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Eric WoodyardESPN
The international experience and worldly perspective of newly recruited Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch was what intrigued basketball operations president Gersson Rosas.
During Monday’s introductory press conference, Rosas welcomed the former Toronto Raptors assistant to try to turn things around after firing Ryan Saunders after Sunday’s loss to the Knicks in New York.
“The things he’s done coaching around the world at different levels, those experiences, I think, are very relevant to our current game,” said Rosas. “We’re playing a very international game in the NBA, and the experience that Chris has, the perspective that he has, the time he’s been a head coach outside of the NBA, also an assistant in the NBA, I think those perspectives are that expertise. really important to our organization on both sides of the floor. “
In addition to Finch’s stops in Houston, Denver, New Orleans and Toronto as an assistant, he also served as the head coach of the Rockets’ G League subsidiary, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who won the 2010 championship.
He coached internationally in England, Germany and Belgium.
“I would like to be judged on wins and losses. That’s what matters,” said Finch. “This is about winning, and hopefully we can pile up some wins. Besides that, we want to see the growth of our young players, and we want to develop an identity. I think if we can achieve all three, that’s a home run, if we get two out of three, I think that’s a big step forward. “
While the timing of the hiring is not desirable, with Minnesota in the middle of a four-game losing slip while Finch is in last place in the standings 7-24, Finch is trying to make the most of the situation.
“This is not an ideal situation for a coach, and we don’t have a summer, we don’t have a preseason,” said Finch. “We have back-to-back, but that’s life in some leagues I’ve coached in, and those challenges have really honed my determination and my ability to be prepared, and I consider that a big challenge now and we will find out as we go along. We will slowly figure out what adjustments to make. “
That said, Finch isn’t impressed with the task ahead.
“I think we can bring some confidence back into the squad and maybe these guys can find some fun,” he said. “It’s hard when you lose. It’s a tough competition to win. It’s very close, but we’re not even a million miles away.”
Rosas described Sunday as a “crazy day for everyone involved”. He called the decision to fire Saunders “difficult,” but said the decision to make a change had been made over the weekend.
The Timberwolves front office went through the process of who would be available mid-season, but was still unsure until Toronto agreed to have Finch interviewed for the new role, which took place late Sunday afternoon. The decision to relieve Saunders came after the loss of Knicks.
The deal was finalized Monday morning.
“The decision to fire Ryan wasn’t made until Sunday, and at that point we were already preparing for the game, and to be fair to Ryan, these decisions take time,” said Rosas. “We spoke with ownership, and when we met our leadership group it was a process and a decision that was not an easy one and you have a team going through a pandemic all season without a pause button.
“There is no stop button, there are shootarounds and games to be prepared for. And we did our best in the time we got.”
Rosas said they looked at internal options like David Vanterpool and Pablo Prigioni from the staff, but were realistic in terms of their ranking. Rosas didn’t feel like they could get the real change they needed without being “ bold and direct with this opportunity. ”
“With Chris, we have a man here with whom we share a vision, we share a philosophy and are very confident in his ability to influence this team,” said Rosas. “And unfortunately, with our struggles here over the past year and a half, the ability to change that story would be difficult from an internal perspective.”
“I didn’t listen too much to the outside comments just because it has been a real whirlwind for me for 24 hours,” added Finch. “I can say that I am very excited and enjoy every day I have in the NBA. I am living the dream.”
The Timberwolves will take on the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday evening.