Chris Finch: LaMelo Ball’s talent is ‘undeniable,’ but playoff success will define him

MINNEAPOLIS — Chris Finch did not dodge the biggest question hanging over the Timberwolves’ new backcourt. Asked after Monday’s practice what will decide whether LaMelo Ball is remembered as a great regular-season playmaker or a great player, Minnesota’s coach answered in one line. “It’s going to come down to playoff success, like it always does with all great players,” he said.

Then he made clear how much he likes what he has seen so far. “The talent that he has is undeniable,” Finch said. “The ability to make your teammates better in all different ways is undeniable.” Minnesota opens the season Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET in Miami, and Finch tied Ball’s legacy question directly to his own team’s ceiling: if Ball is winning in the playoffs, he said, the Wolves are too. “That’s what we’re all rooting for.”

Ball’s defense is the surprise

Finch pointed to patience. Ball is still in his mid-20s, and Finch reminded reporters that the building has seen stars need several trips to the postseason before the breakthrough came. “We got to get there for him,” he said.

The part of Ball’s game that has caught the staff off guard is on the other end. Ball arrived from Charlotte with a reputation as a below-average defender, but Finch said the opposite has shown up in camp. “He’s actually been way more physical than I anticipated,” he said. “I think he’s been really good on the ball. Picking up our schemes, he’s been quick with that.” Finch credited the roster around him, a group with a fly-around defensive mentality, for having “activated him, too,” and said Ball has “bought right in.” He also praised his rebounding and competitiveness.

A ‘locomotive’ waiting in Miami

The opener is a hard first test. Finch said Minnesota circled its early schedule as soon as it came out because of how many physical frontcourts it faces, with big, strong, athletic fours. Miami fits the description. The Heat play fast, attack the paint as quickly as they can and trigger their off-ball movement from there, and now they have Giannis Antetokounmpo to lead the charge. “Now they have a locomotive in Giannis that gets there,” Finch said. “He’s a problem all by himself.”

Finch said transition defense has been a strength through the preseason, with Minnesota consistently getting five players back below the ball. He also liked the team’s aggressiveness and the way players covered for each other, and said the Wolves were able to put in some technical changes on defense that are new for them.

Nine or 10 deep, and a 20-game data set

Like several coaches this week, Finch plans to start with a longer bench. “We’re very comfortable with playing a deeper rotation right now,” he said, adding that a lot of players earned it and some who miss the cut could probably still help. “It’s just hard to play them all,” he said, and the rotation could change from game to game. He said real conclusions take 10 to 20 games, though some early trends may show whether they are real sooner.

Two players got specific praise. Finch said Jaden McDaniels has “a gift” for touch at his size, on bank shots, runners, floaters and fadeaways, and that after an outstanding three-point season he “can up that rate a little bit even.” He also said Terrence Shannon Jr., whose route to minutes last season ran through defense, has improved. “His readiness is better,” Finch said, citing better routes off the ball, cleaner chases and fewer fouls. Shannon has not finished as many rebounds as the staff would like, Finch said, but he is in the right spots, and the coach said Shannon used to lean on his speed to recover late and now has to be ready early against players who are just as fast.

The anti-tanking effect

Finch also expects the league’s anti-tanking measures to change the standings. It will affect win totals “no doubt about it,” he said, and with them net rating, one of the best predictors of future results. He pointed to last season’s final weeks, when so many teams were playing for the bottom that it was hard to tell what was real. Teams with a lot of tanking opponents late picked up easy wins. “Unfortunately, last year we weren’t, so we had to go the traditional route,” he said. In the West, he added, 46 wins might turn out to be a very good season.