with Naz Reed no longer listed, the Timberwolves will count more than ever Joan Behringer act as a backup center. coach Chris Finch talks about the importance of the 19-year-old big man in the final part of his interview with MinnPost’s Britt Robson.
“You have to understand that, like all young players, there will be inconsistency,” said Finch. “The way I look at it, is that a self-imposed mismatch, or is it just a young player’s growth mismatch? I think you’re definitely going to have the latter with Joan. The first thing is he plays so hard, he’s got incredible balance and energy. He’s got to figure out the balance between maintaining effort and adjusting the desire to go after everything all the time.
“Fouls. He always ends up on the ground, you know? And he often gets himself out of position by being overly aggressive. But learning to get it back is better than the other way around, trying to pull somebody up all the time.”
Behringer, the 17th overall pick in the 2025 draft, came on slowly last season, averaging 7.9 minutes in 40 games. Finch admits his ability to handle increased playing time will have a big impact on the team’s success.
“What gives us a lot of confidence is that when he had chances last year – and he could have had more if we weren’t built the way we were built – he met the moment most of the time.” Finch added. “If he could not meet the moment when he had too many opportunities, for example, when I had to start him.”
More on the Timberwolves:
- Trade for Lamela’s ball and signing Jonathan Cuminga in free agency added a lot of athleticism to the starting lineup, and Finch told Robson he plans to adjust his strategy to maximize that advantage. “I could see us being more targeted with our combinations,” he said. “Having put (Anthony Edwards) with people in a two-player game and the like. I think we have more flexibility now. Having the point guard that we have now gives us an opportunity to go back to using Anthony a little more strategically in certain situations, which we weren’t able to do last year. Anyway, defensively I want us to use our physicality more and more, pressuring the ball, all the things we wanted to do.”
- Finch calls last season “very disappointing” and says the team “underachieved” for most of the year, leading to a second-round playoff exit. He regrets replacing the veteran point guard at the end of the season Mike Conley with Donte Di Vincenzo in the starting line-up, telling Robson it had taken a physical toll on Edwards and a mental toll on Conley, who left this summer as a free agent. He adds that the atmosphere around the team was often not good. “Sometimes we didn’t play with joy” said Finch. “We’ve been in and out of moods – we’ve talked about it before. And we’ve got to find a way to deal with it if it stays in our personality, you know?”
- The Wolves also went through a major shakeup as a top assistant Mika Nori became the new head coach of “Portland”. Pablo Prigioni takes on the role, and Finch explains how his duties will differ from what Norrie did.
