MINNEAPOLIS — Former Timberwolves associate head coach David Vanterpool said he was "upset," "in shock" and "taken aback completely" when the organization passed over him and instead hired Chris Finch last season to take over after the firing of Ryan Saunders.
Vanterpool, now an assistant with the Nets, spoke publicly about the situation for the first time to ESPN and said on the day Saunders was fired, Feb. 21, then-President Gersson Rosas told Vanterpool in the team's New York hotel he was not being promoted, even as an interim head coach, which is the usual protocol in the NBA for an associate head coach. The Wolves instead were hiring Finch, then with the Raptors, on a permanent basis and Vanterpool said Rosas never explained why Rosas didn't hire him.
"When I got to the room it was all on TV and social media. People were calling me for answers I didn't have," Vanterpool told ESPN. "I was still frustrated and angry. I was shocked. I didn't understand at all."
