The Minnesota Timberwolves have fired head coach Ryan Saunders.
The team announced the decision shortly afterwards several reports on his dismissal Sunday night.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, they are hiring Chris Finch, assistant to the Toronto Raptors, to take Saunders’ place. Finch will reportedly join the Timberwolves as their full-time coach.
The Minnesota Timberwolves appoint Chris Finch’s assistant coach of the Toronto Raptors as the new head coach on a multi-year contract. @TheAthletic @Stadium.
– Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) 22 February 2021
Hobbled Timberwolves have the NBA’s worst record
Saunders, 34, was coaching the Timberwolves in his third season. He is the son of late former Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders, who coached the team for two seasons for two seasons, including a ten-year run from 1995-2005 during the Kevin Garnett era.
Saunders set a 43-93 (.316) record in two plus seasons with the Timberwolves, who had the worst league in the league 7-24 this season. Minnesota has played several games this season without its two best players, Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell. Towns missed time after getting COVID-19, while Russell limited a sustained knee injury before opting for surgery last week.
Saunders coached Minnesota during a Sunday afternoon defeat to the New York Knicks.
Finch, Gersson Rosas, CEO of Timberwolves, has worked together before
Finch, 51, joined Nick Nurse’s Raptors staff in November following the departure of assistant Nate Bjorkgren to the Indiana Pacers. He was an NBA assistant coach at the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets and New Orleans Pelicans since 2011 before joining the Raptors.
Finch has a relationship with Minnesota’s president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas from their time together in Houston. Rosas was a member of former Rockets general manager Daryl Morey when Finch was an assistant in Houston from 2011-16.
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