The phone call between coach and star player happens occasionally, after games mostly, and can last for more than an hour.
"Sift through the wreckage, so to speak," Chris Finch said. "A lot of it is maybe just venting. Just trying to get some things off our chest. It could be about anything."
That's what Karl-Anthony Towns appreciates about those conversations. Apparently, they talk so long some nights that Towns' family members join in on speakerphone.
"We'll be on the phone for an hour and a half, laughing, joking," Towns said. "That's kind of the relationship me and Finch have."
Towns explained their relationship in terms that most of us normal folks can relate to and appreciate.
"I always have a thing when we're talking: Is this a player and coach talking or two guys drinking a beer?" Towns said.
That right there is a slippery tightrope that Finch has skillfully navigated in his first full season as Timberwolves coach.
How does a coach get the best out of his players by holding them accountable while also maintaining a relationship that the team's best player describes as a "good friend of ours"? That's not easy to pull off.
With one game remaining, the Wolves have doubled their win total from last season (23 to 46) and secured seventh place in the Western Conference and a spot in the play-in tournament that begins Tuesday. Finch's handling of personalities deserves a spot high on the list of reasons why the team outperformed preseason projections.
He came to the organization with the reputation of being an offensive savant. His coaching style and demeanor won over the locker room and brought stability at a time of chaos.
For lack of a better phrase, Finch gets it — and that "it" is an important component of coaching.
Finch allows players to show their personalities and be themselves, and they respect him for that. He empowers players by giving them latitude on the court, even if that occasionally leads to emotional outbursts or the silliness that transpired Thursday night when the Wolves made a win over San Antonio unnecessarily close in the final minute by trying to help Anthony Edwards score his 50th point.
Finch was not pleased by what he saw and presumably made that point in his postgame talk. He knows when to be firm, when to be irate and when to keep situations that crop up in proper perspective.
Said Taurean Prince, who has played for five teams in seven NBA seasons: "We respect him because he will address [an issue] immediately and figure out what the situation is and then we'll all come together as a group – as we're supposed to – and figure things out. That creates more of a player-led team, which I'm sure he would prefer."
That only works if players respect boundaries. The phrase "players coach" can carry a negative connotation if players take advantage of the leeway their coach grants them. The best coaches strike the right balance between giving players freedom and not getting trampled by it.
Finch is a cool customer in that regard. He rarely looks flustered, but he's able to wield the hammer when he's upset with an individual or his entire team without having to knock down walls.
He called a timeout and admonished D'Angelo Russell about his lackluster defense during a game in Chicago. He benched Anthony Edwards in the first quarter of a game because of his defensive lapses.
"I get mad, but he right," Edwards said that night.
That's where Finch hits the mark. He's able to discipline without it becoming an issue that lingers or creates tension. He deals with it, and then everyone moves on. That doesn't happen without trust and respect and transparency.
"I think they realize that hopefully it comes from a good place," Finch said. "We're trying to set and maintain a standard of how we want to play. That's my job description. To be the guardian of that."
That task isn't always easy with a team that is trying to establish a winning identity. There are days when Finch needs to sift through wreckage. But that's when he generally finds the right answer, the right message that holds everything together and on track.
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Chris Finch strikes the right tone in managing Timberwolves personalities - Star Tribune
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