Is Timberwolves Head Coach Chris Finch already on the hot seat?

Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch just finished his second season leading the team after joining during the 2020-2021 season. For the first time since the 2017-18 regular season, the Timberwolves capped off the regular season with 46+ wins and made their second playoff appearance.

To find a time when the Timberwolves had two consecutive seasons. in the NBA Playoffs, you would have to dial back your calendars to a period from 1997-2005, a period in which the Kevin Garnett-led Timberwolves enjoyed unparalleled franchise success.

But the Timberwolves feel they have the potential to string together success once more. The Timberwolves knocked off the Los Angeles Clippers to secure the seventh seed in the Western Conference Playoffs last season, and the team believes that they have upgraded the roster significantly since then.

Upgrades

Since a surprisingly great 2021-22 season, the Timberwolves have subsequently upgraded their front office. That was soon followed by the Timberwolves upgrading their roster.

Now, it’s up to head coach Chris Finch to lead this team to the promised land.

He did lead the Timberwolves to the NBA Playoffs and rallied the team from a forgettable first half of the season to come roaring back later in the season.

But unfortunately, they lost in the first round to the Memphis Grizzlies by a record of 4-2, particularly disappointing after knotting up the series 2-2 and taking a double-digit lead in the pivotal fifth game in that best of seven.

Blockbusters, trades, and raising the stakes

So, yes, the loss is disappointing, but the franchise is trending in the right direction. Finch led the Timberwolves to finish the 2020-21 season with a 16-25 record. But his second season with the team, posting a 46-36 record, sparked a chain of events that quite likely will result in a new era for the team.

Adding the two seasons’ wins totals together, the 62 victories under Finch already rank as the fourth-most under any head coach in team history. That is very impressive for two seasons. Now that he has inked a multi-year contract extension, the pressure is now on to take the franchise to the next level.

Of course, leading a team in the Western Conference is incredibly tough, especially when you are going up against some of the best players in the NBA. However, the Minnesota Timberwolves have made strides to become a better team; now, this is the year in which they hope it all comes together.

Getting a big improvement to the roster

One such example this offseason, Minnesota made a blockbuster trade for the three-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year in center Rudy Gobert. Below you will find full trade details.

This was a trade that many believe destroyed the NBA trade market for some big-name players like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Regardless the Timberwolves got their man, a 7-foot-1 NBA veteran rim protector who can run coast to coast and is arguably the NBA’s best interior defender. With the offseason addition of Rudy Gobert, the Timberwolves are ahead of schedule to be one of the league’s most improved teams. Pairing PF Karl Anthony Towns and SG Anthony Edwards with another dominant big man seems ideal, but there are always issues when putting together a new team.

Making it all work

Just look at the Los Angeles Lakers, a team that added guard Russell Westbrook in hopes of improving the overall roster, but chemistry difficulties led to them missing the playoffs last season.

It could happen just as quickly to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Everything about this team’s fit is theoretical. Karl-Anthony Towns has never played a full season at power forward before. Rudy Gobert, as good as he is, has never played for the Timberwolves before. The players on the roster are like field stones.

Now it’s up to Coach Finch to lay the bricks and assemble the team in the best possible manner. Coach Finch must coach up younger players, realign veterans, and work out a rotation that not only optimizes play on the basketball court but is sustainable over the course of an 82-game season.

Piecing together an NBA Championship jigsaw puzzle

However, It’s a long season, and the Timberwolves have time to figure out their dynamics. The team’s ball movement did improve last season but developing good team chemistry does not guarantee that Minnesota will win an NBA Championship with this core. Many NBA analysts have weighed in, and believe that this is arguably the best team the Timberwolves have had since Kevin Garnett’s MVP season in 2003-04.

The pieces are all there—no more excuses for players or coaches. So that puts pressure on the head coach and the coaching staff to deliver.

Like Karl Anthony Town said in his press conference welcoming center Rudy Gobert and in acknowledging his new super-max contract:

"“It’s ‘championship or bust’ in Minnesota. When you make the trade that we made, that’s the reality. I’m not trying to sugarcoat,” Towns said. “You’ve got to think that. That’s really what’s on the table. I don’t think the fans would be accepting of [a goal of] a third-round elimination. … Let’s be real. The standards are high. The pressure is high. And that’s when we should all love to play basketball even more.” – Per Karl-Anthony Towns interview with the Star Tribune’s Michael Rand"

The Timberwolves have raised the stakes. By doing so, the bar has been raised for this team as well. The Minnesota Timberwolves franchise has only made it out of the first round of the NBA Playoffs once in team history when the team advanced to the NBA Western Conference Finals after the 2003-04 season.

It seems clear that the expectation is for the team to advance to and through the first round of the NBA Playoffs this year. So, head coach Chris Finch is on the hot seat, and the clock is ticking; Timberwolves fans are hungry, and the time to win is now.