The Official Chris Finch Thread

[younggunsmn]

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MVP appreciates MIN actions. MIN fans dont even know what these actions are, but want to fire HC who implemented them. L - logic.

They blew us out in Game 1. I'm sure Jokic appreciates everything we did that game...

80 points. In 2023.
And the Denver players probably knew our actions better than some of our own players.
Because they have an A+ coach.

[Baseline81]

Nah. I think people, whether they are players, coaches, GM or posters, are responsible for what they do.

From my perspective, negative Finch posts seem to outnumber positive ones at least five-to-one. Heck, look at the name of the thread we’re posting in! To me, posters give credit for wins to their favorite players, and blame losses on the coach and the players they hate.

But prove me wrong. Do you want to count the positive Finch posts in our great win vs OKC, and I’ll count the negative ones in the last game, which was a team wide collapse? Granted, I’m going to have many more posts to pick from .. which is kind of my point.

I just don't see it that way. JMac is generally loved on forums. Yet, his play of late, along with Edwards, has certainly been called out.

[Baseline81]

I still maintain that Ryan Saunders wasn’t a bad coach. Dude took over an absolutely awful team and then was immediately forced to throw out his entire playbook to satiate the offensive vision of an overbearing front office. Then he had to deal with D’Angelo Russell being a malcontent in the locker room.

I think people assume that Ryan Saunders was a bad coach because he was a clear nepotism hire, but he never had a chance with that ridiculous situation.

How many 4th quarter blown leads do you need to see before you realize he was in over his head. The players liked him, however, his ability to coach was baffling. And for those saying Rosas forced things upon him, even when he was nearing the end, he still ran out the lineups he did. I suppose he wanted to go down with the ship, right?

[shrink]

It sounds like you would rather everyone post nothing but thumbs up emojis.

.. and, I stopped reading here. Why is it that some people feel it is justified to present other people’s opposing view in ann extreme, and untrue form? Is their own position so weak, that they can’t justify it, without misrepresenting the opposing view?

Not only is this untrue, I have specifically said the opposite. I want people to present a fair account of actual events, not only thumbs ups emojis.

Do you honestly believe Finch has been faultless this season?

No, I don’t believe he’s been faultless. Nobody has been, even people’s precious Anthony Edwards.

But I don’t believe in blaming him (or anyone) for losses, and not giving them any credit for wins.

[TimberKat]

There are times that I have no idea what the team is running on offense or they just standing around. It would seem to me he can do a better job in stopping that. I think he needs to call time out and pull people if they aren't running what they supposed to. I get it's a balancing act but once you do that a few times, people will get in line. It certainly is a difficult job when you have DLo, Towns, Ant all like to just do whatever comes to mind. So how do you get them to do the right thing and keep them happy?

[younggunsmn]

What I find frustrating is that if you look at the lengths of the game threads, people post more in the losses than the wins. The importance of the last four games are magnified, starting with the Pelicans game, then the Lakers game, OKC, the all these DEN games. For us, each of these is legitimately a playoff game, and unsurprisingly for this team, we’ve gone 2-2. In the game with OKC, that literally was a one game chance to make the playoffs, people don’t have much to say. Is that because people just want to bitch? Is it because that game doesn’t match their rhetoric saying Finch, KAT or Gobert are always bad?

Now we have at least three more games against Denver. It would be a pretty big upset for any 8 seed to advance .. 93.5% of the time, the #1 seed does. Moreover, the Nuggets are fully heathy, and we’re missing two very important players in McDaniels and Naz. I expect a better showing than Game 1, but it would be foolish to expect to win this series. However, what I do expect is for some of the posters here to spend a lot of time and energy blaming their own specific scapegoats as the reason why the team didn’t win. That’s been the only consistent thing this season.

What exactly about this post did I misrepresent?
You did the exact thing you are complaining about and picked one line out of several paragraphs of my post.
This post was 1/2 whining about other posters being negative and 1/2 making excuses for losing.
You could have just said, "hey guys, I think the cup is 1/2 full". That's your point right?
Why trash those who see it as half empty and have a thirst for a full cup of water?

You clearly have a problem with people being negative about your team and your favorite players.
You devolved into name calling when an outsider came here and had the audacity to say that KAT didn't have enough trade value to bring back a player like Miles Bridges or Evan Mobley (he doesn't).

You have your own right to be an optimist.
There is no need to passive aggressively whine about other posters who see things less rosily than you do.

Maybe we need to bring back the positivity thread if it will make things more comfortable for you.

[Baseline81]

Do posters visit other forums?

From Canis Hoopus:

Reacts: Taking Stock of Timberwolves After Blowout Game 1 Loss to Nuggets
Chris Finch, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards need to be better in Game 2 if the Wolves want to even the series heading back to Minneapolis.

https://www.canishoopus.com/2023/4/17/23687246/survey-nba-playoffs-2023-minnesota-timberwolves-denver-nuggets-game-1-towns-edwards-finch-jokic

[Klomp]

Do posters visit other forums?

From Canis Hoopus:

Reacts: Taking Stock of Timberwolves After Blowout Game 1 Loss to Nuggets
Chris Finch, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards need to be better in Game 2 if the Wolves want to even the series heading back to Minneapolis.

https://www.canishoopus.com/2023/4/17/23687246/survey-nba-playoffs-2023-minnesota-timberwolves-denver-nuggets-game-1-towns-edwards-finch-jokic

Saying someone "needs to do better" is far different than saying someone should lose his job.

[Baseline81]

Saying someone "needs to do better" is far different than saying someone should lose his job.

Tis one example I pulled of many (across forums) from this season where fans are frustrated with Finch.

[minimus]

I still maintain that Ryan Saunders wasn’t a bad coach. Dude took over an absolutely awful team and then was immediately forced to throw out his entire playbook to satiate the offensive vision of an overbearing front office. Then he had to deal with D’Angelo Russell being a malcontent in the locker room.

I think people assume that Ryan Saunders was a bad coach because he was a clear nepotism hire, but he never had a chance with that ridiculous situation.

The only thing worse than current implementation of Twin Towers with Gobert and Towns was Rosas implementation of five-out with Graham, RoCo at wings and Napier at PG.

It's the beginning of executing Connelly's vision, but there are holes that will still need to be filled.

I understand it. But such massive struggle is not something that we expect after trading bunch of assets in win-now trade.

[minimus]

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MVP appreciates MIN actions. MIN fans dont even know what these actions are, but want to fire HC who implemented them. L - logic.

They blew us out in Game 1. I'm sure Jokic appreciates everything we did that game...

80 points. In 2023.
And the Denver players probably knew our actions better than some of our own players.
Because they have an A+ coach.

Or maybe because Malone has been DEN HC for the last 8 years?

Or maybe because their players have much more experience?

Here is one perfect example: Conley said that MIN players should do homework better

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KCP said that they knew all MIN plays

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This is how KCP defended empty corner, while Edwards did not realise that behind KCP is "only" Jokic

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I have also heard that MIN players knew all DEN actions as well, but the problem here is level of preparation and execution. Do you play videogames or takes it seriously as Conley does? And then there is execution on the floor I dont think that KCP learned all MIN plays this week. It is impossible, but with nine years of NBA experience at high level guys such as KCP really have foundation to play any type of defense. That is why I feel good about 21yo Edwards learning a lot.

[Guidus88]

Do posters visit other forums?

From Canis Hoopus:

Reacts: Taking Stock of Timberwolves After Blowout Game 1 Loss to Nuggets
Chris Finch, Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards need to be better in Game 2 if the Wolves want to even the series heading back to Minneapolis.

https://www.canishoopus.com/2023/4/17/23687246/survey-nba-playoffs-2023-minnesota-timberwolves-denver-nuggets-game-1-towns-edwards-finch-jokic

rly? I was sure that if our two best players play worse we'll win game 2!

[BlacJacMac]

They blew us out in Game 1. I'm sure Jokic appreciates everything we did that game...

80 points. In 2023.
And the Denver players probably knew our actions better than some of our own players.
Because they have an A+ coach.

Or maybe because Malone has been DEN HC for the last 8 years?

Or maybe because their players have much more experience?

Here is one perfect example: Conley said that MIN players should do homework better

Read on Twitter

KCP said that they knew all MIN plays

Read on Twitter

This is how KCP defended empty corner, while Edwards did not realise that behind KCP is "only" Jokic

Read on Twitter

I have also heard that MIN players knew all DEN actions as well, but the problem here is level of preparation and execution. Do you play videogames or takes it seriously as Conley does? And then there is execution on the floor I dont think that KCP learned all MIN plays this week. It is impossible, but with nine years of NBA experience at high level guys such as KCP really have foundation to play any type of defense. That is why I feel good about 21yo Edwards learning a lot.

Now I'm confused. In your original post it seemed like you were defending Finch, but don't all these examples you just posted paint him in a bad light?

[TimberKat]

The last post about Ant's aggression has nothing to do with coaching. It's Ant's decision, any players see that situation should decide if he can drive pass the one guy. I am not sure why he decided not to attack but that is not on the coach

[shangrila]

Saying someone "needs to do better" is far different than saying someone should lose his job.

Tis one example I pulled of many (across forums) from this season where fans are frustrated with Finch.

So the one example from many you've pulled doesn't show what you think/want it to?

Interesting choice then.

[shangrila]

I mean we'll see how we do in the next game but all this stuff about the blowout seems to ignore a lot of the circumstance, namely that we had something like 4 games in 7 days while the Nuggets rested the entire time as well as guys like Ant playing through injury. On top of which game 1 was literally/statistically our worst game of the entire season (and by a significant margin IIRC).

[Klomp]

On top of which game 1 was literally/statistically our worst game of the entire season (and by a significant margin IIRC).

FG%: .370 (previous low .395)
Points: 80 (previous low: 88)

[Baseline81]

So the one example from many you've pulled doesn't show what you think/want it to?

Interesting choice then.

You either believe Finch has his built-in excuses (injuries, back-to-back, Gobert trade rebuild, etc.) for why the Wolves have played the way they have or you see the problems in his coaching (lack of team identity, timeouts, 4th quarter offense, etc.).

If it's the latter, then you have to ask yourself if it's enough to move on from him. Clearly, myself and others feel his time should be up. Again, I don't see Connelly trading either Towns or Gobert and, yet, changes need to be made.

[TimberKat]

I am waiting until the end of the season before comment on Finch. The DEN series is turning into one of those meaningless Gophers bowl games where you don't expect to win but losing badly could get the head coach fired.

[Calinks]

I don't think Finch has the players to run his flow offense. KAT, Ant, and Rudy seem to not do well in it. I think he will have to adjust some and put in some set plays, we are way too predictable. That said, I don't think he should be fired, I think at worst, we can work on adding more players who can play in Finch's style. That could mean moving on from KAT or Rudy or even both eventually but I think Finch can be really good when he has the right roster.