Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum Express Outrage At Wolves Passing Up David Vanterpool

After the Timberwolves passed up current assistant and former Trail Blazers staffer David Vanterpool in their hasty search for a head coach, Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum and other players with ties to Portland expressed outrage on social media.
Jack Winter|
Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum Express Outrage At Wolves Passing Up David Vanterpool
Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum Express Outrage At Wolves Passing Up David Vanterpool

Not even half an hour after news broke of the Timberwolves parting ways with Ryan Saunders, Minnesota had already selected its next head coach. 

Instead of naming an interim replacement or promoting from within, though, President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas took the extraordinary step of hiring another team's assistant midseason – leaving Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum among the many confused by his decision-making process.

After ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Timberwolves would agree to terms with Raptors assistant Chris Finch to become their new head coach, Lillard expressed outrage at the team overlooking assistant David Vanterpool, a longtime Portland staffer under Terry Stotts.

McCollum, another player who's long credited Vanterpool for his success, quickly echoed Lillard's remarks.

Jusuf Nurkic also vouched for Vanterpool, as did former Trail Blazers guard and current University of Pacific head coach Damon Stoudemire. 

Rosas has a working relationship with Finch dating back to their time with the Houston Rockets. Finch was reportedly a finalist for Minnesota's head-coaching job before last season, when Rosas interviewed candidates after being named the team's chief personnel decision-maker. He decided to hang onto Saunders, who took the reins for the Timberwolves after Tom Thibodeau was fired in January 2019.

Vanterpool also interviewed for the position, ultimately accepting a job as the team's Associate Head Coach in June 2019.

Vanterpool is Black; Finch is white. The former being passed over comes during increasing awareness of qualified Black candidates failing to land head-coaching jobs across all professional sports.

Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, for instance, interviewed before the Super Bowl with several teams that had vacancies on the sideline. Once the deck cleared, he was left without a head-coaching gig again despite first interviewing for open positions following the 2018 season.

Lillard, it bears mentioning, has been caping for Vanterpool long before Sunday night. He shared similar sentiments in October, as Vanterpool was being interviewed for multiple head-coaching vacancies that went to other candidates.

Vanterpool entered the NBA coaching ranks in 2012 as an assistant with the Trail Blazers. He eventually became the team's de facto defensive coordinator, a role for which he regularly received widespread praise from Portland players and coaches alike.

READ MORE: The Blame For Portland's Lack of Ball Movement Doesn't Lie With Coaching

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Jack Winter
JACK WINTER

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