How Julius Randle's past Chris Finch connection points to Timberwolves success
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With Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo looking comfortable in their new threads, the Minnesota Timberwolves are looking to win an NBA championship this season for the first time in franchise history after making it all the way to the conference finals a season ago. Randle and DiVicenzo were acquired late in the offseason in exchange for Karl-Anthony Towns, and the hope is that they will help diversify an offense around Anthony Edwards that got a bit predictable in the team’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks last postseason.
The Timberwolves are of course coached by Chris Finch, who Randle previously has experience with during his lone season with the New Orleans Pelicans, when Finch was the team’s offensive coordinator. Now, Randle is revealing that he tried to get the New York Knicks to hire Finch after signing there during the 2020 offseason, per Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.
"I wanted Finchy to come on staff there. I'm telling them, man, Finchy's a great coach," Randle said. "But they had their plans of what they wanted to do. But I was like man, Finchy would be an amazing coach for us. It just didn't happen."
Finch also spoke on his experience with Randle during their time with the Pelicans.
"Julius was a joy to coach," Finch said. "Really, really enjoyed working with him. Great pro. Loves being in the gym, comes in with a smile on his face every day. He's hungry for feedback. Really pleasant."
Randle then broke down specifically why he feels that his style meshes so well with Finch’s basketball philosophy.
"If anybody knows anything about me, I'm a rhythm player and Finchy does a great job of putting me in spots where I'm catching it in the flow, catching it in rhythm, making my reads simple and just playing," Randle said. "Not thinking too much, just playing. We view the game in a very unselfish way and I just try to let that be contagious with the rest of the team."
Will the Timberwolves continue their success?
On paper, there’s no reason why the Timberwolves shouldn’t be able to continue their success from a year ago, when they were the number three seed in the Western Conference and bulldozed through the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
Anthony Edwards remains one of the most electrifying players in the league before entering his likely prime years, and Randle and DiVincenzo add some secondary shot creation that Towns wasn’t necessarily able to provide, even if it comes at the expense of floor spacing and defensive size.
In any case, the Timberwolves kick off their season on Tuesday evening on the road vs the Los Angeles Lakers.
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