On Sunday, the Minnesota Timberwolves fired head coach Ryan Saunders after the team started with a 7-24 record in the 2020-21 NBA season. Saunders had a 43-94 record as head coach, replacing Tom Thibodeau midway through the 2018-19 NBA season.
The surprising part about Saunders’ termination wasn’t that he was fired. That was no surprise given that they had the NBA’s worst record. It was that he was replaced by Toronto Raptors assistant coach Chris Finch. On the one hand, it wasn’t surprising given that Minnesota GM Gersson Rosas wanted Finch in 2019 when he interviewed of the job.