Julius Randle has been a Chris Finch favorite ever since he arrived in Minnesota via trade. Some of it is from when Finch was one of Randle's assistant coaches during his lone season with the New Orleans Pelicans, but even more so, Randle is just a "Finch type of guy."
He plays bully ball. When he's at his best, he can get to the rim every time down the court, he generates a lot of good looks for his teammates on his post-ups, and is extremely versatile on offense.
Unfortunately, Randle is far from a perfect player, and if his flaws cost the Wolves in the playoffs, Finch might be looking for a new job.
Finch is quick to call out players -- except for Randle
A famous Finch callout was from a few years ago, when Karl-Anthony Towns exploded for 62 points versus the Charlotte Hornets in a game the Wolves ultimately ended up losing due to the team seemingly being more focused on feeding KAT than winning the game.
While this may have been true, in Finch's postgame comments, he didn't shy away from calling out Towns, claiming he was playing immature basketball, and being focused on hunting a big number.
"It was an absolute disgusting performance of defense and immature basketball."
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) January 23, 2024
Chris Finch gives his thoughts after the loss. #RaisedByWolves #Timberwolves pic.twitter.com/CI8sX5ZsUF
He has called out Anthony Edwards for being lazy on defense at times, and he has called out Gobert for not setting the tone for numerous reasons. But it appears that Julius Randle is immune to public criticism from Finch, and whatever the reason for that is, it could ultimately be the reason Finch could get fired if the Wolves come up short of their goal again.
The Wolves could be one early exit away from a major shakeup
The Western Conference is tougher than ever, and the Wolves didn't do themselves any favors by losing to the teams ahead of them in the standings earlier in the season. While I'm optimistic the Wolves have the firepower to make a run at a championship, there's also a real chance that they run into the wrong matchup and lose in the first round.
If they end up losing in a fashion like this, a big reason could be Finch relying on Julius Randle too heavily in unfavorable matchups as he did against Oklahoma City last year. There are certain matchups where playing Randle heavy minutes will hurt them, and OKC is one of them. Against OKC, Naz Reid should almost always be closing games unless Randle is hot.
He makes quicker decisions than Randle, and he's a better spacer. But knowing Finch, however, he's probably going to roll with Randle until the wheels fall off, which is unfortunate, because if he keeps pressing the Randle button that isn't working in the playoffs, his job as head coach could end up being over sooner than he'd like.