 I got the energy, I got the will to survive. It's Robson, Minnesota delivery. Got the energy, I know you're feeling my drive. I got the energy, I got the energy, energy. Welcome in Chris Finch, the head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. How are we doing, coach? I'm good, guys. Appreciate you having me on. A lot of people don't know this, but Chris Finch is actually on the staff of the Houston Rockets that drafted me way back in 2011. We were just talking about a story. Why are you telling what happened that day, Finch? Yeah, no, it was early this season. You weren't playing at all. And we had a game that night. I remember we were sitting there having lunch and you were asking me about the G League. And I was trying to keep you positive because you were about to be sent down the next day. I said, hey, it'll be good for you. Just go down and play, embrace it. It'll be better to play rather than sit. And then I don't know why, but we threw you in the game that night. And you played really well. And you never went down to the G League. We never looked back. And you were very lucky that you had a head coach who absolutely adored you. Yeah. That had nothing to do with my work, I think, or my talent, right, coach? No, no, I think more of your kiss-ass abilities. Well, coach, you guys are obviously off to a hot start. You know, last night you lost a tough game to one of the top teams. What can you learn from a game like that? You know, I think, I didn't like our physicality around Embiid. I thought we just kind of made things too easy around him. He's this phenomenal player and he got into a rhythm. And we were in foul trouble anyway. So, you know, if we're going to be in foul trouble, we might as well dictate physicality. And I thought we were on our heels when we were guarding him. But, you know, we still had chances to win that game. I thought we're going to catch a rhythm here this fourth and then we couldn't get a timely bucket and then, you know, kind of got away from us. But we got a bounce back tonight. We got the Lakers in town. You know, they'll be coming in pretty desperate and you know how it is in the league, Chandler. And Lou Will, you know, he knows, you guys know, the desperate team usually wins in the NBA in a regular season. So we got to find our desperation tonight after the last night's disappointment. Coach, you guys are 26 this season. Best team in the West. Did you feel that type of start in you guys? Are you guys even exceeding your own expectations for your team going into the year? Yeah, I mean, I don't think we could have predicted 26. But we did feel that we, you know, had the ability to be a really good team in the West. We put a lot of emphasis on a great preseason and all credit to our guys. Like, even though we have some vets, you know, nobody sat out in the preseason. We had a lot of things to figure out, develop our chemistry. We were really able to get there last year with a lot of injuries. You know, maturity was something we talked about. Focus, creating identity through our defense. That was something we talked a lot about. And we felt if we could pull all this stuff together, we thought after 20 games, we're going to know if it's going to work or not this year. It wasn't going to take a long time. You know, last year we thought it would take us half the season or more. This year we figured if it was going to work, it was going to work early. And, you know, fortunately for us it has done. So now we just got to, you know, maintain it and keep making some tweaks to what we do and learn as we go. So in New Orleans, Denver, Toronto, you were known as an offensive coach and offensive guru in a lot of ways. And now you guys, you're orchestrating one of the top defenses in the league. What has that been like for you going through the tradition of first, as an assistant, being known as an offensive minded guy, the guy that can coach that now, the top defense in the league? I think, well, you know, and I think sometimes we get labeled these things in the league, but I got great defensive staff led by Elston Turner. You know, it was one of the most significant hires that I made when we were putting our staff together just because I needed somebody who had a lot of experience. And ET's been around the block and coached in a lot of different types of defenses. And the great thing I like about him is that he's always coached against guys who really like and value offense. So we don't have this like, offense versus defense turf battle that some staffs will fall into where, you know, you're trying to protect your defense by not doing certain things offensively and vice versa. So, you know, he's really kind of led the charge in it. But really, we got a lot of guys who like to play defense and who can play defense. And that's where it all starts. So we figure we have to lean into what we got, what we do best and what could make us special. Coach Anthony Edwards said that by the end of the season he will be one of the better players in the NBA. I think he's already there. I think he's one of the best two-way players in the NBA as well. You obviously agree with those comments by him? Yeah, for sure. I mean, he's still a young player on the rise, but his, you know, its consistency is what it's all about, Chandler, as you know. Like being, you know, when I first got here, he played well one out of every three games. Then he grew it to two out of three. And now he's really at three out of three. I mean, he's playing at a high level every single night. We pretty much know what to expect. He's seeing a ton of different defensive looks. He's learned a lot, you know, defensively off the ball. His awareness has gotten better and better and on the ball when he locks in and takes the match up, he can be special. Really can be. And I say all that and he's still learning. You know, he's still learning a ton of stuff about, you know, how to kind of manipulate the defense, how to like read the floor, you know, and how to control the game when the ball's in his hands rather than, you know, just kind of go and get buckets, which is really good at that. What I love about him most is he likes the moment. He's not afraid of, not afraid of the big shot. He's an incredible sense of timing on when to step up in games and kind of take control. Or he knows when his team needs a big play from and whether it be offensively or defensively. And, excuse me. And also said, he wants to be the first NBA player to play in the NFL after he wins his first title. One, do you think he can play in the NFL and are you prepared to share him with the Vikings? Well, he thinks he can do anything. You know, I'm sure you know, Ant, being from down around Atlanta, you probably run into him. He certainly thinks he can do anything. Doesn't matter if it's NFL or bowling, but I don't, you know, I'm sure he could put his mind to it. He's that type of athlete. He's got the toughness, the skills, but we're not prepared to give him up right now. We don't like contact like that. I know you don't like contact like that. I don't even like taking charges, let alone getting tackled in the NFL. But look, obviously, Ant's also, you know, he's going through a lot of stuff right now off the court. Is it been hard for him to ignore all that and just play basketball as such a young star in this league? I mean, I think, you know, as competitors and people who come to work every day fortunate to do what we do, regardless of what's going on in life, it gives us an escape, an opportunity to go out and just kind of focus on what we love to do and be surrounded by people that are going to, you know, support you in the right ways. So, you know, as a young person, as a young player, we all have a lot of maturing to do that. And anyway, we can, whether it be on the floor or off. Last year, Coach, Carl Anthony Towns had a bit of an up and down. Obviously, he had that injury, the cavity that sat on him a couple months. He missed time. Are you seeing something different in him? Seeing him, obviously, he's him and Anthony Edwards, their relationship. They really embraced each other. Have you seen a different approach to him, a different start to him this season? Yeah, you know what, Sharon's like is willing this to kind of sacrifice just enough with the weather be spacing or touches or taking on, you know, defensive assignments that traditionally hasn't been, you know, guarding guys in actions or rotations, you know, mostly been guarding and picking role in this whole life and just kind of embracing all these things and kind of learning through it. And then staying patient and aggressive when he has his opportunities. Some cats are extremely efficient player. So, you know, he can still do a lot of damage with last shots. But he's, you know, last year, I thought he deferred too much at times trying to make the thing work with Rudy. He lost his chemistry with Ant when he was out for those 50 games. We figured that would come back naturally. We told him, just don't worry so much about Rudy, you know, go be more aggressive for yourself. And the Rudy plays will happen in the flow because, you know, trust your skill and your talent. And, you know, he's playing pretty much like a 50-40-90 clip right now, which is incredible. And it just comes down to his patience and his poise and his like willingness to kind of let the game happen for him and then take the moments, you know, as they come rather than always trying to force himself into the game. And he's called himself one of the best shooting bigs in the league. Well, actually said ever, would you agree with that? Well, he's one of the best shooters in the league. I mean, you know, he just with his size and range and ability to get it off pretty much at any point in time. He can make step backs over people. You know, I want him to shoot more threes. You know, I think at times like as a team, we struggle to get our three-point volume up just with the way we play. You know, I'd like to see him take even more. But he's just, he's one of the best shooters in the league and for sure, you know, kind of as the bigs go, you know, we're seeing more and more bigs being able to step out and stretch the floor. It's probably one of the biggest dynamics that is changing in the game right in front of our eyes is these like incredibly skilled bigs. Like, you see it last night. We were on the wrong end of it again. But these are the guys that are really changing the game. Yeah, Finch, the trade to acquire Rudy Gobert was highly criticized in a league that was going small. Like you just said, stretch five, stretch fours. You guys went with the double big that we not, yeah, not everyone was doing. Is that something that you looked forward to? Is that something that you thought would pan out sooner? What was your take on as the head coach? Were you excited to have these two together? Yeah, I was excited, Chandler. I think a couple of things. One is like when you already have Carl Anthony Towns on your roster at the time, you're not going to go small. Like, you know, you're not taking a guy like him off the floor. Your small ball is not necessarily going to be better than, let's say, Golden State's small ball. And when you have a chance to add somebody like Rudy Gobert, who plugs a lot of things that, you know, plugs a lot of holes that you had in your team, such as rebounding and defense and rim protection in particular, like, you got to do it. So we were all really, really excited about and we thought we could maybe zig in a league that was zagging and, you know, we thought last year would take us 40 to 50 games to figure it out, you know, find a rhythm, go through enough learning experiences to see what worked, what didn't work, and pare it all down. We never really got there because of the injury to Carl. So we kind of had to keep reinventing ourselves. We came like a spread pick and roll team around Rudy and, you know, we ended up having the success in that we were able to salvage a season that looked lost and have a pretty good showing in the playoffs. From all that we learned, though, when Kat did come back enough that we'd come into the off season and make it work. And it's been the willingness of our players to make it work and they really enjoy each other. And then everyone else had to kind of keep developing their chemistry with Rudy. When Mike Connelly joined us, he, you know, was like a breath of fresh air. He kind of told us it took him a year to figure out how to play with Rudy when he was in Utah and he was able to impart some of those lessons to our guys, but also just, you know, put it all into perspective that said, this is going to take a little while. I mean, if you think about when LeBron went to Miami, it took them a year. You know, these moves take a while for everybody to kind of find their their new role, their new rhythm. And then, you know, you still might be a piece or two away from really making some noise. Yes. What's the thing with Mike Connelly coach, 17 year vet, one of my favorite teammates I've ever had. He kind of stabilized the team. How much of a breath of fresh air has he been? Yeah, he's been everything really in terms of like his leadership. His leadership is, you know, Mike, he's a quiet guy. He's talking to the guys all the time individually. He's not a talk in front of the group guy. He's not a raw, raw guy. He certainly communicates with the coaches. But our young players, you know, look up to him. Our veterans respond to him. He leads by example. He always does the right things. He almost never makes mistakes. And he stays on an even keel. And then he's played so well for us in clutch moments, which is where we really need him. You know, we need him to kind of stabilize the ship, read the defense, get the ball to our best players and play off that and make a place for himself too. So he's really been a big factor in our success. And, you know, I've always been admire every team I've ever played against him. He was just one of those guys who just felt like, you know, you kind of couldn't stop. You know, it was always kind of chipping away at the game. And then he hurt you when you didn't need, you know, when it hurt the most, really. In the past, you guys had somewhat of a tendency to maybe get rattled down the stretch of games, but now the resiliency that you guys have shown this season. I know you're the reigning coach of the month. Is there any adjustment you've made as a head coach? What have you seen that's really led to a change where now you guys are stable down the stretch of these games? It was a big point of emphasis coming into the season. Shams and that we knew we'd be in a lot of close games. The West, in particular, is just so tough that we had to be better at closing out games. Last year, our defense was really strong. It was our offense. It was our decision making. It was mostly our shot selection. And a lot of that was Anthony. Like we had to, you know, work with him on showing him how to close games, not about just trying to make the big play. You know, he's a homerun hitter. He wants that homerun every time he steps to the plate. And then this year, he's done an incredible job of finding his teammates at the right moments for them to make shots, too. So that's one. And then also just kind of just changing up, not always playing through and we have Kyle Anderson was really good with the ball in his hand. Mike, we just talked about and then, of course, there's always cat. But you know, when you have a big, it's really hard to throw into a big in the post because physicality goes up. They allow the wrestling a little bit more. And then, of course, you can double. So just kind of finding some concepts that, you know, we're we're more a little bit more amenable and closing situations for cat, too. Benji, you are accredited a lot for the development of Joker. What did you see, you know, early on from him? And did you think he would become, you know, what he is today? Well, first of all, I'd say this is about any coach player. I mean, these players, as you know, Chandler put so much work in the developments on them, you know, it really is like, well, you know, what we did when I got to Denver and with all with Mike's blessing and and we just kind of changed the nature of the offense from more of a heavy heavier play call offense to more of a like a free flowing one and put him at the top of the floor and played and then kind of just got out of the way, you know, and just allowed the people to move and cut off of them. You know, when I when I saw on him early was just this this guy's going to be the best passing big man ever to play the game. I mean, it was incredible every single day. We'll just watching him up close. You know, he's even gone on and exceeded expectations. I mean, it's just you know, this is the real is just so much fun to watch unless you're playing against them. You feel absolutely helpless, but yeah, it just it was literally that and then, you know, he had a good group of guys around him that really kind of fit skill set wise, you know, Jamal Murray and Gary Harris. These guys were really good cutters and you know, Fareed was working the baseline and and Gallo was able to play pick and roll with them and just kind of things that like just kind of developed as we let him, you know, because we just kind of gave him the breathing room to kind of find these things in the in the game by themselves and that's where I thought he really shine. And you also coached Zion your last season as an assistant in New Orleans and that being his rookie year. What did you see in Zion? What stood out to him early on to you? Yeah, this kid's going to be special. I just thought he got hurt at the end of preseason, which was unfortunate. But in the preseason just, you know, he nothing rattled him. He looked like he'd been in the league for a long time. Goes where he goes. They're like a cat, you know, jumping the air and practice. He take contact. You think he's going to land on his back and he somehow always come down his feet. Just incredible athlete with a great touch. Real Magnanimous personality. His teammates were drawn to him. That was the bubble year. That was kind of a crazy year all the way around. But when he had came back healthy after about 40 games, we were on a run heading into the second half of the season. I thought for sure we've been in the playoffs. But yeah, just you know, just a super special talent and a really, really enjoyable person. Everyone says that about Zion too. How he's breath of fresh air. Everyone loves him. Why does he have this bad rep now or why is this media, you know, you give him this image all of a sudden? I mean, I can't speak to what's actually going on there right now. Chandler, it's not for me to say, but you know, I find it hard to believe that he's any different as a person than he's always been. He's a lot like Anthony here. Just comes to work every day, smile on his face. I think, you know, any disappointment stems from, you know, just his availability and that's, you know, that's kind of what it's always been about. But, you know, I still, when I see him today, he's still got the same laugh and smile that he always has, and that was the best part about. Bench, my last question for you. I see here that your mother dance with the Rockettes. Is that how you got your competitive edge and drive? Yeah, that's where all my athleticism comes from. Just as athletic as you. Yeah. I love it. Coach, thank you so much. I miss you, man. Continue to do what you do. I appreciate it, guys.