‘It’s just hard’: Wolves coaches, players talk about Flip Saunders

“Flip was a symbol of strength, compassion, and dignity for our organization”, owner Glen Taylor said in a statement.

Timberwolves interim head coach Sam Mitchell, a former player for Saunders, said he will remember Flip for the good times and for what he learned from him.

Then, just a year ago, Garnett waived his no-trade clause agreement in Brooklyn to return to Minnesota, where Saunders was coaching an upstart Timberwolves team.

I posted the picture below on Twitter and Facebook, and it perfectly captured the pressure this man was under on a daily basis during his Wizards’ tenure. He said he anticipated being coached by Saunders for many years to come. “He was just telling me how far I came and how proud he was how I grew up as a player, and it’s just sad to hear him go”. His mother Kay nicknamed him Flip after hearing the name at a beauty salon. Although Saunders had intentions on remaining head coach, he had a setback in September.

National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver said Saunders’ death “has left a gaping hole in the fabric of our league”. However, he was hospitalized and it was announced last week that he would miss the entire 2015-16 season.

As the Wolves coach from 1995-2005, Saunders guided the team to eight consecutive playoff appearances and a franchise-best 58-24 record in 2003-04, which resulted in a trip to the Western Conference finals.

Young, then in his eighth National Basketball Association season, was not thrilled, and it seemed certain he would explore free agency when his contract expired after the season. The Wolves have not made the playoffs since. “When you’re a veteran, that gets boring”, Young said with a smile. In 2014, he took over again as coach.

Born Philip Daniel Saunders on February 23, 1955 in Cleveland, Ohio.

“And that’s the thing, you’re riding home on a plane win or lose – Flip was always upbeat”. Great basketball mind and even better human being. “Obviously he had a great relationship with his guys, you can tell that from all the great tributes that people are giving”. That’s from the roster to the coaching staff to the new practice facility that opened this summer. His fingerprints were on everything, from personnel decisions to in-game strategies, even down to the pregame entertainment.

“Flip was the person that brought this family together”, Taylor said.

He met his wife, Debbie, at the U. They have four children: Ryan, Mindy, Rachel and Kimberly.

“The Timberwolves have lost a brilliant leader, and Minnesota has lost an outstanding citizen”, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said. “It’s on the Target Center”.

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.

Throughout their respective coaching and player careers, Saunders and Garnett crossed paths repeatedly. It makes you believe in what he’s trying to teach, and it makes you believe in him as a coach. And Flip loved Minnesota right back. It’s really unfortunate that that illness continues to take lives away.

When someone dies, the knee-jerk reaction is to ignore the bad or negative times and to play up the good.

Looking back now, Flip Saunders was the poor guy who thought he was getting the job of his dreams, only to find out that those who hired him had talked up the glitzy aspects of the gig and made little mention of the circus that Saunders was going to encounter upon landing in the DMV.