Timberwolves fire former Gopher Ryan Saunders

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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This was the right move, but I’m surprised Taylor signed off on it.

Best of luck to Ryan.

Go Gophers!!
 


Had to be done. He simply wasn't going to get this turned around. Best of luck to him though.
 

Should never have been hired. Will be surprised if he get another shot in the next 5 years. But will for sure land on his feet in some NBA organization as an assistant or a scout or something
 

Well, that means he's available for the Gophers job.... when there is an opening. 🙄🙄
 


Toronto Raptors assistant coach, Chris Finch to be new head coach of TWolves

 

Hopefully we don't have to wait too long before the next in-town coaching change is made.
 

Did some quick research on Finch. I'm excited. Get ready to see KAT hit his potential and there's a chance we might add another well known big during or after this season.

He is very well respected by both coaches and players he has coached.

Known as an offensive guru and his numbers back him up.

I don't remember the last time i was excited for a TWolves coach.
 





He'll get another shot in due time....but it was the right move. The Timberwolves have had some very unsightly fourth quarter meltdowns just this year. A combination of questionable substitutions, misuse of timeouts in order to stop the bleeding, and complete disregard for offensive ball movement can do that.

On a related note....Russell looking like a mistake.
 

Wow, I can't remember an assistant being hired away from another team during the season.

I agree with those that say Ryan should have never gotten the permanent job, but I also think scapegoating him for this season is absolutely ridiculous. For the vast majority of the season the most proven play at either the 4/5 on his roster was Juancho (or you could argue Ed Davis). Then DLo was hurt for most of the stretch and when he played he proved that he was every bit as overpaid as Wiggins. Finally, Rubio looks absolutely finished. I've watched the Raptors game and the Knicks game and Rubio bascially lost both of these games for the Wolves. Given that he's not had any games with the Wolves alleged two max players and they were clearly tanking last year...I am not sure what fans were expecting? I've seen more from McDaniel and Reid than I expected to. Turning some of these young guys in to actual NBA players is about the best thing that could have happened this year.

I don't think Ryan has proven to be a good coach, but he's made far few glaring mistakes than Rosas has during their combined tenure. I hope he lands on his feet somewhere and can rehab his image. JB Bickerstaff got another job way sooner than I thought possible (granted it was largely due to Beilein stepping down) so hopefully Ryan gets another shot at a head coaching gig someday down the line.
 

EG#9 said:
Wow, I can't remember an assistant being hired away from another team during the season.

I agree with those that say Ryan should have never gotten the permanent job, but I also think scapegoating him for this season is absolutely ridiculous. For the vast majority of the season the most proven play at either the 4/5 on his roster was Juancho (or you could argue Ed Davis). Then DLo was hurt for most of the stretch and when he played he proved that he was every bit as overpaid as Wiggins. Finally, Rubio looks absolutely finished. I've watched the Raptors game and the Knicks game and Rubio bascially lost both of these games for the Wolves. Given that he's not had any games with the Wolves alleged two max players and they were clearly tanking last year...I am not sure what fans were expecting? I've seen more from McDaniel and Reid than I expected to. Turning some of these young guys in to actual NBA players is about the best thing that could have happened this year.

I don't think Ryan has proven to be a good coach, but he's made far few glaring mistakes than Rosas has during their combined tenure. I hope he lands on his feet somewhere and can rehab his image. JB Bickerstaff got another job way sooner than I thought possible (granted it was largely due to Beilein stepping down) so hopefully Ryan gets another shot at a head coaching gig someday down the line.
Click to expand...

Wiggins was definitely overpaid, we also used him incorrectly. He just wasnt in the right system. He's doing well for the warriors though, still overpaid however.

I don't blame Rojas yet, I think he "had" to stick with Ryan for a bit, I'm guessing Taylor had a lot of influence in that decision, it was probably Rojas fed up with the lack of improvement that finally led him to be blunt with Taylor.

Finch will get us to the playoffs and our team will play like a team finally.
 



From 2019

The Timberwolves have secured permission to interview New Orleans Pelicans assistant Chris Finch for their coaching vacancy, according to league sources. Finch and new Wolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas worked together in Houston
— MARC STEIN (@THESTEINLINE) MAY 14, 2019
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Can confirm @TheSteinLine report about Pelicans assistant coach Chris Finch interviewing in Minnesota.
IF ROSAS AND FINCH PAIR UP, THE WOLVES MIGHT LAUNCH 50 3S A GAME NEXT YEAR.
— Andrew Lopez (@_Andrew_Lopez) May 14, 2019
Click to expand...


Finch was the guy Rojas wanted from the start. Ryan getting the job was Taylor using his weight.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
Did some quick research on Finch. I'm excited. Get ready to see KAT hit his potential and there's a chance we might add another well known big during or after this season.

He is very well respected by both coaches and players he has coached.

Known as an offensive guru and his numbers back him up.

I don't remember the last time i was excited for a TWolves coach.
Click to expand...
I didn't know who Finch is until I quickly looked him up, but he's got an impressive resume, and he seems like a guy who's deserved a chance. By accounts he's an offensive mastermind, but the question remains, who will get this team to play defense?
 


Some guy said:
Should never have been hired. Will be surprised if he get another shot in the next 5 years. But will for sure land on his feet in some NBA organization as an assistant or a scout or something
Click to expand...

He will land on his feet somewhere because the NBA is weird like that. He is a really nice guy, terrible coach and maybe he'll pop his head up somewhere someday.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
From 2019







Finch was the guy Rojas wanted from the start. Ryan getting the job was Taylor using his weight.
Click to expand...

Glen Taylor is a better person than a lot of these guys, but he is like Dan Snyder and old Al Davis in terms of destroying his own franchise.
 

Please Gophers, do not hire Ryan. Just like RP he seems like a great guy. But also like him, I think he is a poor coach at best
 
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SanDiegoGopherFan said:
From 2019







Finch was the guy Rojas wanted from the start. Ryan getting the job was Taylor using his weight.
Click to expand...

I think this is very likely true, and I don't want to come off as defending Ryan as a good coach. From what I've read, the Wolves have a system where Ryan didn't exactly have control of how the team played and it was a "collaborative" effort between the front office and the coaching staff. I think Ryan had to coach to the style that Rosas wanted to play and that Finch already has a track record of coaching that style from his prior work with the Rockets organization. Ryan opened himself up to the criticism he's received by taking a job he probably didn't deserve (at least on paper), but it's not like this Wolves team had a prayer of making the playoffs with a completely healthy roster much less what he's had to work with this year.

Hopefully Finch works out, but the best possible outcome for the Wolves the rest of the way is the lottery balls bouncing in a way that keeps them in the top 3...unless they can somehow get down to like 8-10th worst record and ease the pain of losing that pick.
 




Some guy said:
Should never have been hired. Will be surprised if he get another shot in the next 5 years. But will for sure land on his feet in some NBA organization as an assistant or a scout or something
Click to expand...
I would not be surprised if he does get another shot within 5 years. The organization is completely disorganized and garbage. Not only that but he had both Kat and DLo together for a total of 5 games in all of last year and this. With a healthy team and better organization he would do much better.
 


EG#9 said:
Wow, I can't remember an assistant being hired away from another team during the season.
Click to expand...
I don't recall that either. Really astonishing (and unTimberwolves-like) that this happened and doesn't appear to have been leaked beforehand. Hard enough for one organization to keep a secret, but here the Wolves had to decide to make the move, get permission from the Raptors to contact Finch and negotiate a deal to hire him away without word getting out. I am sure the prior interviews with Finch eased that process, but still surprising in this day and age.
 




SanDiegoGopherFan said:
From 2019







Finch was the guy Rojas wanted from the start. Ryan getting the job was Taylor using his weight.
Click to expand...

I think it was a combination of Taylor wanting to give Ryan the chance and Rosas not wanting to saddle "his guy" which the tumultuous roster situation he foresaw in the first two years. I now wonder if he pulled the trigger now because of a fear that someone would poach Finch.
 

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