Either the meltdowns stop and we get better or changes will be made. Alore won't sit on their hands forever.
I hope you're right Q because I don't want my prediction to come true. Ant is clearly not happy with the way things are going as of late. I think it is time for a coaching change before things get worse. At the very least they need to shore up the roster and get the front office on the same page as the coaching staff. We simply don't have enough quality guys on the roster, and Finch's options are severely limited in games like today (although he is deserves a good portion of the blame for not developing some of the younger guys). Playing Joan in the early 4th quarter against chicago with several starters would have been a step in the right direction.
But we can't have it both ways when it comes to the young guys. Finch did play Dillingham and Shannon in an expanded 10-man rotation and they were terrible! We lost big-time the minutes Shannon played. Joan in theory makes sense given his defensive potential, but I have my doubt as to how effective he''ll actually be if given non-garbage time minutes.
Having said that, I wouldn't be opposed to a coaching change. And it's not because I think Chris Finch is a bad coach or that he is even at fault. If you look at the group dynamics of a professional sports team, sometimes simply changing the head coach can be a jolt to the overall dynamic of the team, even if he technically isn't any more qualified than the prior coach. It's not 100% guaranteed, but it's an easy lever to pull for the front office.
I get the "both ways" comment, but I am looking at this from a quality vs quantity problem. I think the young guys don't benefit as much from minutes with other developing players. I would rather see Dillingham, Shannon, and Joan get plugged in one at a time with the starting unit. That gives the benefit of a coach on the floor with them, and also limits what they have to control. Garbage time minutes likely do more harm than good for these players. Maybe they fail miserably, but the regular season is when we need to find that out. Had we given Dilly more situations like that last season might have steered TC in a different direction during free agency.
We need to have some players like Westbrook, Schroeder, etc that have the experience. We have to have more options for games like Atlanta. Finch unfortunately does not seem too receptive to making changes to his routine lineups so I don't if it would do much good, but maybe that is exactly what he needs to force his hand. Either way there seems to be a major disconnect between the FO and coaching staff. We need less players on the roster to develop, but better situations for those that are here.
I hope you're right Q because I don't want my prediction to come true. Ant is clearly not happy with the way things are going as of late. I think it is time for a coaching change before things get worse. At the very least they need to shore up the roster and get the front office on the same page as the coaching staff. We simply don't have enough quality guys on the roster, and Finch's options are severely limited in games like today (although he is deserves a good portion of the blame for not developing some of the younger guys). Playing Joan in the early 4th quarter against chicago with several starters would have been a step in the right direction.
But we can't have it both ways when it comes to the young guys. Finch did play Dillingham and Shannon in an expanded 10-man rotation and they were terrible! We lost big-time the minutes Shannon played. Joan in theory makes sense given his defensive potential, but I have my doubt as to how effective he''ll actually be if given non-garbage time minutes.
Having said that, I wouldn't be opposed to a coaching change. And it's not because I think Chris Finch is a bad coach or that he is even at fault. If you look at the group dynamics of a professional sports team, sometimes simply changing the head coach can be a jolt to the overall dynamic of the team, even if he technically isn't any more qualified than the prior coach. It's not 100% guaranteed, but it's an easy lever to pull for the front office.
I get the "both ways" comment, but I am looking at this from a quality vs quantity problem. I think the young guys don't benefit as much from minutes with other developing players. I would rather see Dillingham, Shannon, and Joan get plugged in one at a time with the starting unit. That gives the benefit of a coach on the floor with them, and also limits what they have to control. Garbage time minutes likely do more harm than good for these players. Maybe they fail miserably, but the regular season is when we need to find that out. Had we given Dilly more situations like that last season might have steered TC in a different direction during free agency.
We need to have some players like Westbrook, Schroeder, etc that have the experience. We have to have more options for games like Atlanta. Finch unfortunately does not seem too receptive to making changes to his routine lineups so I don't if it would do much good, but maybe that is exactly what he needs to force his hand. Either way there seems to be a major disconnect between the FO and coaching staff. We need less players on the roster to develop, but better situations for those that are here.
There's such a gap in on-court production and experience between the top 6 guys and the 3 young guys that it just doesn't make sense to inject the young guys in more.
BUT... that'll almost certainly change. The Wolves have had the healthiest starting 5 in the NBA so far this season. While it may continue, I expect someone to be injured at some point. And when it happens, the young guys will get a lot more run.
Right now, none of them really deserve much more. That's just life on a "good" healthy team.
AI tells me at the current win loss ratio for the season, the Wolves would go 16-11 in the remaining games and up with a win/loss record of 49-33, one more than the 48 wins I predicted. I sort of think they’ll do better than that, but it might be that they are who they are…
Sundog wrote: ↑Wed Feb 11, 2026 7:45 am
AI tells me at the current win loss ratio for the season, the Wolves would go 16-11 in the remaining games and up with a win/loss record of 49-33, one more than the 48 wins I predicted. I sort of think they’ll do better than that, but it might be that they are who they are…
It's certainly looking that way, as they have had plenty of "wake up call" losses this season that lead to only brief stretches of reformed play, only to slip back into bad habits.
The only thing that might boost their chances of doing better than what AI is predicting is the fact that they aren't playing Shannon, Dillingham, and Conley anymore and replaced those minutes with (presumably) better players. But the up and down nature of Ant and Julius's effort and willingness to keep the ball moving isn't going away, so we need to hope that may be the bench saves us in a couple of games that otherwise would be losses.
Sundog wrote: ↑Wed Feb 11, 2026 7:45 am
AI tells me at the current win loss ratio for the season, the Wolves would go 16-11 in the remaining games and up with a win/loss record of 49-33, one more than the 48 wins I predicted. I sort of think they’ll do better than that, but it might be that they are who they are…
One better I hope! I've got be right sooner or later.
The wolves estimated win percentage to this point is .656 meaning that they have under preformed by .056 so far
But if we extrapolated their expected wins for the remaining 27 games they finish with 50-51 wins. Hard to see them performing better than .650 but who knows
I know Tim will be coming out with his Tankometer (do we know yet if the emphasis is on the first or second syllable?), but I decided to jump the gun with my own spreadsheet in which I'll forecast win totals for the teams in contention. I have Minnesota at 50 wins (congratulations to the SP and monster for their shared win!). The only other team I have forecasted at this time is Houston, who I also have at 50 wins...they won the first game against us, so winning the remaining two games with them might be critical. I'll start a new thread once I forecast the other teams in contention and update it periodically.
FNG wrote: ↑Thu Feb 12, 2026 9:59 am
I know Tim will be coming out with his Tankometer (do we know yet if the emphasis is on the first or second syllable?), but I decided to jump the gun with my own spreadsheet in which I'll forecast win totals for the teams in contention. I have Minnesota at 50 wins (congratulations to the SP and monster for their shared win!). The only other team I have forecasted at this time is Houston, who I also have at 50 wins...they won the first game against us, so winning the remaining two games with them might be critical. I'll start a new thread once I forecast the other teams in contention and update it periodically.
First off, it's Klunk-O-Meter. And the emphasis is on the first syllable.
And I'll have you know I need the Wolves to the run the table for my win prediction to come to fruition...
FNG wrote: ↑Thu Feb 12, 2026 9:59 am
I know Tim will be coming out with his Tankometer (do we know yet if the emphasis is on the first or second syllable?), but I decided to jump the gun with my own spreadsheet in which I'll forecast win totals for the teams in contention. I have Minnesota at 50 wins (congratulations to the SP and monster for their shared win!). The only other team I have forecasted at this time is Houston, who I also have at 50 wins...they won the first game against us, so winning the remaining two games with them might be critical. I'll start a new thread once I forecast the other teams in contention and update it periodically.
First off, it's Klunk-O-Meter. And the emphasis is on the first syllable.
And I'll have you know I need the Wolves to the run the table for my win prediction to come to fruition...
OMG…cant believe I screwed up the name! Anyway, thx for the clarity on the pronunciation.
FNG wrote: ↑Thu Feb 12, 2026 9:59 am
I know Tim will be coming out with his Tankometer (do we know yet if the emphasis is on the first or second syllable?), but I decided to jump the gun with my own spreadsheet in which I'll forecast win totals for the teams in contention. I have Minnesota at 50 wins (congratulations to the SP and monster for their shared win!). The only other team I have forecasted at this time is Houston, who I also have at 50 wins...they won the first game against us, so winning the remaining two games with them might be critical. I'll start a new thread once I forecast the other teams in contention and update it periodically.
First off, it's Klunk-O-Meter. And the emphasis is on the first syllable.
And I'll have you know I need the Wolves to the run the table for my win prediction to come to fruition...
