A 15-year NBA veteran thinks it’s time for the Minnesota Timberwolves to have a new voice in the 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.
Considering Malone was fired days before the postseason, the timing of the decision was heavily criticized. David Adelman replaced Malone permanently following a second-round exit in the 2025 playoffs.
Although it’s still unclear how this decision will impact the Nuggets in the long run, 15-year NBA veteran Olden Polynice wants the Minnesota Timberwolves to follow in the Nuggets’ footsteps.
Chris Finch has served as the Timberwolves head coach for the last five seasons. During his tenure, the T-Wolves have made back-to-back Western Conference Finals in 2024 and 2025.
However, Polynice believes this is the exact reason why the Timberwolves need to move on from Finch. He gave the example of the Nuggets to bolster his point.
“They still learning the game. That’s why you need veterans. We’ve seen it over the last couple of years. Most recently the Denver Nuggets.
“They had Jokic, won the championship, and they made some trades from that championship team, and we saw a slight decline, to where they had to fire Mike Malone,” Polynice said, via Fox Sports Radio.
He added: “To me, the Minnesota Timberwolves fall into that category without a championship. You’ve had back to back Western Conference Finals, and you lost both of them.
“Something has to change, and it might be coaching.”
It’s obvious that Anthony Edwards is the cornerstone superstar of the Timberwolves. So far, he hasn’t dropped any hints about potentially wanting to leave the franchise.
But it wouldn’t be a surprise if Edwards gets frustrated with the consistent lack of success in the postseason. Keeping that in mind, Polynice thinks it’s wise to stay ahead of the curve and ‘get rid’ of Finch.
“You can only listen to your coach for so many years, and you might need a new voice. And that’s one of the easier things for teams to do is to get rid of the one, instead of the team, so you just get rid of the coach, get a new voice in, a new energy, and see what happens,” the NBA veteran added.
Another key thing to note is that coach Finch never shies away from calling out Edwards after a poor performance.
It will be interesting to see if this outspoken behavior ultimately becomes the reason behind the Timberwolves moving on from coach Finch.
