Saunders to step down as Wolves coach
- Thread starter P-Unit
- Start date
Gorgolon Lives
The Reverend of CTG
Hope he beats. Sam Mitchell is a pretty underrated coach. Better than a lot of these re-treads that keep getting jobs
ArizonaKid
Pretty much a regular
I agree, thought he proved he was a solid coach back w/ the Raptors and deserved another HC gig. Sad that it only comes due to Saunders being ill who I hope has a speedy recovery.
Toronto_Mike
Scent of a Woman
Mitchell a great hire for a young squad!
It's unfortunate that Flip has to step away from something he loves to fight something life threatening.
It's unfortunate that Flip has to step away from something he loves to fight something life threatening.
YoungGun11
Collaborating w/ Tip
Sorry ClownCar and sorry to see Flip pass way too soon. Pretty neat pic of KG sitting in front of Flip's parking spot. Pretty sad far too young
P-Unit
Beacon of Calmness
[h=1]An Ode To The FUNKADELIC[/h]<fb:like href="http://www.kfan.com/onair/dan-barreiro-11904/an-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944/" send="false" layout="button_count" show_faces="false" share="false" width="130" action="recommend" colorscheme="light" max_age="30" class=" fb_iframe_widget" fb-xfbml-state="rendered" fb-iframe-plugin-query="action=recommend&app_id=136737396399820&color_scheme=light&container_width=0&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com%2Fonair%2Fdan-barreiro-11904%2Fan-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944%2F&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&send=false&share=false&show_faces=false&width=130" style="display: inline-block; position: relative;"><iframe name="f1015acf5" width="130px" height="1000px" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" title="fb:like Facebook Social Plugin" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?action=recommend&app_id=136737396399820&channel=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter%2Fjb3BUxkAISL.js%3Fversion%3D41%23cb%3Df32a1c7224%26domain%3Dwww.kfan.com%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.kfan.com%252Ff361651b04%26relation%3Dparent.parent&color_scheme=light&container_width=0&href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com%2Fonair%2Fdan-barreiro-11904%2Fan-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944%2F&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&sdk=joey&send=false&share=false&show_faces=false&width=130" class="" style="position: absolute; border-style: none; visibility: visible; width: 125px; height: 20px;"></iframe></fb:like>
<iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-share-button-rendered twitter-tweet-button" title="Twitter Tweet Button" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.a428ab2e859e8008e0df5404770eb017.en.html#_=1445830975804&count=none&dnt=true&id=twitter-widget-1&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com%2Fonair%2Fdan-barreiro-11904%2Fan-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944%2F&size=m&text=An%20Ode%20To%20The%20FUNKADELIC%20%7C%20Dan%20Barreiro%20on%20KFAN%20FM%20100.3&type=share&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com%2Fonair%2Fdan-barreiro-11904%2Fan-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944%2F&via=KFAN1003" data-url="http://www.kfan.com/onair/dan-barreiro-11904/an-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944/" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 55px; height: 20px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" tabindex="0" vspace="0" width="100%" id="I1_1445830970931" name="I1_1445830970931" src="https://apis.google.com/u/0/se/0/_/+1/sharebutton?plusShare=true&usegapi=1&action=share&annotation=none&origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com%2Fonair%2Fdan-barreiro-11904%2Fan-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944%2F&gsrc=3p&ic=1&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fscs%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fk%3Doz.gapi.en.sS9ePrAoNew.O%2Fm%3D__features__%2Fam%3DAQ%2Frt%3Dj%2Fd%3D1%2Ft%3Dzcms%2Frs%3DAGLTcCNcUxNwpvOeSyewTM9EA2yJfxydDg#_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart%2Concircled%2Cdrefresh%2Cerefresh&id=I1_1445830970931&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com&pfname=&rpctoken=38591189" title="+Share" data-gapiattached="true" style="position: static; top: 0px; width: 59px; margin: 0px; border-style: none; left: 0px; visibility: visible; height: 20px;"></iframe>
Posted Sunday, October 25th 2015 @ 11pm
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Some of us in the media business often roll our eyes about the [/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]considerable self-absorption revealed in the world of sports, among executives, coaches and athletes.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal] [/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]And yet, the system invites it, often demands it. We ask: How did you make that shot? Do you remember the first time you made a catch like that? Where did you learn to throw that change-up? Oh, and where were you born, and who was your first mentor?[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Multiply that out, day after day, year after year, level after level, and it is not all that surprising that many in the sports business become so self-involved that they have a harder and harder time seeing the rest of the world. Or somebody who might be on the other side of a microphone or notebook.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Just the other day, I was telling somebody a story about Flip Saunders. My sister, Babbi, has coached high school basketball in the Chicago suburbs for more than 30 years. A couple years ago, she was running through a tough stretch. I happened to mention it to Flip during one of our usual stream-of-consciousness phone calls.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal](This was not to be confused with some of our stream-of-consciousness text exchanges, like this one at a time when he said he was trying to lay low to evaluate his players at the end of the 2013-14 season.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Flip: One play can change a game, one game can change a series, one series can change a season and I did tell you there would be 2 overtime games in the NHL last night.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Me: I thought you were in the bunker.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Flip: I am in-between. I am allowed to pee.)[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Or me, unanswered: “Tell (Corey) Brewer to stop swooping to basket like he’s Connie Hawkins. He’s not.”)[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Point is, it had been a difficult year for Coach Barreiro.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]“What’s her phone number?” he asked. [/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]“You want to call her?”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]“Sure, let me talk to her.”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]He called the next day. They had a nice conversation, which made her day. That was Flip, at least with me, the rarest of sports breeds: Not so self-absorbed that he ever forgot there was an outside world, with people trying to live in it.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]He rarely failed to ask: How’s that wife and daughter of yours? Enjoy Gia, he’d say, because all that stuff about them growing up fast is true. Every year when he showed up to talk to us at the State Fair, he’d first make a stop along the midway, win big at the free throw shooting contest, then present her with a giant stuffed animal.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]A couple Thanksgivings ago, out of nowhere, he texted this: “Dan: Happy Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for -- family, friends and health. Enjoy the day with your sisters and family. I value the friendship we have. Flip”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]I come from the school of journalism that says you cannot be friends with those you attempt to cover and analyze. I’ve tried hard to stick to it, but that line became blurred with Flip, and looking back on it, I don’t think he gave me any choice. He was just too damned generous.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]And so, though we rarely socialized, we often talked on the phone. Sometimes for hours. About everything, every team, every sport. He threw out endless trade possibilities and proposals, 99 percent of which never came to fruition. Over the years, he alternately praised and ripped pretty much every player on the Wolves’ roster, and on several others. [/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]We occasionally argued. When he drafted Shabazz Muhammad in round one, a player he did not expect to select, he wanted to put the best face on it. [/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]He got former UCLA coach Ben Howland to call into the show. The interview did not go well, largely because I refused to accept at face value Howland’s effusive praise of the player I had seen at UCLA, especially against the Gophers in the NCAA tournament. About a hour later Flip called me off-air and said: “My sources say you did a bush-league interview with Howland.”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]I told him everybody has a job to do. Then he chuckled. He understood the game. He’d get cranky, but he would always call back. I’m pretty sure he was less than delighted with my view that when former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau became available, Flip needed to go and get him. Which would have allowed Flip to return to the fancy executive office.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Then again, if it had been up to me, he wouldn’t have even been in that office at all. He still would have been at ESPN, analyzing NBA games, not flirting with the University of Minnesota or Glen Taylor to take over the Timberwolves again. My point, on-air, and off: “You have all the money in the world. You had some success. Why get back into the meat grinder of an 82-game season and all the nonsense that comes with it? Plus with your ESPN job, you can keep doing the Funkadelic.”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Flip’s Friday Funkadelic: It became one of our most popular radio segments and he was totally dedicated to the bit. “Emergency Funkadelic” was my text short-hand for: We need you on today to break down some breaking NBA story.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Selfishly, I was concerned that if he returned to a basketball position, the Funkadelic would lose its flavor and Flip would lose interest. I was wrong. He remained dedicated to the segment, giving us access that coaches and executives rarely offer. “The truth,” he often said, “cannot be controversial.”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]The truth: I was also wrong to advise him to stay away from running an organization. The game wasn’t oxygen for Flip. Being in the game was the oxygen. He had to have it, breathe it, smell it, taste it. Being in the fray, not above it, was his nourishment. It made him, once again in this town, a basketball presence.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]That is the one saving grace on this sad day. Until his body would no longer let him, his sleeves were rolled up doing what he loved to do, what he was made to do. A lot of those late-night phone calls involved his vision of what the franchise, which he loved, in this town, which he adored and never really left, could become. It was a vision that, over time, was forced to change due to complications and on one memorable lottery night, even good fortune.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Good fortune. The very expression sounds absurd today.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]I had to tell my five-year-old girl that Flip died today. She asked, “Why?” I said he was just too sick and needed peace. And she said as earnestly as you might expect a 5-year-old: “I wish Flip would come back to life.”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]I hugged her, then found the last text I sent to Flip, unanswered, from Oct. 1, when I had heard already that there just was very little hope. I didn’t know if he would ever read it, but I knew I had to send it: “Wherever you are, I’m with you tonight. More than ever.”[/FONT]
[/FONT]
Read more: http://www.kfan.com/onair/dan-barreiro-11904/an-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944/#ixzz3pdru2zb4
<iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" class="twitter-share-button twitter-share-button-rendered twitter-tweet-button" title="Twitter Tweet Button" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.a428ab2e859e8008e0df5404770eb017.en.html#_=1445830975804&count=none&dnt=true&id=twitter-widget-1&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com%2Fonair%2Fdan-barreiro-11904%2Fan-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944%2F&size=m&text=An%20Ode%20To%20The%20FUNKADELIC%20%7C%20Dan%20Barreiro%20on%20KFAN%20FM%20100.3&type=share&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com%2Fonair%2Fdan-barreiro-11904%2Fan-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944%2F&via=KFAN1003" data-url="http://www.kfan.com/onair/dan-barreiro-11904/an-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944/" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 55px; height: 20px;"></iframe>
<iframe frameborder="0" hspace="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" tabindex="0" vspace="0" width="100%" id="I1_1445830970931" name="I1_1445830970931" src="https://apis.google.com/u/0/se/0/_/+1/sharebutton?plusShare=true&usegapi=1&action=share&annotation=none&origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com%2Fonair%2Fdan-barreiro-11904%2Fan-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944%2F&gsrc=3p&ic=1&jsh=m%3B%2F_%2Fscs%2Fapps-static%2F_%2Fjs%2Fk%3Doz.gapi.en.sS9ePrAoNew.O%2Fm%3D__features__%2Fam%3DAQ%2Frt%3Dj%2Fd%3D1%2Ft%3Dzcms%2Frs%3DAGLTcCNcUxNwpvOeSyewTM9EA2yJfxydDg#_methods=onPlusOne%2C_ready%2C_close%2C_open%2C_resizeMe%2C_renderstart%2Concircled%2Cdrefresh%2Cerefresh&id=I1_1445830970931&parent=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kfan.com&pfname=&rpctoken=38591189" title="+Share" data-gapiattached="true" style="position: static; top: 0px; width: 59px; margin: 0px; border-style: none; left: 0px; visibility: visible; height: 20px;"></iframe>
Posted Sunday, October 25th 2015 @ 11pm
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Some of us in the media business often roll our eyes about the [/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]considerable self-absorption revealed in the world of sports, among executives, coaches and athletes.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal] [/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]And yet, the system invites it, often demands it. We ask: How did you make that shot? Do you remember the first time you made a catch like that? Where did you learn to throw that change-up? Oh, and where were you born, and who was your first mentor?[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Multiply that out, day after day, year after year, level after level, and it is not all that surprising that many in the sports business become so self-involved that they have a harder and harder time seeing the rest of the world. Or somebody who might be on the other side of a microphone or notebook.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Just the other day, I was telling somebody a story about Flip Saunders. My sister, Babbi, has coached high school basketball in the Chicago suburbs for more than 30 years. A couple years ago, she was running through a tough stretch. I happened to mention it to Flip during one of our usual stream-of-consciousness phone calls.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal](This was not to be confused with some of our stream-of-consciousness text exchanges, like this one at a time when he said he was trying to lay low to evaluate his players at the end of the 2013-14 season.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Flip: One play can change a game, one game can change a series, one series can change a season and I did tell you there would be 2 overtime games in the NHL last night.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Me: I thought you were in the bunker.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Flip: I am in-between. I am allowed to pee.)[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Or me, unanswered: “Tell (Corey) Brewer to stop swooping to basket like he’s Connie Hawkins. He’s not.”)[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Point is, it had been a difficult year for Coach Barreiro.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]“What’s her phone number?” he asked. [/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]“You want to call her?”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]“Sure, let me talk to her.”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]He called the next day. They had a nice conversation, which made her day. That was Flip, at least with me, the rarest of sports breeds: Not so self-absorbed that he ever forgot there was an outside world, with people trying to live in it.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]He rarely failed to ask: How’s that wife and daughter of yours? Enjoy Gia, he’d say, because all that stuff about them growing up fast is true. Every year when he showed up to talk to us at the State Fair, he’d first make a stop along the midway, win big at the free throw shooting contest, then present her with a giant stuffed animal.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]A couple Thanksgivings ago, out of nowhere, he texted this: “Dan: Happy Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for -- family, friends and health. Enjoy the day with your sisters and family. I value the friendship we have. Flip”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]I come from the school of journalism that says you cannot be friends with those you attempt to cover and analyze. I’ve tried hard to stick to it, but that line became blurred with Flip, and looking back on it, I don’t think he gave me any choice. He was just too damned generous.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]And so, though we rarely socialized, we often talked on the phone. Sometimes for hours. About everything, every team, every sport. He threw out endless trade possibilities and proposals, 99 percent of which never came to fruition. Over the years, he alternately praised and ripped pretty much every player on the Wolves’ roster, and on several others. [/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]We occasionally argued. When he drafted Shabazz Muhammad in round one, a player he did not expect to select, he wanted to put the best face on it. [/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]He got former UCLA coach Ben Howland to call into the show. The interview did not go well, largely because I refused to accept at face value Howland’s effusive praise of the player I had seen at UCLA, especially against the Gophers in the NCAA tournament. About a hour later Flip called me off-air and said: “My sources say you did a bush-league interview with Howland.”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]I told him everybody has a job to do. Then he chuckled. He understood the game. He’d get cranky, but he would always call back. I’m pretty sure he was less than delighted with my view that when former Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau became available, Flip needed to go and get him. Which would have allowed Flip to return to the fancy executive office.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Then again, if it had been up to me, he wouldn’t have even been in that office at all. He still would have been at ESPN, analyzing NBA games, not flirting with the University of Minnesota or Glen Taylor to take over the Timberwolves again. My point, on-air, and off: “You have all the money in the world. You had some success. Why get back into the meat grinder of an 82-game season and all the nonsense that comes with it? Plus with your ESPN job, you can keep doing the Funkadelic.”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Flip’s Friday Funkadelic: It became one of our most popular radio segments and he was totally dedicated to the bit. “Emergency Funkadelic” was my text short-hand for: We need you on today to break down some breaking NBA story.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Selfishly, I was concerned that if he returned to a basketball position, the Funkadelic would lose its flavor and Flip would lose interest. I was wrong. He remained dedicated to the segment, giving us access that coaches and executives rarely offer. “The truth,” he often said, “cannot be controversial.”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]The truth: I was also wrong to advise him to stay away from running an organization. The game wasn’t oxygen for Flip. Being in the game was the oxygen. He had to have it, breathe it, smell it, taste it. Being in the fray, not above it, was his nourishment. It made him, once again in this town, a basketball presence.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]That is the one saving grace on this sad day. Until his body would no longer let him, his sleeves were rolled up doing what he loved to do, what he was made to do. A lot of those late-night phone calls involved his vision of what the franchise, which he loved, in this town, which he adored and never really left, could become. It was a vision that, over time, was forced to change due to complications and on one memorable lottery night, even good fortune.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]Good fortune. The very expression sounds absurd today.[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]I had to tell my five-year-old girl that Flip died today. She asked, “Why?” I said he was just too sick and needed peace. And she said as earnestly as you might expect a 5-year-old: “I wish Flip would come back to life.”[/FONT]
[FONT=wf_segoe-ui_normal]I hugged her, then found the last text I sent to Flip, unanswered, from Oct. 1, when I had heard already that there just was very little hope. I didn’t know if he would ever read it, but I knew I had to send it: “Wherever you are, I’m with you tonight. More than ever.”[/FONT]
[/FONT]
Read more: http://www.kfan.com/onair/dan-barreiro-11904/an-ode-to-the-funkadelic-14064944/#ixzz3pdru2zb4
Paulie The Vig
Pretty much a regular
RIP Flip
I'm a year this past Sept 17 in remission with non Hodgkins Lymphoma. Flip wasn't as lucky as I was he had Hodgkins Lymphoma.
May he rest in piece and my heart goes to his family and friends. Yes nba F*** the Big C it's taken way to many people that we love.
I'm a year this past Sept 17 in remission with non Hodgkins Lymphoma. Flip wasn't as lucky as I was he had Hodgkins Lymphoma.
May he rest in piece and my heart goes to his family and friends. Yes nba F*** the Big C it's taken way to many people that we love.
RetroVK
This claim is disputed
+1 here
nbafan88
Pretty much a regular
@meesgreg: 'He became our Flip' leads Monday's @StarTribune sports cover. Here's a look at the coverage in tomorrow's paper. https://t.co/FOrKe9f8Ax
View attachment 39662
View attachment 39663
View attachment 39664
View attachment 39665
View attachment 39662
View attachment 39663
View attachment 39664
View attachment 39665
Meant to post, thx.
nbafan88
Pretty much a regular
[h=1]Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle on Flip Saunders' death: 'NBA coaching profession has lost a great man'[/h]Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS -- Flip Saunders, who rose from the backwaters of basketball's minor leagues to become one of the most powerful men in the NBA as coach, team president and part owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, died Sunday, the team said. He was 60.
Saunders was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in June and doctors called it "treatable and curable." But he took a leave of absence from the team in September after complications arose during his treatment, which included chemotherapy. He had been hospitalized for more than a month.
"Flip was a symbol of strength, compassion, and dignity for our organization," owner Glen Taylor said in a statement. "He was a shining example of what a true leader should be, defined by his integrity and kindness to all he encountered.
Sam Mitchell has been named interim head coach and GM Milt Newton is heading the team's personnel department.
Saunders went 654-592 in 17 NBA seasons with the Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards. But his best days came in Minnesota, where he nurtured Kevin Garnett from a teenager who jumped straight from high school to the NBA in 1995 and helped turn the woeful Wolves into a perennial playoff team.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, president of the NBA coaches association, released a statement on Saunders' passing:
"The NBA Coaches Association mourns the passing of Flip Saunders," Carlisle said in a statement. "Flip's innovativeness, competitive integrity and longevity make him one of the most respected coaches in NBA history. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the entire Saunders family. The NBA coaching profession has lost a great man."
The Timberwolves had started to practice on Sunday when Newton got word from Taylor of Saunders' death. Practice was halted and a devastated Garnett left the floor, walked to the parking garage at the practice facility and sat down in the spot marked for Saunders. He posted a picture of the moment on his Facebook page with the message "Forever in my heart ..."
"He was a great human being and one of the best offensive minds in basketball," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, a friend of Saunders for three-plus decades, told The Associated Press. "I could talk basketball with him all day and night."
Philip Daniel Saunders was born on Feb. 23, 1955, in Cleveland and was a prep basketball star at Cuyahoga Heights High School. His mother Kay nicknamed him Flip after hearing the name at a beauty salon. He played in college at Minnesota, teaming with Kevin McHale and Mychal Thompson as a senior to lead the Golden Gophers to a 24-3 record.
Not long after graduating, Saunders got into coaching to begin a long and winding path to the NBA. He started at Golden Valley Lutheran College just outside of Minneapolis and was as an assistant at Minnesota and Tulsa before seven seasons in the Continental Basketball Association.
Saunders often credited his stint in the CBA with instilling in him the work ethic and breadth of organizational knowledge he needed in the NBA. He made stops in Rapid City, South Dakota; La Crosse, Wisconsin; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and often retold stories of his adventures in the minor league while expressing affinity for the NBA coaches who followed similar paths.
He landed in the NBA in 1995, when he wrote a letter to new owner Taylor asking for a job. His college buddy, McHale, took over the basketball operations with the Timberwolves and Saunders became the general manager. When Bill Blair was fired 20 games into the season, Saunders was suddenly the head coach of a struggling franchise that had never made the playoffs.
Saunders and Garnett led the Wolves to eight straight playoff appearances, the last a trip to the Western Conference finals in 2004. He was fired the next season when the team disintegrated thanks in large part to contractual battles with Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell. The Wolves have not made the playoffs since.
Saunders won 64 games in his first season in Detroit in 2005-06 and 176 in his three seasons coaching the Pistons. But he couldn't quite get a veteran-laden team over the hump and into the NBA Finals, so he was dismissed in 2008.
He coached three more years in Washington before returning to Minnesota as president of basketball operations in 2013. Again, he took over a franchise in turmoil and was bringing the Timberwolves back to relevance before he fell ill.
Saunders deftly handled the exit of disgruntled forward Kevin Love, trading him to Cleveland for a package including budding young star Andrew Wiggins and Thaddeus Young, who was flipped to Brooklyn in February to secure Garnett's return.
"Flip you were one of a kind. Great basketball mind and even better human being," Love said on Instagram. "You had a great impact on my life personally and professionally. RIP my friend. Prayers are with the Saunders family during this time."
Saunders also signed Ricky Rubio to a four-year contract extension, drafted Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad and Karl-Anthony Towns, brought in veterans Andre Miller and Tayshaun Prince and helped design a new $25 million practice facility across the street from Target Center.
As team president, coach and a minority owner, Saunders grabbed a level of influence within his organization that was unmatched in the NBA. His fingerprints were on everything, from personnel decisions to in-game strategies, even down to the pregame entertainment.
"Today is not a day to reflect on Flip's accomplishments in basketball or what he brought to us as an organization on the court, but rather to indicate what he meant to us as a co-worker, friend, member of the community and the basketball world at large," Taylor said. "We as an organization are devastated by his passing, and our hearts and prayers go out to (his wife) Debbie and the entire Saunders family as they endure this extraordinary loss."
Saunders is survived by his wife, Debbie, son Ryan and daughters Mindy, Rachel and Kimberly.
"The Timberwolves have lost a brilliant leader, and Minnesota has lost an outstanding citizen," Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said.
He liked to sneak up behind unsuspecting visitors to Target Center, clamp his hand down on a shoulder and squeeze with a vise-like grip that came from hours of massaging his polio-stricken mother in his youth.
He would carry around autographed cards of himself to hand out to fans, and playfully give them to media members as well with a mischievous grin on his face.
"We have all been blessed by your wonderful life, Coach Flip," Muhammad tweeted. "You will be deeply missed. Rest in peace."
Gregarious and outgoing, he endeared himself to a Twin Cities community that viewed him as a hometown boy done good, with his Gophers roots overshadowing his Cleveland upbringing. And Flip loved Minnesota right back. When he returned to the organization after 10 years away, he recounted a story about working for ESPN and being asked why he still lived in Minnesota so long after he was fired.
"And I'd say 'Well, you don't really understand unless you're from Minnesota. You really don't get it. Even when it snows on May 3rd you really don't get it,'" Saunders said. "And the loyalty and the passion that the people have here is what always drives me back."
MINNEAPOLIS -- Flip Saunders, who rose from the backwaters of basketball's minor leagues to become one of the most powerful men in the NBA as coach, team president and part owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, died Sunday, the team said. He was 60.
Saunders was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in June and doctors called it "treatable and curable." But he took a leave of absence from the team in September after complications arose during his treatment, which included chemotherapy. He had been hospitalized for more than a month.
"Flip was a symbol of strength, compassion, and dignity for our organization," owner Glen Taylor said in a statement. "He was a shining example of what a true leader should be, defined by his integrity and kindness to all he encountered.
Sam Mitchell has been named interim head coach and GM Milt Newton is heading the team's personnel department.
Saunders went 654-592 in 17 NBA seasons with the Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards. But his best days came in Minnesota, where he nurtured Kevin Garnett from a teenager who jumped straight from high school to the NBA in 1995 and helped turn the woeful Wolves into a perennial playoff team.
Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, president of the NBA coaches association, released a statement on Saunders' passing:
"The NBA Coaches Association mourns the passing of Flip Saunders," Carlisle said in a statement. "Flip's innovativeness, competitive integrity and longevity make him one of the most respected coaches in NBA history. Our heartfelt condolences go out to the entire Saunders family. The NBA coaching profession has lost a great man."
The Timberwolves had started to practice on Sunday when Newton got word from Taylor of Saunders' death. Practice was halted and a devastated Garnett left the floor, walked to the parking garage at the practice facility and sat down in the spot marked for Saunders. He posted a picture of the moment on his Facebook page with the message "Forever in my heart ..."
"He was a great human being and one of the best offensive minds in basketball," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, a friend of Saunders for three-plus decades, told The Associated Press. "I could talk basketball with him all day and night."
Philip Daniel Saunders was born on Feb. 23, 1955, in Cleveland and was a prep basketball star at Cuyahoga Heights High School. His mother Kay nicknamed him Flip after hearing the name at a beauty salon. He played in college at Minnesota, teaming with Kevin McHale and Mychal Thompson as a senior to lead the Golden Gophers to a 24-3 record.
Not long after graduating, Saunders got into coaching to begin a long and winding path to the NBA. He started at Golden Valley Lutheran College just outside of Minneapolis and was as an assistant at Minnesota and Tulsa before seven seasons in the Continental Basketball Association.
Saunders often credited his stint in the CBA with instilling in him the work ethic and breadth of organizational knowledge he needed in the NBA. He made stops in Rapid City, South Dakota; La Crosse, Wisconsin; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and often retold stories of his adventures in the minor league while expressing affinity for the NBA coaches who followed similar paths.
He landed in the NBA in 1995, when he wrote a letter to new owner Taylor asking for a job. His college buddy, McHale, took over the basketball operations with the Timberwolves and Saunders became the general manager. When Bill Blair was fired 20 games into the season, Saunders was suddenly the head coach of a struggling franchise that had never made the playoffs.
Saunders and Garnett led the Wolves to eight straight playoff appearances, the last a trip to the Western Conference finals in 2004. He was fired the next season when the team disintegrated thanks in large part to contractual battles with Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell. The Wolves have not made the playoffs since.
Saunders won 64 games in his first season in Detroit in 2005-06 and 176 in his three seasons coaching the Pistons. But he couldn't quite get a veteran-laden team over the hump and into the NBA Finals, so he was dismissed in 2008.
He coached three more years in Washington before returning to Minnesota as president of basketball operations in 2013. Again, he took over a franchise in turmoil and was bringing the Timberwolves back to relevance before he fell ill.
Saunders deftly handled the exit of disgruntled forward Kevin Love, trading him to Cleveland for a package including budding young star Andrew Wiggins and Thaddeus Young, who was flipped to Brooklyn in February to secure Garnett's return.
"Flip you were one of a kind. Great basketball mind and even better human being," Love said on Instagram. "You had a great impact on my life personally and professionally. RIP my friend. Prayers are with the Saunders family during this time."
Saunders also signed Ricky Rubio to a four-year contract extension, drafted Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad and Karl-Anthony Towns, brought in veterans Andre Miller and Tayshaun Prince and helped design a new $25 million practice facility across the street from Target Center.
As team president, coach and a minority owner, Saunders grabbed a level of influence within his organization that was unmatched in the NBA. His fingerprints were on everything, from personnel decisions to in-game strategies, even down to the pregame entertainment.
"Today is not a day to reflect on Flip's accomplishments in basketball or what he brought to us as an organization on the court, but rather to indicate what he meant to us as a co-worker, friend, member of the community and the basketball world at large," Taylor said. "We as an organization are devastated by his passing, and our hearts and prayers go out to (his wife) Debbie and the entire Saunders family as they endure this extraordinary loss."
Saunders is survived by his wife, Debbie, son Ryan and daughters Mindy, Rachel and Kimberly.
"The Timberwolves have lost a brilliant leader, and Minnesota has lost an outstanding citizen," Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said.
He liked to sneak up behind unsuspecting visitors to Target Center, clamp his hand down on a shoulder and squeeze with a vise-like grip that came from hours of massaging his polio-stricken mother in his youth.
He would carry around autographed cards of himself to hand out to fans, and playfully give them to media members as well with a mischievous grin on his face.
"We have all been blessed by your wonderful life, Coach Flip," Muhammad tweeted. "You will be deeply missed. Rest in peace."
Gregarious and outgoing, he endeared himself to a Twin Cities community that viewed him as a hometown boy done good, with his Gophers roots overshadowing his Cleveland upbringing. And Flip loved Minnesota right back. When he returned to the organization after 10 years away, he recounted a story about working for ESPN and being asked why he still lived in Minnesota so long after he was fired.
"And I'd say 'Well, you don't really understand unless you're from Minnesota. You really don't get it. Even when it snows on May 3rd you really don't get it,'" Saunders said. "And the loyalty and the passion that the people have here is what always drives me back."
BetCrimes1984
CTG Big Brother
The stress of dealing with NBA officiating gave him cancer, no 2 ways about it.
RIP Flip.
RIP Flip.
Toronto_Mike
Scent of a Woman
a great basketball mind, fuck was hoping to see him really develop Wiggins and Towns.
RIP
RIP
Paulie The Vig
Pretty much a regular
Thanks for the well wishes.
That's some great stuff on Flip nba and that Picture just sitting with Mchale,Garnet and Taylor is classic. Thanks enjoyed the read and the pictures. He will be missed in his Job as a coach in the NBA but being taken from your family at such a young age is so sad. We hear way to many of deaths as we get older and it does bring saddness to all of us. Lets hope there is something better where he's going.
That's some great stuff on Flip nba and that Picture just sitting with Mchale,Garnet and Taylor is classic. Thanks enjoyed the read and the pictures. He will be missed in his Job as a coach in the NBA but being taken from your family at such a young age is so sad. We hear way to many of deaths as we get older and it does bring saddness to all of us. Lets hope there is something better where he's going.
P-Unit
Beacon of Calmness
Paulie - keep fighting the good fight and glad to hear you are doing well. Dug this up today regarding Flip. Details starting to come out but he was in rough shape for quite a while it seems.
Flip Saunders died Sunday after being in a coma for close to six weeks at the University of Minnesota Hospital, on life support and with little chance of surviving.
He had contracted Hodgkin’s lymphoma and had one more treatment to go at Mayo Clinic when he contracted pneumonia, sources said, was hospitalized and never recovered.
Flip Saunders died Sunday after being in a coma for close to six weeks at the University of Minnesota Hospital, on life support and with little chance of surviving.
He had contracted Hodgkin’s lymphoma and had one more treatment to go at Mayo Clinic when he contracted pneumonia, sources said, was hospitalized and never recovered.
Even knowing the NBA, and him being here for those fun years...never REALLY knew him this well...it always comes AFTER...
Holy effin shit. Wow.
How that stayed out of the media is amazing. I am glad it did for him and his family.
Similar threads
