Timberwolves have tools, now Coach Finch needs to design structure

Whenever you see an interview with Minnesota Timberwolves Heach Coach Chris Finch, it’s always worth the time invested to pause and listen to the dialogue. Coach Finch is more than an X’s and O’s type of coach. He actually has a matter-of-fact delivery and the ability to adapt to whatever the team needs or faces.

But he certainly has been more trouble-shooter and damage-control recently, and less basketball strategist. So if the Timberwolves roster settles into a more manageable pattern of durability and consistency, can Coach Finch pivot from dubbing healthy players into a makeshift lineup and rotation into a coach who can optimize plays for the Timberwolves roster?

Well, let’s see what he says:

The above clip is merely an extract of the full interview between Timberwolves Coach Finch and former player turned NBA analyst J.J. Redick. You can check out the full 8:27-minute interview in the embedded YouTube below.

So this all builds to a bigger question. Will the Minnesota Timberwolves be better this season?

The Minnesota Timberwolves have a rather robust roster. The Timberwolves roster has as many as three NBA All-Stars on the basketball court at any given point of time. As Coach Finch points out, the Timberwolves need more structure to ensure that center Rudy Gobert and power forward Karl-Anthony Towns do not find themselves overlapping in their roles and responsibilities.

The Timberwolves have clearly tried to address their shortfalls from the 2022-23 NBA season. The team has tried to add perimeter shooting, perimeter defense, rebounding, and bench-scoring throughout the offseason. While everything so far is theory and speculation, the team appears to be headed in the right direction.

There is one more roster spot to fill on the Timberwolves roster, and the team has the option to consider this forward, this summer league point guard standout, or even to sign this summer league point guard to the third and final Two-Way contract.

Even though the Timberwolves roster is not yet fully assembled, Coach Chris Finch is already working on a plan to address shortcomings highlighted in the team’s self-assessment report from the 2022-23 NBA season. While we did not get to witness a lot of strategy from Timberwolves Coach Finch last season, I believe that he will have a solid plan in place this year.