Before Joan Beringer played his first real NBA minutes against the Bucks on Tuesday in Milwaukee, coach Chris Finch said he and the coaching staff didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to prepare the 19-year-old rookie center for his first time in the rotation.
“We just prepared him as normal,” Finch told reporters in Milwaukee. “Just went through a few things in detail with him in shootaround and just let him go.”
Beringer rewarded the Wolves with what Finch said was a “spectacular” effort in the team’s 139-106 victory over Milwaukee.
Beringer’s line told part of the story: 13 points, five rebounds and he was a plus-30.
But to Finch, it was the little ways the 2025 first-round pick out of France affected the game that stood out most, that showed what kind of a player he could be now if he got more minutes.
“Hustle plays, just kept a number of balls alive,” Finch said. “Got a couple tip-ins around the basket. Energy plays, hustle plays, challenged everything, loose balls, everything at the rim was contested. From where he was before he went to the G-League until now, you can just see he’s figured out the composure of how he needs to play and how to use his energy.”
At first, Finch put Beringer in the game when Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo was out. But Beringer stayed on the floor even as Antetokounmpo returned. Beringer showed no fear, and on one sequence he got a reverse layup around Antetokounmpo.
Getting minutes — that opportunity to play — is, has been and will be the hard part. Finch said Beringer had been working well behind the scenes and the team has figured out how to work around Beringer’s growing grasp of English.
