Chris Finch (born November 6, 1969
/ref>) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

coach and former player who is the current head coach for the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He was previously an assistant coach for the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...

and

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

of the

(NBA).

Playing career

College

Finch is a 1992 graduate of

Franklin & Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Fran ...

Lancaster, Pennsylvania Lancaster, ( ; pdc, Lengeschder) is a city in and the county seat of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the oldest inland cities in the United States. With a population at the 2020 census of 58,039, it ranks 11th in population amon ...

, where he was an

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

All-American in 1991 and 1992. In 1991, as one of the best defenders in the nation's third division, he helped lead the F&M Diplomats to the NCAA Division III championship game in Springfield, Ohio, where the team lost to Wisconsin-Platteville. Finch ranks among the school's all-time leaders in points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals.

Professional

Finch began his playing career in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, with the

Sheffield Forgers Sheffield Forgers RLFC is a rugby league club in Sheffield, England. It has an Open Age team that plays in the summer in thy Yorkshire Men's League. The genesis of the club dates back to summer 2004, when a group of Sheffield Eagles supporters d ...

of the then second-tier of British basketball, the National Basketball League. Before the 1994–95 season, Finch and Sheffield moved into the first-tier of British basketball, the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

Coaching career

Sheffield Sharks

Finch started his head coaching career in

, with the

Sheffield Sharks The Sheffield Sharks, currently known as "B.Braun Sheffield Sharks" for sponsorship reasons, are a professional basketball team from the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The Sharks play in the British Basketball League and play thei ...

of the

, the same team that he played on during his pro playing career. He led them to several titles during his tenure, making the franchise the most successful in league history. After winning the regular season title with Sheffield in the 1998–99 season, he was named the

BBL Coach of the Year The British Basketball League Coach of the Year award is an annual award presented to head coaches in the British Basketball League, and has been awarded at the end of every campaign since the 1987–1988 season. The award is decided by a panel con ...

Gießen 46ers

He then moved to Germany for a fresh challenge, where he was the head coach of the

Gießen 46ers The JobStairs GIESSEN 46ers (formerly GIESSEN 46ers) is a professional basketball club based in Gießen, Germany, that plays in the Basketball Bundesliga. Their home arena is Sporthalle Gießen-Ost, with a capacity of 4,003 people. History The ...

, in the German Basketball Bundesliga. The team had a horrible year, and Finch was fired, after having a record of 4–13, with the team being on the verge of

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

Euphony Bree

After his unsuccessful time in Germany, Finch moved to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, where he was the head coach of

Euphony Bree Bree B.B.C. is a former professional basketball team based in Bree, Belgium. The club was dissolved in 2010, after going bankrupt. The club played multiple years as a professional team in the Ethias League and played its home games in the Tilman ...

. He led Bree to their first and only

Belgian Basketball League The Pro Basketball League (PBL), was the highest tier level professional basketball league in Belgium for clubs. In 2021, the league was succeeded by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT League. Through 2014, for sponsorship reasons, the league was previousl ...

championship in 2005. In 2006 his team played a successfull season in the ULEB Cup.

Dexia Mons-Hainaut

In 2007, Finch moved to Bree's

rivals,

Dexia Mons-Hainaut Belfius Mons-Hainaut is a Belgian professional basketball club that is based in Mons, Wallonia. The club competes in the highest division of the country, the BNXT League. The club's home arena is the Mons Arena. Founded as Quaregnon in 1959, the ...

, bringing several players with him and his successful assistant coach

Johan Roijakkers Johan Roijakkers (born September 15, 1980) is a Dutch basketball coach, who is the head coach of the Saudi Arabia men's national team. He coached 8 years in the German EasyCredit BBL with BG Göttingen and Brose Bamberg and in Italy in the Lega ...

. With Finch in charge, Dexia Mons-Hainaut reached the final of the EuroChallenge 2007–08, where they lost to BK Barons Riga by a single point.

Rio Grande Valley Vipers

In 2009, Finch became the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the

Rio Grande Valley Vipers The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Edinburg, Texas, and are affiliated with the Houston Rockets. The Vipers play their home games at the Bert Ogden Arena. The Vipers have won f ...

, of the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...

. Under Finch, the Vipers went 34–16, finishing in first place in the Western Conference, and earned the franchise's first playoff berth. In the playoffs, the Vipers beat both

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

and

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

in 3 games, and swept

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

in the Finals to earn the franchise's

first championship The FIRST Championship is a four-day robotics championship held annually in April at which FIRST student robotics teams compete. For several years, the event was held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia, but moved to the Edward Jones Dome in ...

. Finch was named the D-League Coach of Year.

Houston Rockets

Finch was hired as an Assistant Coach for the

in 2011. After Kevin McHale was fired in 2015 and

J. B. Bickerstaff John-Blair Bickerstaff (born March 10, 1979) is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Before that, he was the head coach for the Memphis Grizzlie ...

replaced him on an interim basis, Finch was named Associate Head Coach.

Denver Nuggets

Finch was officially hired by the

August 8, 2016 as the Associate Head Coach alongside Mike Malone.

New Orleans Pelicans

Finch was officially hired by the

on June 8, 2017 as the associate head coach alongside

Alvin Gentry Alvin Harris Gentry (born November 5, 1954) is an American professional basketball coach. A former college basketball player, Gentry has led six different NBA teams. He served as an interim head coach for the Miami Heat at the end of the 1994– ...

. On November 16, 2020, Finch was not retained by the Pelicans.

Toronto Raptors

On December 4, 2020, he was officially announced as a new member of the coaching staff for the

, where he served as assistant coach to

Nick Nurse Nicholas David Nurse (born July 24, 1967) is an American professional basketball coach, author and former college basketball player. He is the head coach of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Canadian men's ...

, who had served under him at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Minnesota Timberwolves

On February 22, 2021, the

named Finch as the team's new head coach. On April 11, 2022, he received a multi-year extension.

Head coaching record

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National team career

Finch also coached the Great Britain Men's National Team at the

FIBA EuroBasket 2009 The 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009, was the 36th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September and concluded with the ...

FIBA EuroBasket 2011 EuroBasket 2011 was the 37th men's EuroBasket, European Basketball Championship, held by FIBA Europe. The competition was hosted by Lithuania. This was the second time EuroBasket had been held in Lithuania, the country having also hosted t ...

, and the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. He resigned after his team was eliminated from the Olympics to focus on his NBA coaching career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finch, Chris 1969 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in the United Kingdom American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Ohio Basketball players from Ohio British Olympic coaches Denver Nuggets assistant coaches Franklin & Marshall Diplomats men's basketball players Giessen 46ers coaches Great Britain men's national basketball team coaches Houston Rockets assistant coaches New Orleans Pelicans assistant coaches Rio Grande Valley Vipers coaches Sheffield Sharks players Shooting guards Small forwards Toronto Raptors assistant coaches