Should the Wolves fire Finch now or wait?

[Wolvesfan21]

Sometimes it feels like the talent level of this team makes up for the poor leadership from Finch. Other times it feels like Ant is holding the team back with Finch powerless to do anything about it. A new voice may be needed, but that new coach will need to walk a fine line between enticing Ant to play the team defense that is needed to be successful beyond individual accolades, and not alienating the best player in the team.

It feels like Ant may have been playing hurt for much of the season and he conserves himself to playing offense only as his self confidence is over the top, on offense.

IDK who that guy is to be honest, to maximize this teams potential. A guy like Malone could work or backfire all together. It's a really big decision. I could see a scenario where things go bad, but I'm willing to risk it for the potential upside.

A coaching change right now probably doesn't really do much for this year, so whatever I guess. See how things play out, I'd be OK with. I just get so frustrated with this team at times, but then I have to remind myself, it's just the regular season. There is a miniscule chance we turn it around and go on a run.

[AussieWolf3]

So the guy who has been walking that line for 5 years between motivating Ant and alienating him which has resulted in a CONSTANT ascension and yearly improvement in every aspect of his game that gets criticized and exposed….that guy might need to go so we can get a new guy who MIGHT be able to walk a line between motivating Ant and not alienating him because it MIGHT be better? Yeah that sounds like sound logic. As long as it might work we should fire the guy who just got to 250 wins quicker than the best coach this franchise has ever had. Why not risk alienating the entire locker room on a roll of the dice. Let’s see what color the grass is over there. Right when our generational talent is hitting his prime.

I would strongly suggest a different approach to the way you carry out conversations on here.

You accused everybody of being in a *whatever* echo chamber when the poll currently stands at essentially 50/50 and there has a balanced debate about the topic for 6 pages.

Me? I'm a process over results person and I find the process of how this team is coached to be questionable

[AbeVigodaLive]

So the guy who has been walking that line for 5 years between motivating Ant and alienating him which has resulted in a CONSTANT ascension and yearly improvement in every aspect of his game that gets criticized and exposed….that guy might need to go so we can get a new guy who MIGHT be able to walk a line between motivating Ant and not alienating him because it MIGHT be better? Yeah that sounds like sound logic. As long as it might work we should fire the guy who just got to 250 wins quicker than the best coach this franchise has ever had. Why not risk alienating the entire locker room on a roll of the dice. Let’s see what color the grass is over there. Right when our generational talent is hitting his prime.

To be fair, almost all of us are longtime Timberwolves fans.

And that means we've seen some of the best coaching in NBA history, so we have higher expectations.

Rambis
Lowe
Wittman
Rodgers
Blair
R. Saunders
Et al.

[BeenLurkin]

I think the best description of this argument is the nirvana fallacy. A working yet imperfect system is rejected in favor of an ideal system that is unrealistic. It’s a false dichotomy. Saying a different coach will produce a better result with the same team is an ideal concept. Ideal is impossible. You can only hope to get close to ideal…until a team goes 122-0 and never gives up a single point on defense. Everything else is a realistic best option.
I am also frustrated with a sporadically underperforming team but to argue some other coach is worth trying when we have had such an amazing run over the last three or four years seems to be an insane reach. Get more bites of the apple, every result is unpredictable so all you can hope to control is how many opportunities you get and Finch has lead to a lot of opportunities in the post season.

[BeenLurkin]

Also perspective here, as a head coach for our team besides his first season where he only coached us for half the year we have made the playoffs EVERY YEAR.

[BeenLurkin]

And the only replacement I have seen offered up here (probably missed a few) is Mike Malone….who was fired before playoffs because he couldn’t get a perennially great team over a hump…

[Wolvesfan21]

I think the best description of this argument is the nirvana fallacy. A working yet imperfect system is rejected in favor of an ideal system that is unrealistic. It’s a false dichotomy. Saying a different coach will produce a better result with the same team is an ideal concept. Ideal is impossible. You can only hope to get close to ideal…until a team goes 122-0 and never gives up a single point on defense. Everything else is a realistic best option.
I am also frustrated with a sporadically underperforming team but to argue some other coach is worth trying when we have had such an amazing run over the last three or four years seems to be an insane reach. Get more bites of the apple, every result is unpredictable so all you can hope to control is how many opportunities you get and Finch has lead to a lot of opportunities in the post season.

There is a possibility you are overrating Finch. There is also a possibility that a coaching change is exactly what this team needs to get over the hump if that change is positive.

More bites at the apple is a fair argument, But looking how we performed in the WCF the last two years as well as the regular season seems to me like those bits are rotten. Despite making the WCF, we were never really that close to winning it all. More bites, probably don't do anything. 7 game series are most often won by the best team. Ideally you are that best team, rather then the heavy underdog, get closer to even.

Right now it feels like a real long shot this year for the Wolves to win it all and the betting odds agree-

OKC has about a 45% chance to win it all, while the Wolves are about 2% and 9th best odds. I just think that gap is too significant to ignore. I'm not happy with 2% odds.

[BeenLurkin]

Yes, a possibility. But this is a coach whose had 4 championships in other professional leagues that hasn’t got this current set of players to the top yet. So imo he has more of a shot than the vast majority of other options. Show me a coach that’s won it all that’s available and has a track record of success with a true star player and we can discuss it. Until then it’s s a fallacy to even discuss.
Let them cook man, this offseason will reset the roster a bit, maybe move a big for a true pg, maybe Joan becomes a big part, lots of moving parts and everyone always says players win in the nba.

[BeenLurkin]

We have an 1:1 example in the nuggets. Was Malone the problem? Has his replacement born a different result, the nugs are exactly the same as they were last year.

[Wolvesfan21]

We have an 1:1 example in the nuggets. Was Malone the problem? Has his replacement born a different result, the nugs are exactly the same as they were last year.

The likely scenario is a coaching change makes little change like the Nuggies, However I'm willing to gamble because like I said, a 2% chance is just too slim to be realistic as a contender. Get me into that second tier where we have a real shot. So I'm less concerned with the potential downside and more worried we never reach the potential upside.