signs of an inner strife, and underperform. For whatever reason, our overall defensive effort just wasn't what is was last year. Hard to put a finger on it, but just feels the team unity may be fragile.

Ddv in recent interviews seems just a bit off to me. I have a negative bias towards Julius and his personality.

At the end of the day, I think we win, but need to move on from Finch if we don’t.

[Klomp]

Brilliantly executed game plan in Game 1....

[Rookie-Mistake]

Silence in here as well..

Sent from my SM-G991B using RealGM mobile app

[TimberKat]

Silence in here as well..

Sent from my SM-G991B using RealGM mobile app

Why would we saying anything here when we are up 3-1. The thread is after all about fire Finch and not how did Finch coach today.

[winforlose]

Jaden in game 2 barely was part of the offense. We got down big and couldn’t recover. In the first half of game 4 Jaden was not a big part of the offense and we got down big. Games 1 and 3 Jaden got involved early and we won by double digits (granted Ant was huge in clutch time in game 3.) My point is Jaden is an example of a trump card that Finch cannot figure out how or when to utilize. It is something that a good coach would identify and prioritize, whereas a bad coach cannot or does not figure out what they should do with it. There are other examples involving starting Mike over Dante, not figuring out how to help get Rudy going, ect…

All of this being true, I cannot say fire Finch mid playoffs. That time came and went. This team is talented enough to win a title despite Finch, but you can clearly see the game plan is broken. Game 4s second half saw Finch sending help for whoever guarded Luka. This resulted in a ton of wide open 3s for everyone else. We went from up 3 to down 11 using this god awful approach, and it persisted anyway. This is the classic example of Finch doesn’t know how to scheme out a double on an opposing star. We saw it last year, we saw it in the regular season, and we are seeing it in this series. Finch is not a bad coach, but he is not good enough to coach a championship caliber team. He is who you want for a rebuild to help your 4-6 year players build the culture.

TLDR, championship coaches play chess, Finch knows chess is being played, but can’t quite figure out how to play it, at least at this level.

[guest81]

Jaden in game 2 barely was part of the offense. We got down big and couldn’t recover. In the first half of game 4 Jaden was not a big part of the offense and we got down big. Games 1 and 3 Jaden got involved early and we won by double digits (granted Ant was huge in clutch time in game 3.) My point is Jaden is an example of a trump card that Finch cannot figure out how or when to utilize. It is something that a good coach would identify and prioritize, whereas a bad coach cannot or does not figure out what they should do with it. There are other examples involving starting Mike over Dante, not figuring out how to help get Rudy going, ect…

All of this being true, I cannot say fire Finch mid playoffs. That time came and went. This team is talented enough to win a title despite Finch, but you can clearly see the game plan is broken. Game 4s second half saw Finch sending help for whoever guarded Luka. This resulted in a ton of wide open 3s for everyone else. We went from up 3 to down 11 using this god awful approach, and it persisted anyway. This is the classic example of Finch doesn’t know how to scheme out a double on an opposing star. We saw it last year, we saw it in the regular season, and we are seeing it in this series. Finch is not a bad coach, but he is not good enough to coach a championship caliber team. He is who you want for a rebuild to help your 4-6 year players build the culture.

TLDR, championship coaches play chess, Finch knows chess is being played, but can’t quite figure out how to play it, at least at this level.

Finch has been awesome so far in the playoffs. Has completely outcoached reddick. Not sure what games you're watching

[winforlose]

Jaden in game 2 barely was part of the offense. We got down big and couldn’t recover. In the first half of game 4 Jaden was not a big part of the offense and we got down big. Games 1 and 3 Jaden got involved early and we won by double digits (granted Ant was huge in clutch time in game 3.) My point is Jaden is an example of a trump card that Finch cannot figure out how or when to utilize. It is something that a good coach would identify and prioritize, whereas a bad coach cannot or does not figure out what they should do with it. There are other examples involving starting Mike over Dante, not figuring out how to help get Rudy going, ect…

All of this being true, I cannot say fire Finch mid playoffs. That time came and went. This team is talented enough to win a title despite Finch, but you can clearly see the game plan is broken. Game 4s second half saw Finch sending help for whoever guarded Luka. This resulted in a ton of wide open 3s for everyone else. We went from up 3 to down 11 using this god awful approach, and it persisted anyway. This is the classic example of Finch doesn’t know how to scheme out a double on an opposing star. We saw it last year, we saw it in the regular season, and we are seeing it in this series. Finch is not a bad coach, but he is not good enough to coach a championship caliber team. He is who you want for a rebuild to help your 4-6 year players build the culture.

TLDR, championship coaches play chess, Finch knows chess is being played, but can’t quite figure out how to play it, at least at this level.

Finch has been awesome so far in the playoffs. Has completely outcoached reddick. Not sure what games you're watching

There is a difference between our outplaying them, and Finch being the reason. You saw tonight Ant played Anti Finch ball and won. Most of the time that playstyle loses the game, tonight it worked. But to give Finch credit for Ant going hero ball mode is… dubious at best. Help me understand the defensive adjustments you credit Finch with that worked to help us win today? Because from my perspective we played terribly in the 2nd half defensively and gave up a truckload of wide open 3s, including the one Reaves missed for the tie.

[guest81]

Jaden in game 2 barely was part of the offense. We got down big and couldn’t recover. In the first half of game 4 Jaden was not a big part of the offense and we got down big. Games 1 and 3 Jaden got involved early and we won by double digits (granted Ant was huge in clutch time in game 3.) My point is Jaden is an example of a trump card that Finch cannot figure out how or when to utilize. It is something that a good coach would identify and prioritize, whereas a bad coach cannot or does not figure out what they should do with it. There are other examples involving starting Mike over Dante, not figuring out how to help get Rudy going, ect…

All of this being true, I cannot say fire Finch mid playoffs. That time came and went. This team is talented enough to win a title despite Finch, but you can clearly see the game plan is broken. Game 4s second half saw Finch sending help for whoever guarded Luka. This resulted in a ton of wide open 3s for everyone else. We went from up 3 to down 11 using this god awful approach, and it persisted anyway. This is the classic example of Finch doesn’t know how to scheme out a double on an opposing star. We saw it last year, we saw it in the regular season, and we are seeing it in this series. Finch is not a bad coach, but he is not good enough to coach a championship caliber team. He is who you want for a rebuild to help your 4-6 year players build the culture.

TLDR, championship coaches play chess, Finch knows chess is being played, but can’t quite figure out how to play it, at least at this level.

Finch has been awesome so far in the playoffs. Has completely outcoached reddick. Not sure what games you're watching

There is a difference between our outplaying them, and Finch being the reason. You saw tonight Ant played Anti Finch ball and won. Most of the time that playstyle loses the game, tonight it worked. But to give Finch credit for Ant going hero ball mode is… dubious at best. Help me understand the defensive adjustments you credit Finch with that worked to help us win today? Because from my perspective we played terribly in the 2nd half defensively and gave up a truckload of wide open 3s, including the one Reaves missed for the tie.

The defensive game plan this series has been spot on. His use of timeouts has been great. Rotations have been great. Playing TSJ at the right times, knowing when to pull Rudy, ect. Even the offensive looks have been really good, the Wolves just haven't made open shots.

Yea the Wolves have had some defensive laspes. They are playing Luka and Lebron playing the whole game, of course they're going to get theirs at times, but overall I''m pretty sure the Wolves have had the best defense in the playoffs so far outside the Thunder

[Klomp]

The anti-Finch and anti-Connelly factions on this board amaze me.

Jaden in game 2 barely was part of the offense. We got down big and couldn’t recover. In the first half of game 4 Jaden was not a big part of the offense and we got down big. Games 1 and 3 Jaden got involved early and we won by double digits (granted Ant was huge in clutch time in game 3.) My point is Jaden is an example of a trump card that Finch cannot figure out how or when to utilize. It is something that a good coach would identify and prioritize, whereas a bad coach cannot or does not figure out what they should do with it. There are other examples involving starting Mike over Dante, not figuring out how to help get Rudy going, ect…

All of this being true, I cannot say fire Finch mid playoffs. That time came and went. This team is talented enough to win a title despite Finch, but you can clearly see the game plan is broken. Game 4s second half saw Finch sending help for whoever guarded Luka. This resulted in a ton of wide open 3s for everyone else. We went from up 3 to down 11 using this god awful approach, and it persisted anyway. This is the classic example of Finch doesn’t know how to scheme out a double on an opposing star. We saw it last year, we saw it in the regular season, and we are seeing it in this series. Finch is not a bad coach, but he is not good enough to coach a championship caliber team. He is who you want for a rebuild to help your 4-6 year players build the culture.

TLDR, championship coaches play chess, Finch knows chess is being played, but can’t quite figure out how to play it, at least at this level.

Finch has been awesome so far in the playoffs. Has completely outcoached reddick. Not sure what games you're watching

There is a difference between our outplaying them, and Finch being the reason. You saw tonight Ant played Anti Finch ball and won. Most of the time that playstyle loses the game, tonight it worked. But to give Finch credit for Ant going hero ball mode is… dubious at best. Help me understand the defensive adjustments you credit Finch with that worked to help us win today? Because from my perspective we played terribly in the 2nd half defensively and gave up a truckload of wide open 3s, including the one Reaves missed for the tie.

You're right. A more heavy-handed coach would have sat Ant down for his "anti-Finch ball" and not let him cook. Great, he "sends a message"...but they almost certainly lose. Instead, Finch trusts his players to do the right thing over time and chooses not to micro-manage everything, which instills confidence in everyone from the superstar to the last player on the bench. That belief factor this team has, Finch is a major part of it. Belief that a struggling role player will come up big in clutch situations even though he was having a poor shooting night to that point. Belief that a 37-year old point guard still has value, with his defensive play keying the comeback. Belief that a guy he coached 5 years ago in another market has another side of his skill set that can be unlocked after a trade.

Finch might not be the best Xs and Os coach. Redick probably has exotic play calls that can run circles around him as a coach. But when it comes to understanding people and personalities, Finch has an ability to unlock players who everyone else has given up on. Unlock skills that everyone assumes a player doesn't have.

[guest81]

The anti-Finch and anti-Connelly factions on this board amaze me.

Finch has been awesome so far in the playoffs. Has completely outcoached reddick. Not sure what games you're watching

There is a difference between our outplaying them, and Finch being the reason. You saw tonight Ant played Anti Finch ball and won. Most of the time that playstyle loses the game, tonight it worked. But to give Finch credit for Ant going hero ball mode is… dubious at best. Help me understand the defensive adjustments you credit Finch with that worked to help us win today? Because from my perspective we played terribly in the 2nd half defensively and gave up a truckload of wide open 3s, including the one Reaves missed for the tie.

You're right. A more heavy-handed coach would have sat Ant down for his "anti-Finch ball" and not let him cook. Great, he "sends a message"...but they almost certainly lose. Instead, Finch trusts his players to do the right thing over time and chooses not to micro-manage everything, which instills confidence in everyone from the superstar to the last player on the bench. That belief factor this team has, Finch is a major part of it. Belief that a struggling role player will come up big in clutch situations even though he was having a poor shooting night to that point. Belief that a 37-year old point guard still has value, with his defensive play keying the comeback. Belief that a guy he coached 5 years ago in another market has another side of his skill set that can be unlocked after a trade.

Finch might not be the best Xs and Os coach. Redick probably has exotic play calls that can run circles around him as a coach. But when it comes to understanding people and personalities, Finch has an ability to unlock players who everyone else has given up on. Unlock skills that everyone assumes a player doesn't have.

On top of that, Finch has been the biggest supporter of Randle, even though everybody wanted Finch to dump and bench him. Finch is turning out to be right about that as well

[TimberKat]

The anti-Finch and anti-Connelly factions on this board amaze me.

Finch has been awesome so far in the playoffs. Has completely outcoached reddick. Not sure what games you're watching

There is a difference between our outplaying them, and Finch being the reason. You saw tonight Ant played Anti Finch ball and won. Most of the time that playstyle loses the game, tonight it worked. But to give Finch credit for Ant going hero ball mode is… dubious at best. Help me understand the defensive adjustments you credit Finch with that worked to help us win today? Because from my perspective we played terribly in the 2nd half defensively and gave up a truckload of wide open 3s, including the one Reaves missed for the tie.

You're right. A more heavy-handed coach would have sat Ant down for his "anti-Finch ball" and not let him cook. Great, he "sends a message"...but they almost certainly lose. Instead, Finch trusts his players to do the right thing over time and chooses not to micro-manage everything, which instills confidence in everyone from the superstar to the last player on the bench. That belief factor this team has, Finch is a major part of it. Belief that a struggling role player will come up big in clutch situations even though he was having a poor shooting night to that point. Belief that a 37-year old point guard still has value, with his defensive play keying the comeback. Belief that a guy he coached 5 years ago in another market has another side of his skill set that can be unlocked after a trade.

Finch might not be the best Xs and Os coach. Redick probably has exotic play calls that can run circles around him as a coach. But when it comes to understanding people and personalities, Finch has an ability to unlock players who everyone else has given up on. Unlock skills that everyone assumes a player doesn't have.

There is some true to that. NBA coaching is like herding cats. We aren't the only ones can't inbound the ball or a drawn up play totally falls apart. I do feel we could use more structure when I am seeing 5 guys standing outside, Conley has the ball with LBJ on him.

[shrink]

Finch saving that challenge was critical to winning Game Four

[Note30]

Firing him before the season was over would have been a colossal mistake.

But even out of the group that does want to fire him, who are you going to replace him with?

There's maybe a handful of coaches I'd replace him with. None of them are available.