Chris Finch tells story of coaching Anthony Edwards' 'superstar DNA'

"When I got here one of my missions was, 'This is the guy. We got to develop Anthony.'"

Chris Finch is headed to his first All-Star Game as a head coach after the Wolves beat the Rockets 111-90 Sunday night. He'll be joined by two of the young stars he was brought in to mold in Anthony Edwards and Karl Anthony-Towns.

"He's such a wonderful person," Finch said of Edwards Monday morning on KFXN-FM. "He's so genuine. He really does care about everybody around him. Not just myself, he cares about teammates. These are not just cliché things, he's one of the few guys I've ever been [around] that has such superstar DNA that really cares about his teammates' success."

Edwards is headed to his second straight All-Star Game after leading the Wolves to a 35-15 record, tied with the Thunder for best record in the Western Conference. The 22-year-old star is averaging 25.6 points and 5.1 assists per game while shooting 46% from the field and 38% from 3, all career highs.

"He doesn't put himself above anybody," Finch continued. "He's really always giving credit to everybody around him, even when he had that game that made the difference."

Jan 10, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch talks with guard Anthony Edwards (5) during the second quarter against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden / © Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

It wasn't always this easy for the Wolves head coach and young superstar.

"When I got here that was midway through his rookie year," recalled Finch. "I'm sure his head was spinning, it was a crazy year, it was COVID, he wasn't necessarily starting, might have been in and out of the lineup. Going through all of the young players' struggles you would expect."

Edwards was drafted first overall by the Wolves in 2020 during the height of pandemic. He struggled early on to adapt to the NBA game, averaging just 14.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.5 assists in the first 31 games of his career, only 14 of which were starts. 

Finch arrived on Feb. 22 as the team's new head coach with the Wolves sporting a 7-24 record.

"When I got here one of my missions was, 'This is the guy. We got to develop Anthony,'" Finch explained.

In Finch's first nine games coaching Minnesota, Edwards' numbers took a massive jump as he boosted his averages to 22.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists.

Still, doubts were at the top of Finch's mind. 

"I remember early on I was like, 'I don't know,' I was frustrated," Finch said. "My boss at the time [Gersson Rosas], he said to me, 'That's why you're here, man. That's why you're here.' And it just put it all into perspective for me. He's 19 years old, of course he's not going to know the things that we need him to know. It's my job to help bring him along and then I just looked at it all very differently from that moment in time.

"Which I knew coming in but sometimes in the moment you just lose yourself, you forget what the task really is. And that task was to develop Anthony and [Karl-Anthony Towns] as a partnership. And soon thereafter I remember we went to Phoenix, Anthony had his first 40-point game and from that point in time you could just see a different belief in himself."

In Finch's tenth game in charge, Edwards exploded for 42 points against the 26-13 Suns, guiding the Wolves to their 10th win of the season. From that point on Edwards averaged 23.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, helping the Wolves to a 14-18 record over the final 32 games of the season.

© Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

Edwards and Finch would go on to help guide the Wolves to the playoffs the following season, the organization's first postseason berth in four seasons and only the second in the past 19 years. Minnesota followed that up with a second straight playoff appearance in 2022-23 and are among the teams battling for the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference into the second half of this season.

"It's just helping him along the way," Finch continued. "Sometimes it's hard messaging. Sometimes it's, 'Hey we got to have more fun and I got to help you have more fun.' Because Anthony definitely likes to have fun. If he's not having fun he's not the same player. That's the modern athlete these days. They want to have fun while they're out there playing."