The 15-year NBA veteran thinks it’s time for the Minnesota Timberwolves to give a new voice in their locker room.
After spending 10 seasons as head coach and leading the Denver Nuggets to their sole NBA Championship in 2023, the organization fired Michael Malone.
The timing of the decision was heavily criticized given that Malone was fired a few days before the postseason. David Adelman has permanently replaced Malone following his second exit in the 2025 playoffs.
It is still unclear how this decision will affect the Nuggets in the long run, but 15-year NBA veteran Alden Polinis hopes the Minnesota Timberwolves will follow in the Nuggets’ footsteps.
Chris Finch has been the Timberwolves head coach for the past five seasons. During his tenure, TO-Olves held consecutive Western Conference finals in 2024 and 2025.
However, Polinis believes this is the exact reason the Timberwolves need to move on from Finch. He gave examples of nuggets to strengthen his points.
“They are still learning the game, and that’s why you need veterans. We’ve seen it over the last few years, and now the Denver Nuggets.
“They joked, won the championship and made some deals from that championship team. We saw a slight decline in where we had to fire Mike Malone,” Polinis said via Fox Sports Radio.
He added: “For me, the Minnesota Timberwolves fall into that category without a championship. You went back to the Western Conference finals and lost both.
“It might be coaching because you have to change something.”
It’s clear that Anthony Edwards is the Timberwolves cornerstone superstar. So far, he hasn’t dropped any hints about the possibility of wanting to leave the franchise.
But it’s not surprising that Edwards is frustrated by his consistent lack of success in the postseason. With that in mind, Polinis thinks it’s wise to go ahead of the curve and “removing” the finches.
“You can hear the coaches over the years and you may need a new voice. And that’s easy for a team to remove one for their team. So you’ll get rid of the coach, take a new voice, get new energy and see what’s going on,” the NBA veteran added.
Another important thing to note is that manager Finch will never be able to move away from calling out Edwards after a slow performance.
It will be interesting to see if this candid action will ultimately be the reason behind the Timberwolves moving from Coach Finch.
