In just 205 games on the Minnesota bench since 2021, Chris Finch has already made Wolves history. He thus won 104 matches, a little over 50% of victories, and qualified the franchise twice in a row for the playoffs. Only Flip Saunders does better in all three areas.
This is why, despite the feeling of incompleteness that surrounded the ambitious Wolves after the transfer of Rudy Gobert, the manager is rather satisfied with this 2022/2023 exercise, which ended with 42 victories in the regular season and a first round of playoffs against the Nuggets.
“I think overall it was a moderate success,” does it define for The Athletic. “We would have liked, with a full group, to go further. But making the playoffs a second year in a row, for a franchise that hasn’t really had the playoffs for twenty years, is something to be proud of. There were times in the season when we could have cracked and let go, but we never did. »
The reasons for frustration are nevertheless numerous in Minnesota. The transplant with Rudy Gobert who didn’t fully take to start, then the injuries, especially that of Karl-Anthony Towns, which didn’t help build this group either. One point particularly irritated the coach.
“I have never been comfortable with our attack all season long”says Chris Finch. “I never felt like I had it under control. It slipped through our fingers sometimes. But having said that, I have the feeling that we have found solutions. »
A more structured attack, with a more present Chris Finch
The arrival of the French pivot during the last off-season turned the cards around. Karl-Anthony Towns admitted to being surprised and then somewhat disturbed by this transfer, which upset his preparation. Anthony Edwards, who will become the center of the team in the future, was hampered by the presence of two interiors at the same time, and was much more effective when “KAT” joined the infirmary for several weeks.
Wolves had a season to find a balance, but four months out of the All-Star has stalled that process.
“We tried to find the right formula during the first part of the season”, reminds the coach. “We saw it, it really didn’t work well. Then Towns got injured and everything changed. He came back and we wondered how we could integrate him with the least disruption possible. »
Result: Minnesota’s offense has often been static, without movement or imagination, finishing only 23rd most effective in the league this season. The lack of experience between the players was particularly felt in the face of the chemistry of the Nuggets in the playoffs. This will therefore be Chris Finch’s construction site for next season.
“It’s going to require more attention to detail, to spacing, and maybe a little more structure as well,” announces the tactician. “We will have to circulate the ball among the different players. Maybe I’ll call more systems too. I also think that with a full training camp and with an adaptation period, you can restore things naturally. Like between Towns and Edwards for example. »
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Anthony Edwards | 79 | 36.0 | 45.9 | 36.9 | 75.6 | 0.6 | 5.2 | 5.8 | 4.4 | 3.3 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 24.6 |
| Karl Anthony Towns | 29 | 33.0 | 49.5 | 36.6 | 87.4 | 1.7 | 6.5 | 8.1 | 4.8 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 3.8 | 20.8 |
| D’angelo Russell | 54 | 32.9 | 46.5 | 39.1 | 85.6 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 3.1 | 6.2 | 2.7 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 17.9 |
| Mike Conley | 24 | 31.4 | 46.0 | 42.0 | 86.3 | 0.7 | 2.5 | 3.1 | 5.0 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 1.9 | 14.0 |
| Rudy Gobert | 70 | 30.7 | 65.9 | 0.0 | 64.4 | 3.3 | 8.3 | 11.6 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 3.0 | 13.4 |
| Jaden Mcdaniels | 79 | 30.6 | 51.7 | 39.8 | 73.6 | 1.2 | 2.7 | 3.9 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 3.4 | 12.1 |
| Naz Reid | 68 | 18.4 | 53.7 | 34.6 | 67.7 | 1.1 | 3.8 | 4.9 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 11.5 |
| Jaylen Nowell | 65 | 19.3 | 44.8 | 28.9 | 77.8 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 10.8 |
| Kyle Anderson | 69 | 28.4 | 50.9 | 41.0 | 73.5 | 1.0 | 4.4 | 5.3 | 4.9 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 9.4 |
| Taurean Prince | 54 | 22.1 | 46.7 | 38.1 | 84.4 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 2.3 | 9.1 |
| Luka Garza | 28 | 8.7 | 54.3 | 35.9 | 78.8 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 6.5 |
| Nickeil Alexander-Walker | 23 | 15.5 | 38.4 | 36.1 | 61.9 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 5.9 |
| austin rivers | 52 | 19.5 | 43.5 | 35.0 | 76.9 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.5 | 4.9 |
| Jordan McLaughlin | 43 | 15.8 | 42.1 | 30.8 | 83.3 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 3.4 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 3.7 |
| Nathan Knight | 38 | 7.7 | 56.8 | 36.4 | 68.4 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 3.7 |
| Bryn Forbes | 25 | 10.7 | 36.1 | 30.4 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 3.6 |
| matt ryan | 22 | 8.2 | 42.4 | 38.8 | 85.7 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 3.4 |
| Josh Minott | 15 | 6.4 | 50.0 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 3.1 |
| Aj Lawson | 1 | 1.8 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 |
| Wendell Moore, Jr. | 29 | 5.3 | 41.9 | 11.8 | 80.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.4 |
