The news hit the Timberwolves mid-practice Sunday, according to the Associated Press, prompting Kevin Garnett to leave the floor, walk to the team parking garage, and post a tribute from his longtime coach’s parking space. Saunders was replaced by assistant coach Randy Wittman midway through the 2011-2012 season. In 2014 he retook the reigns as head coach.
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The sudden loss of one of the most respected coaches and personalities around the league was met with much sadness around the league, as everyone from commissioner Adam Silver, Danny Ainge and college head coaching legend Tom Izzo released heartfelt statements about Saunders.
I guess when I left you I went on a journey to end up with a similar coach 7,000 miles away.
Still, the death of Saunders, who returned to Minnesota in 2013 after stints with the Pistons and Wizards, came as a surprise.
“Flip played a huge part in my life”.
“There were a lot of guys nobody ever heard of”, Schwab said. (He’d) talk to you, come back and see how you’re feeling, especially during struggles. He was a fatherly figure, such a caring individual. It’s just bad how this whole thing went down. So it’s a sad day for all of us.
“He was a man of great character, a man that was a great competitor and he will be greatly missed”, Womeldorf said. Saunders hoped to be back on the sidelines at a few point in the season.
Jim Mone/AP Saunders, the best coach in the franchise’s history, speaks with Kevin Garnett, the franchise’s best player, after the pair are reunited last season. “My thoughts & prayers are with the Saunders & Twolves family”. On Friday night, Wolves owner Glen Taylor said Saunders wouldn’t return to the team this year.
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Sam Mitchell has been named interim head coach, and general manager Milt Newton is heading the team’s personnel department. Flip was a great ambassador for the Metro Detroit community and had a positive influence on those who had the opportunity to spend time with him. He was gracious in defeat, humble in victory, and he was always willing to help out other coaches. Saunders had a way about him that made you believe what he said, no matter how hyperbolic, no matter how transparent the need to have the message accepted. “The basketball world lost a “coaches” coach’ today, and I lost a great friend”. “It just let you know that basketball is a sport and that life is short”. Love’s teammate LeBron James also tweeted his condolences. During his tenure in Minnesota, Saunders won National Basketball Association Western Conference Coach of the Month honors four times (April “04, February ’03, January ’01, January ’00) and coached the Western Conference during the 2004 National Basketball Association All-Star Game in Los Angeles. I extend my deepest condolences to Flip’s team, family, and friends”, he said.
