Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote:Ok.

1. Things can't get any worse.
2. Rosas has one less life raft... that's not saying I hope he fails... only that maybe it's finally time for the organization to commit to winning basketball games.



[Note: The feed KAT more (up to 30x more per game) sounds awesome on a computer. But the trick is getting Edwards, Beasley and Russell to buy in. I think Towns is potentially a good-enough passer that it could work.]

Hell, I would be happy with 20 shots a game for KAT.

Camden wrote:Chris Finch on his coaching style:

"What I've learned about coaching is create a structure with some rules and then get out of the way."

Finch says the Wolves are going to "play fast, play free".

Chris Finch spoke with Karl-Anthony Towns last night.

Finch told KAT he is going to get him "back to being the center point of the team".

"He should be at the center of everything."

Finch is at least saying everything that I want to hear so far. Saying and doing are different things, though. Show me!

I don't see anything different here from Ryan's philosophy other than the KAT piece (which is not insignificant). But play fast and free and get out of the way...I don't recall Ryan micromanaging and barking out plays. And it seemed like we were trying to play fast even though that doesn't even suit about half the roster.

Get KAT the ball more. OK, great. That would mean we would may be have 8 or 9 wins instead of 7 right now. Otherwise, color me skeptical that he moves the needle much this season.

Q12543 wrote:

Camden wrote:Chris Finch on his coaching style:

"What I've learned about coaching is create a structure with some rules and then get out of the way."

Finch says the Wolves are going to "play fast, play free".

Chris Finch spoke with Karl-Anthony Towns last night.

Finch told KAT he is going to get him "back to being the center point of the team".

"He should be at the center of everything."

Finch is at least saying everything that I want to hear so far. Saying and doing are different things, though. Show me!

I don't see anything different here from Ryan's philosophy other than the KAT piece (which is not insignificant). But play fast and free and get out of the way...I don't recall Ryan micromanaging and barking out plays. And it seemed like we were trying to play fast even though that doesn't even suit about half the roster.

Get KAT the ball more. OK, great. That would mean we would may be have 8 or 9 wins instead of 7 right now. Otherwise, color me skeptical that he moves the needle much this season.

He likely will not. We are playing to get a top pick, or not to lose one. Reality sucks.

Q12543 wrote:

Camden wrote:Chris Finch on his coaching style:

"What I've learned about coaching is create a structure with some rules and then get out of the way."

Finch says the Wolves are going to "play fast, play free".

Chris Finch spoke with Karl-Anthony Towns last night.

Finch told KAT he is going to get him "back to being the center point of the team".

"He should be at the center of everything."

Finch is at least saying everything that I want to hear so far. Saying and doing are different things, though. Show me!

I don't see anything different here from Ryan's philosophy other than the KAT piece (which is not insignificant). But play fast and free and get out of the way...I don't recall Ryan micromanaging and barking out plays. And it seemed like we were trying to play fast even though that doesn't even suit about half the roster.

Get KAT the ball more. OK, great. That would mean we would may be have 8 or 9 wins instead of 7 right now. Otherwise, color me skeptical that he moves the needle much this season.

Here's the difference, Q, as I see it. Finch talked about instituting a structure and then getting out of the way. As an avid watcher of the sport, I can't honestly say that I saw much structure or organization with how the Wolves played basketball. It could have been a pickup game at Rucker Park for all I knew. If that was the system, then it was a failure before it was ever set in motion. Players were stagnant and motionless. They parked themselves around the perimeter and watched their teammates try to create for themselves waiting for their own opportunity. I'm hopeful based on Finch's history that there will be an actual system implemented that incorporates and prioritizes movement away from the basketball. Make the defense work and they're more likely to make mistakes. There should be flow within the offense with cutting and passing and that just wasn't there. It appeared to me that Saunders established no structure but still stayed hands off. That's not the same thing to me.

Finch also has decades more of experience and history over Saunders, which should result in a more efficient and affective way of getting things done.

I agree that I don't see this season being turned around at this point, but I would be very surprised if Minnesota wasn't twice as good from now until the end of the season and that's a significant difference.

I'm glad they didn't waste the rest of this season by promoting an assistant to interim head coach, when they knew he wouldn't be the guy next year. I don't know anything about finch, but if he's going to be your guy next, then I think it's great that they were able to get him in there now. Plus it starts the clock to fire Rosas now instead of at the start of next season.

Does anyone know when Kat made his comments about being here and wanting to win?

Rosas did say after the game they told the team that were about process to hire Hinch and they dismissed Saunders. Interested if he made these comments with knowing the news.

jester1534 wrote:Does anyone know when Kat made his comments about being here and wanting to win?

Rosas did say after the game they told the team that were about process to hire Hinch and they dismissed Saunders. Interested if he made these comments with knowing the news.

Yeah, Towns made those comments roughly thirty minutes before the news about Saunders was reported by Woj. I'm almost positive that he was already aware of what was going on.

Q12543 wrote:

Camden wrote:Chris Finch on his coaching style:

"What I've learned about coaching is create a structure with some rules and then get out of the way."

Finch says the Wolves are going to "play fast, play free".

Chris Finch spoke with Karl-Anthony Towns last night.

Finch told KAT he is going to get him "back to being the center point of the team".

"He should be at the center of everything."

Finch is at least saying everything that I want to hear so far. Saying and doing are different things, though. Show me!

I don't see anything different here from Ryan's philosophy other than the KAT piece (which is not insignificant). But play fast and free and get out of the way...I don't recall Ryan micromanaging and barking out plays. And it seemed like we were trying to play fast even though that doesn't even suit about half the roster.

Get KAT the ball more. OK, great. That would mean we would may be have 8 or 9 wins instead of 7 right now. Otherwise, color me skeptical that he moves the needle much this season.

My think is the same as yours on this, Q. I do think it will help to make sure KAT is the centerpiece of the offense. But otherwise, Finch's intent to play fast and free while getting out of the way doesn't distinguish him from Ryan and it fails to fit much of the team's roster, especially when DLO returns. But Finch's philosophy is precisely what Rosas hired him; it fits Gersson's vision or "system." Having said all that, unlike Ryan Saunders, Chris Finch has a resume and record of experience worthy of being hired as an NBA head coach. But my expectations are low.

Here's a comment Rosas made explaining why he hired Finch instead of Vanterpool or Pablo:

Rosas said they looked at internal options such as David Vanterpool and Pablo Prigioni on the staff, but were realistic in terms of their league standing. Rosas didn't feel they could get the real change they needed without being "bold and direct with this opportunity."

"With Chris, we have a guy here who we share a vision, we share a philosophy and feel very confident about his ability to impact this team," Rosas said. "And unfortunately, with our struggles here over the last year and a half, the ability to change that narrative was going to be hard from an internal perspective."

That's classic Rosas, referring to "shared vision and philosophy" whatever the hell that means. Rosas explain passing over Vanterpool and Pablo with the comment that they needed to be "bold and direct with this opportunity." Bold and direct?? I guess he's saying that he didn't want to go with an internal candidate to turn around a losing team. I get that, but why not just say that. Just say you wanted someone from the outside. Or just say you've known him a long time. Well, anyway, it doesn't really matter. Rosas emphasized Finch's international coaching experience as central to his decision because the NBA, said Rosas, plays a European game today. Every time Gersson opens his mouth, I have less confidence in him. But there's always the blind squirrel effect. And if Gersson is the blind squirrel, then maybe Finch will be his crown jewel nut.

Lip, I got a headache listening to Rosas in the press conference...half the time I really don't know what he was talking about, and other times he merely spewed safe platitudes. I admit he may have made some great moves (or gotten lucky?) with McDaniels, Reid, J-Mac and perhaps Nowell, but on balance his bad moves outweigh his good in my opinion. All that said, I'm holding on to some optimism he may have stumbled into a good hire here. There have been some comments here (and also some louder comments from the Portland backcourt) that Vanterpool or Prigiano would have been better choices. We don't know if they would have and the answer lies ahead of us, but I'm glad Rosas didn't make an internal hire for a few reasons:

1)This franchise has a history of making the easy choice...hiring the safe guy that they know rather than bringing in someone perhaps more qualified from the outside. You know, the country club. Hiring someone that was already on the inside smacks of "business as usual" country club behavior. I say this recognizing that Finch is not completely an outsider because he has a prior relationship with Rosas, but at least he is untainted by the Wolves Experience.

2) If a team is underperforming, is the head coach the only coach responsible? The assistant coaches spend a lot of time with the players working on various skills and also have a hand in developing offensive and defensive strategy. Wouldn't it be odd to promote a guy from within who had a hand in a 7-24 season?

3) As I mentioned earlier in this thread, Vanterpool has been a head coaching candidate since 2013, If I'm not mistaken, he has been interviewed and subsequently not hired at least 6 times that I can think of. While the NBA doesn't have a stated Rooney Rule, it seems that there is a common practice to always include a minority candidate in every coaching search, and it seems that David might be a guy who conveniently "checks a box"...a respected minority assistant coach who doesn't quite measure up as a head coaching candidate. 6 other GMs have talked to David and concluded he wasn't the guy. I'm glad Rosas didn't pull a Kahn and decide he was smarter than all of them by promoting him.

So, we don't know how this one will end up, but I'm going to keep an open mind. His resume is excellent as a well-respected assistant coach where he has demonstrated an ability to improve an offense, and he also has some experience in the G League and Europe as a head coach. It seems he has earned the opportunity to lead a team. The Wolves have already progressed from a team that was getting blown out by double digits in more than half of its games in December and January, to a team that is still not winning, but has managed to be competitive every night the past three weeks. We've already made a palpable big step, and we don't have to improve our performance nearly as much as we already have in order to turn those close losses into close wins. We've seen our defense improve dramatically the past three weeks. It's not out of the question that a guy like Finch with a great offensive reputation to tweak the offense just enough to put this team over the top. I'm curious and guardedly optimistic to see what he can do.