CHICAGO – The leadership of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NBCA) spoke Wednesday about its “concern and level of disappointment” with the way the Minnesota Timberwolves approached their change. ‘coach earlier this week.
The statement came from NBCA President Rick Carlisle of the Dallas Mavericks and NBCA Executive Director David Fogel.
“It’s always bittersweet when one coach is fired and another is hired. But that’s not about individual coaches,” his statement said. “It would be negligent not to acknowledge a deeper concern and a level of disappointment with Minnesota’s head coach hiring process.
“The NBCA understands and respects the right of every organization to hire and fire whoever it wants and when it wants to. But it is also our responsibility to point out when an organization does not conduct a thorough and transparent search for candidates from a wide range of diverse backgrounds.” .
The Timberwolves fired Ryan Saunders Sunday night and reached an agreement to hire Toronto assistant Chris Finch almost immediately. Finch was formally announced as coach Monday morning.
“There were other candidates, minority candidates we’re considering right now,” said Timberwolves basketball operations president Gersson Roses. “Unfortunately, when you’re in the middle of a season, you’re really at the mercy of teams in terms of who can be available and who can’t. That was a challenge for us as we progressed in the process.”
Minnesota lost to Milwaukee Tuesday night in Finch’s first game. The Wolves were in Chicago to play Wednesday night.
Timberwolves assistant David Vanterpool has the support of several NBA players, many of whom expressed anger at him for not getting the place or at least for the appearance of being considered for the NBA. place. Vanterpool is African American. Finch is white.
“During this offseason, we saw a lot of NBA head coaching vacancies where teams conducted research that was diverse and transparent,” Fogel and Carlisle wrote in their statement. “That should be the standard. We need to establish a level playing field and equitable access to opportunities for all candidates to train.”
They said they have been working with the league office “on a wide range of initiatives that will improve coaching searches in the future,” but did not specify what any of them may include.
Finch was interviewed for the Minnesota position in 2019, before Saunders was promoted from interim coach to the full-time position, so the organization was well aware of his style and credentials. He also has a long career with Roses; they worked together on the Houston Rockets organization.
Roses is Latin, one of the few minorities to hold leadership positions in the league.
“Anyone who knows me knows how important diversity is to me and it’s a big part of who I am and what it’s all about,” Roses said. “Our staff and the diversity we have speak for themselves.”
Vanterpool is one of three Timberwolves black assistant coaches, along with Joseph Blair and Kevin Burleson. Star center Karl-Anthony Towns was one of the players who spoke out in favor of the future of Vanterpool.
“I wouldn’t be doing justice to the world, to social justice, to the amount of amazing things black men are doing, not to mention that David Vanterpool is an amazing coach, with an amazing IQ, and he had a amazing opportunity here soon, ”Towns said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.