Page 11 of 16
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2026 12:58 am
by Crazysauce
Finch has let go of the reins and the inmates are running the asylum. He should have been fired already. Honestly I blame our losing history as a franchise for being so forgiving with Finch. It's starting to bleed into the locker room cause players that compete night in and night out can't stand seeing players half assing it. I think it's crazy he has been given this long of a leash. People need to quit saying but we went to two conference finals and realize our talent doesn't get the results it should. Sadly most of it is on effort. Finch isn't an x and o genius so if he can't get his team to at least give him effort what exactly is he here for?
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2026 2:53 am
by Lipoli390
Crazysauce wrote: ↑Sat Feb 07, 2026 12:58 am
Finch has let go of the reins and the inmates are running the asylum. He should have been fired already. Honestly I blame our losing history as a franchise for being so forgiving with Finch. It's starting to bleed into the locker room cause players that compete night in and night out can't stand seeing players half assing it. I think it's crazy he has been given this long of a leash. People need to quit saying but we went to two conference finals and realize our talent doesn't get the results it should. Sadly most of it is on effort. Finch isn't an x and o genius so if he can't get his team to at least give him effort what exactly is he here for?
I agree, Crazy. I’ll note that Rudy wasn’t just calling out Ant and Randle. He was calling out Finch, which was apparent in his comment that “if I’m not giving effort the coach should take me out of the game” or something like that. My read on Rudy’s comments was that the coaching staff is not holding everyone accountable for lack of effort. I actually like Finch and think he’s a good head coach. But I think, for whatever reason, he’s lost this team. His voice apparently no longer resonates with the players. At the same time, there’s a problem with our best players who should be self-motivated to give maximum effort consistently but don’t. So yes, I think the Wolves should fire Finch, but only if he’s replaced with a head coach of a certain type who will and can light a fire under guys who should be lighting their own fire. That’s what leads me to Malone. TC hired him in Denver so there’s a connection there. He’s a proven winner having coached the Nuggets to an NBA title. And importantly, he’s a highly intense coach who pushes his players hard.
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2026 5:21 am
by thedoper
Finch routinely calls out players then does nothing in game when the same thing happens. Our crunch time structure still seems to be Ant iso ball. He is just getting way better at it because he is really good. I have never seen an inbound play that I like with this team, the best we can come up with is have the oldest guy inbound. He says basketball things the media likes to hear, but we are just too unmotivated too often, and too variant on our execution for me to think hes a great coach.
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2026 6:02 am
by 60WinTim
Ayo has a golden opportunity to be the knight on a white horse!
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2026 9:05 am
by FNG
I'm just getting to the replay right now, so I'll probably have more comments later (I'm sure all of you will be refreshing your browsers frequently waiting for my words of wisdom
. While I know I'm going to have to watch a second half collapse, I'm having a difficult time imagining how Ant's and Ju's defense can get any lazier than what I'm watching right now. I swear Saddiq Bey would be a shoe in for the HOF if he had Ant "guarding" him every night. I'm focusing on the difference in how fast Ant gets down the court on a fast break compared to him loping down the court on defense. I understand Rudy's post-game comments. Disgusting.
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2026 9:18 am
by FNG
Ju and Ant sit to start the second quarter, and the defensive intensity picks up considerably...who would think that substituting Bones and Naz would be an upgrade on defense. I check the box score and note we gave up 22 points in the second quarter compared to 34 in the first, and I say "ha...yep". Something needs to change, and I'm warming to Lip's idea we replace Finchy with a hard ass like Malone. I don't want Finchy to be a victim of our offensive stars' laziness, but it might be necessary to light a fire under these guys.
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2026 9:30 am
by Wolvesfan21
Lipoli390 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 07, 2026 2:53 am
Crazysauce wrote: ↑Sat Feb 07, 2026 12:58 am
Finch has let go of the reins and the inmates are running the asylum. He should have been fired already. Honestly I blame our losing history as a franchise for being so forgiving with Finch. It's starting to bleed into the locker room cause players that compete night in and night out can't stand seeing players half assing it. I think it's crazy he has been given this long of a leash. People need to quit saying but we went to two conference finals and realize our talent doesn't get the results it should. Sadly most of it is on effort. Finch isn't an x and o genius so if he can't get his team to at least give him effort what exactly is he here for?
I agree, Crazy. I’ll note that Rudy wasn’t just calling out Ant and Randle. He was calling out Finch, which was apparent in his comment that “if I’m not giving effort the coach should take me out of the game” or something like that. My read on Rudy’s comments was that the coaching staff is not holding everyone accountable for lack of effort. I actually like Finch and think he’s a good head coach. But I think, for whatever reason, he’s lost this team. His voice apparently no longer resonates with the players. At the same time, there’s a problem with our best players who should be self-motivated to give maximum effort consistently but don’t. So yes, I think the Wolves should fire Finch, but only if he’s replaced with a head coach of a certain type who will and can light a fire under guys who should be lighting their own fire. That’s what leads me to Malone. TC hired him in Denver so there’s a connection there. He’s a proven winner having coached the Nuggets to an NBA title. And importantly, he’s a highly intense coach who pushes his players hard.
I was thinking of Malone as a replacement, however I am not sold. Going from Finch to Malone could backfire, meaning he comes in and tries to take control but the players are so use to having a lot of it they may not accept it at all. I think it would be too big of a change.
I think Finch still has the respect of the players, but simply needs to toughen up on them a bit more.
That said a coaching change could be effective. I just can't see Malone working well here imo.
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2026 9:41 am
by rapsuperstar31
D-Loser25 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 07, 2026 12:44 am
kekgeek wrote: ↑Sat Feb 07, 2026 12:04 am
Chris Finch on Rudy Gobert’s night against the Pelicans
“I didn’t like our rim protection tonight from him or anyone else. He had a decent stat line but the impact just not there”
Finch is an idiot if he’s calling out Rudy for his “rim protection” so basically Rudy is normally great at covering for his teammates shitty defense with his rim protection, but tonight he wasn’t that great at covering for his teammates shitty defense, so we’re gonna blame Rudy for the loss, rather than blaming his teammates and their shitty defense. I honestly didn’t watch a lot of this game but that’s what I’m taking from the Rudy and Finch comments. Rudy is an easy target because he’s probably not as popular with teammates… how about you criticize the terrible shot selection and no ball movement from the rest of these guys. Idk, something is really missing with this team still and I don’t think the problem is Rudy. It would be nice if this team had an actually starting PG… that really isn’t Ant. At this point this team needs a really big shake up… if they don’t start a winning streak like right now, I think finch needs to be canned next week.
Everyone in the starting lineup was trash on defense. Randle and Rudy were a layup line, and showed no resistance at all driving right to the hoop. Rudy had a some stops, but he also got beat a lot more than usual. Rudy also left Queen wide open from three, which should normally be fine, but he goes 4/4 from three. Ant was poor closing out to corner three point shooters like normal, but also couldn't defend Bey in the post. Donte was getting beat left and right. Jaden didn't look like he even wanted to be there, he wanted out of that game and it looked like he fouled on purpose. Hopefully Ayo is the relentless worker Chicago fans call him, because when Bones can give the team a shot in the arm, it's pretty bad with the starters.
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2026 9:54 am
by FNG
rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 07, 2026 9:41 am
D-Loser25 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 07, 2026 12:44 am
kekgeek wrote: ↑Sat Feb 07, 2026 12:04 am
Chris Finch on Rudy Gobert’s night against the Pelicans
“I didn’t like our rim protection tonight from him or anyone else. He had a decent stat line but the impact just not there”
Finch is an idiot if he’s calling out Rudy for his “rim protection” so basically Rudy is normally great at covering for his teammates shitty defense with his rim protection, but tonight he wasn’t that great at covering for his teammates shitty defense, so we’re gonna blame Rudy for the loss, rather than blaming his teammates and their shitty defense. I honestly didn’t watch a lot of this game but that’s what I’m taking from the Rudy and Finch comments. Rudy is an easy target because he’s probably not as popular with teammates… how about you criticize the terrible shot selection and no ball movement from the rest of these guys. Idk, something is really missing with this team still and I don’t think the problem is Rudy. It would be nice if this team had an actually starting PG… that really isn’t Ant. At this point this team needs a really big shake up… if they don’t start a winning streak like right now, I think finch needs to be canned next week.
Everyone in the starting lineup was trash on defense. Randle and Rudy were a layup line, and showed no resistance at all driving right to the hoop. Rudy had a some stops, but he also got beat a lot more than usual. Rudy also left Queen wide open from three, which should normally be fine, but he goes 4/4 from three. Ant was poor closing out to corner three point shooters like normal, but also couldn't defend Bey in the post. Donte was getting beat left and right. Jaden didn't look like he even wanted to be there, he wanted out of that game and it looked like he fouled on purpose. Hopefully Ayo is the relentless worker Chicago fans call him, because when Bones can give the team a shot in the arm, it's pretty bad with the starters.
Yeah, Queen's 4 for 4 was a killer for sure. But if I'm Rudy, I'm noticing many of my teammates are not working on defense and getting beat and I know DQ is 10 for 47 on threes coming into the game...I'm not going to chase him outside the arc either. Just didn't work this time.
Fun to see guys who are not known as good defenders like Juzang and Hyland at least trying on defense.
Re: The Ayo Era Begins - Pelicans at Wolves GDT
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2026 10:13 am
by rapsuperstar31
FNG wrote: ↑Sat Feb 07, 2026 9:54 am
rapsuperstar31 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 07, 2026 9:41 am
D-Loser25 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 07, 2026 12:44 am
Finch is an idiot if he’s calling out Rudy for his “rim protection” so basically Rudy is normally great at covering for his teammates shitty defense with his rim protection, but tonight he wasn’t that great at covering for his teammates shitty defense, so we’re gonna blame Rudy for the loss, rather than blaming his teammates and their shitty defense. I honestly didn’t watch a lot of this game but that’s what I’m taking from the Rudy and Finch comments. Rudy is an easy target because he’s probably not as popular with teammates… how about you criticize the terrible shot selection and no ball movement from the rest of these guys. Idk, something is really missing with this team still and I don’t think the problem is Rudy. It would be nice if this team had an actually starting PG… that really isn’t Ant. At this point this team needs a really big shake up… if they don’t start a winning streak like right now, I think finch needs to be canned next week.
Everyone in the starting lineup was trash on defense. Randle and Rudy were a layup line, and showed no resistance at all driving right to the hoop. Rudy had a some stops, but he also got beat a lot more than usual. Rudy also left Queen wide open from three, which should normally be fine, but he goes 4/4 from three. Ant was poor closing out to corner three point shooters like normal, but also couldn't defend Bey in the post. Donte was getting beat left and right. Jaden didn't look like he even wanted to be there, he wanted out of that game and it looked like he fouled on purpose. Hopefully Ayo is the relentless worker Chicago fans call him, because when Bones can give the team a shot in the arm, it's pretty bad with the starters.
Yeah, Queen's 4 for 4 was a killer for sure. But if I'm Rudy, I'm noticing many of my teammates are not working on defense and getting beat and I know DQ is 10 for 47 on threes coming into the game...I'm not going to chase him outside the arc either. Just didn't work this time.
Fun to see guys who are not known as good defenders like Juzang and Hyland at least trying on defense.
That's true, if this was the playoffs Queen would have missed all four threes when the stakes ratchet up. But in a regular season game when a bad team is playing a team not taking it seriously, there is no pressure on those shots let it fly if you miss you miss.