Minnesota Sports Forum

60WinTim wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2026 8:25 am I don't think it is fair to simply fault the regular season performance on Finch. There was a lot more "transition" going on throughout the season that contributed to the performance than simply coaching. We had the unfortunate injury to Shannon that made him a non-factor, at least until now. There was the failure of Dilly to develop in a timely manner. There was Mike Conley falling off a cliff mid-season (we are damn lucky he saved his juice for the playoffs!). There was ANT missing 25% of the season after only missing 3 games per season in the prior 3 years.

Yeah, the Wolves were remarkably healthy, sans ANT, for the regular season. But there was a lot of transitional stuff going on throughout the season that prevented the team from meeting our expectations. Even now, with Donte out and ANT less than 100%, I would say the Wolves are exceeding our adjusted expectations in the playoffs. Finch deserves some credit for that!

I kept hearing we had the healthiest starting 5 for most of the season, so IDK.

So I just wrote a very long winded and well researched diatribe that was lost because it asked me to log in when I hit submit and did not save the draft….i won’t go through it again but the end result of looking at the last 10 coaches (not including multiple trips for Steve) showed that beyond a reasonable doubt there is 0 evidence in the last 15 years that a new to the program coach has immediate success. I fact it is glaringly the opposite. Titles have been won by coaches that have been promoted within the system or coaches that have been in the system for at least a season or two. Steve Kerr being the Anomoly and LeBron James being the exception that proves the rule a few times by inserting “coach I’ll play for” a few times.
It’s just not a thing that happens outside a few historic footnotes over 20 plus years ago.

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2026 9:12 am

guest81 wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2026 8:35 am

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2026 7:38 am

Coaching changes are often a thing that helps create championship teams. Phil with the Bulls and Lakers, Brown with Pistons, Riley with Heat, Kerr with GSW and I'm sure there are many, many more. Those teams didn't settle for good.

You know there are way more examples of coaching changes that didn't work and those are super rare examples right?

Yeah sure, but I just named 5 off the top of my head that did work. It's not an outlier, It's actually normal for coaching changes to result in championships. Those teams were good but didn't settle for good and most coaching changes are not good teams either obviously.

The thing too is, would those teams have won it all without a coaching change? Some of them like the Bulls, probably would have. Would it have been 6 though? IDK. Some of those it's pretty clear the coaching change was a big factor.

We regret not drafting Curry, but does he win a Championship here? I'd say very unlikely. We didn't have the surrounding talent or coaching to facilitate it. I think he'd still be an All Star, but his career would have been quite different.

My post before this about my long winded diatribe was directed at your stupid pulling names off the top of your head list and directly looked at the last 15 years of nba title success. Besides Jordan and Kobe and Steph curry you have no evidence and there is actually only evidence to the contrary. But thanks for barely trying.

Will Joe Mazzula win Coach of the Year this year and also get fired this summer after blowing a 3-1 lead to the 7th seed? It sounds like Jaylen Brown is fed up with Boston and may want out. No coach is perfect, even the coaches that are considered the best can be fired when the team needs a new voice. That doesn't mean we are at that point with Finch, and even if we are that doesn't mean we wont end up with a worse coach that disrupts things and makes players want to leave. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, sometimes but not always.

The only actual repeatable evidence that I noticed in the last 15 years, is that when a new coach takes over as head coach and was a previous assistant coach with the same team they were able to have success so let’s make sure we don’t let Micah nori out of the building

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2026 9:13 am

60WinTim wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2026 8:25 am I don't think it is fair to simply fault the regular season performance on Finch. There was a lot more "transition" going on throughout the season that contributed to the performance than simply coaching. We had the unfortunate injury to Shannon that made him a non-factor, at least until now. There was the failure of Dilly to develop in a timely manner. There was Mike Conley falling off a cliff mid-season (we are damn lucky he saved his juice for the playoffs!). There was ANT missing 25% of the season after only missing 3 games per season in the prior 3 years.

Yeah, the Wolves were remarkably healthy, sans ANT, for the regular season. But there was a lot of transitional stuff going on throughout the season that prevented the team from meeting our expectations. Even now, with Donte out and ANT less than 100%, I would say the Wolves are exceeding our adjusted expectations in the playoffs. Finch deserves some credit for that!

I kept hearing we had the healthiest starting 5 for most of the season, so IDK.

Yeah, I appreciate what Tim is saying, but c'mon, every team is dealing with transitional stuff, injuries, new players, etc. It's only a factor if somehow we were going through MORE transitional stuff than other teams and I just don't see it.

That being said, having now watched seven Wolves playoff games is that the less-than-inspiring regular season performance was 100% on the players. So I guess I agree with Tim it's not Finch's fault.

By the same token, I give those same players credit for what they've done so far in the playoffs. The switch can indeed be flipped. But it would have been nice to not always start on the road in these playoff series!

What is OKc transition story? The spurs? The Nuggets? Use examples instead of saying ideas with no evidence. The wolves have dealt with as much or more transition in the last three years as anyone sure, maybe it’s equal to every team no more no less. But our consistents? Finch. Underdog chip on shoulder mentality. Composure in coming back from leads and creating crunch time composure that leads the damn playoffs when it was an achillies heal two years ago. These are strengths and improvements lead by the coaching staff. I would argue we have no idea if we benefit from home court advantage because the DIRECT EVIDENCE is to the contrary. Our road record is better and our mentality of sticking it to away crowds literally out the players mouths FUELS them. So is it not more correct to laud Finch for recognizing what motivates and playing into that rather then yelling against a brick wall and losing the players by being a constant negative reacting to these regular season mishaps? I’d be curious to know any of you folks coaching history before you start to opine about what it is to coach.

BeenLurkin wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2026 9:54 am So I just wrote a very long winded and well researched diatribe that was lost because it asked me to log in when I hit submit and did not save the draft….i won’t go through it again but the end result of looking at the last 10 coaches (not including multiple trips for Steve) showed that beyond a reasonable doubt there is 0 evidence in the last 15 years that a new to the program coach has immediate success. I fact it is glaringly the opposite. Titles have been won by coaches that have been promoted within the system or coaches that have been in the system for at least a season or two. Steve Kerr being the Anomoly and LeBron James being the exception that proves the rule a few times by inserting “coach I’ll play for” a few times.
It’s just not a thing that happens outside a few historic footnotes over 20 plus years ago.

Oh yeah I forgot all those coaching changes for LBJ and Mazzulla too, like I said, it was just the 5 I thought of, I'm sure there are a dozen more. It's a common theme though throughout NBA history. The teams that don't settle for good can become great.

You said 4 not 5. And some there are not more unless you find them no matter how sure you are. Evidence or stop talking. Larry brown!?!? Get the fuck outta here with Larry brown.

Wolvesfan21 wrote: ↑Wed May 06, 2026 7:38 am

BeenLurkin wrote: ↑Tue May 05, 2026 6:39 pm You’re right, my apologies. I THINK the opinion of let’s give another coaching staff a chance with this roster to see what happens is insane and dumb and people that have that opinion are less than and not worth listening to. As far as incurious….not sure I follow.

Coaching changes are often a thing that helps create championship teams. Phil with the Bulls and Lakers, Brown with Pistons, Riley with Heat, Kerr with GSW and I'm sure there are many, many more. Those teams didn't settle for good.

You named 4 coaches not 5 like you stated twice now. So you’re already stretching your thin evidence to look more impressive. It worked with Stevekerr and oh Jackson…that’s your overwhelming evidence? Pat Riley coached tha team for nearly a decade and then retired before Dwayne wades rookie season before thinking to himself wait a minute I bet u could do it now! And Larry brown!?!? Larry brown!?!? What are his coaching accolades except one trip to the title and falling short the next year before finally retiring? What was the obvious shit we missed when overlooking Larry browns one time success with the historic defense he was gifted?