By DAVE CAMPBELL
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday finalized the hiring of Toronto assistant Chris Finch as their new head coach, hours after firing Ryan Saunders with the team carrying the NBA’s worst record.
President of basketball operations Gersson Rosas made the change on the bench to the 51-year-old Finch, who was in his first season with the Raptors. They worked together in Houston, where Finch was an assistant (2011-16) and Rosas was a basketball operations executive.
“He is one of the most creative basketball minds in the NBA, has success maximizing players, and I am excited to see him bring our team to the next level and beyond,” Rosas said in a statement distributed by the Timberwolves.
His domestic experience began in what is now called the G League, winning the coach of the year award in 2010 for champion Rio Grande Valley. After his six seasons with the Rockets, Finch spent one year as an assistant for Denver and three with New Orleans. Considered one of the league’s best offensive strategists, Finch has helped coach stars like Nikola Jokić, Zion Williamson and James Harden over his career.
The midseason move from one team’s staff to another is rare, an obvious sign that Rosas had his former colleague in mind for awhile. What’s not uncommon, though, is the Timberwolves switching head coaches amid persistent struggles.
Saunders went 43-94 after taking over on an interim basis on Jan. 6, 2019, when Tom Thibodeau was fired. When Rosas was hired to run the front office four months later, he kept Saunders as the full-time coach, but because of the coronavirus pandemic, the 34-year-old Saunders never had a full season.
The injuries, trades and COVID-19 protocols that shuffled and diluted the rosters appeared to be insurmountable impediments to success for Saunders, but blown late-game leads were far too common. Even since star Karl-Anthony Towns recently returned, after recovering from COVID-19, the Timberwolves are 1-6. Their final game under Saunders was a loss to Thibodeau and the New York Knicks on Sunday night.
Saunders is the son of the late Flip Saunders, by far the winningest coach in team history and the only one beside Thibodeau (2018) to ever take a Timberwolves team to the playoffs. Ryan Saunders ranks seventh out of 13 on the all-time winning percentage list for the woebegone franchise, ahead of Bill Musselman, Randy Wittman, Bill Blair, Sidney Lowe, Kurt Rambis and Jimmy Rodgers.