Chris Finch is quickly rising on an easy-to-climb list of the best Timberwolves coaches of all time

A list of the 14 coaches in Timberwolves history should not be read before breakfast, lest the reader spoil their appetite for the rest of the day.

It’s more a reminder of the Wolves’ weaknesses than of the individual players who have tried to lead the various versions of a franchise that has stayed just 500 games under .500 over the course of its 35 seasons.

But it’s still not nice.

There are coaches who tried in vain in the desolate early years. There are others who tried to revive the Wolves in the post-Kevin Garnett era. There are inferior former assistants and well-known veterans, almost all of whom failed to live up to the optimism they spread in their first press conferences.

There’s also Flip Saunders. And now Chris Finch.

Flip was the leader of the longest winning streak in franchise history and hoped to pursue a second path before his tragic death in 2015 at the age of 60. For a long time, his tenure in Minnesota was the only good thing on the franchise’s record.

But as I mentioned on the Daily Delivery podcast on Tuesday, Finch has quickly climbed the list of Wolves’ greatest ever managers, an impressive feat even if the climb was relatively easy.

The reason for this discussion is a contract extension agreed on Monday between the Wolves and Finch, which will keep him here until the 2027/28 season.

Looking that far into the future has been a tricky proposition throughout Wolves’ history, and for good reason. Two of their former managers recorded winning percentages under .200 (Jimmy Rodgers and Kurt Rambis). Three others were under .300 (Sidney Lowe, Bill Blair and Randy Wittman) and two others didn’t do much better (Bill Musselman and Ryan Saunders).

Dwane Casey was a good coach at the wrong time. Sam Mitchell and Kevin McHale took over Flip under very different circumstances, but neither was particularly successful. Rick Adelman and Tom Thibodeau provided a level of competitiveness but fell short of expectations.

Only two coaches in franchise history have won a playoff series (two each, to be exact). Flip and Finch combined for 29 of the Wolves’ 30 postseason victories. Only two have even won 100 regular-season games with the Wolves.

Finch still has a lot of work to do to get to the top of the coaching list, but with a squad geared to win and the coaching skills to match, Finch and the Wolves are capable of doing it.

Here are four more things you should know today:

*Also on the podcast, Star Tribune columnist Chip Scoggins and I discussed options for the Wolves and Wild in the draft, as well as salary issues surrounding several Minnesota teams.

*If the Florida Panthers can win the Stanley Cup, what’s to stop any male professional sports team from Minnesota from winning it all?

*Well, maybe not the Vikings next year.

*Wednesday’s podcast offers a deeper look at the NBA Draft with Chris Hine, the Star Tribune’s Timberwolves sportswriter.