Flip Saunders, the Timberwolves’ team president and head coach, died Sunday at age 60. His battle with cancer was brief, but the outpouring of respect and sympathy from the basketball community has been as impressive as Saunders was in life.
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His impact went beyond coaching, but it began there. Saunders was at the helm for more than half of the Timberwolves franchise’s wins (427 out of 818) and all eight of their postseason berths. No other coach won 100 games or has a winning record with the Timberwolves. He played a major role in developing Kevin Garnett in Minnesota and John Wall in Washington, and he guided Detroit to three consecutive Eastern Conference finals.
But Minnesota was where Saunders made his mark. He was the point guard for a 24-3 Golden Gophers team in 1977 as a senior, teamed up with Mychal Thompson and Kevin McHale. In 1996, he was paired again with McHale and led a young Timberwolves team to playoff prominence, all behind young Garnett.
The Timberwolves made their first and only appearance in the Western Conference finals in 2004. Saunders left Minnesota a year later, but the franchise faltered until he returned in 2013 as president, adding coaching duties a year later. Among his moves were trading for Andrew Wiggins and drafting Karl-Anthony Towns, the bedrock for the Timberwolves’ future. He also brought back the franchise’s greatest player.
Garnett isn’t alone. As time has gone on, the public, from fans to coaches to players to former ESPN colleagues, has extended condolences to the Saunders family and all that were close to him. And more praise of his character will continue to make its way through social media and other outlets as time goes on. But it wasn’t his coaching ability that warrants him this sort of praise. It was him as a person.
Yes, the Timberwolves will open their regular season Wednesday on the road against the Lakers at the Staples Center. Garnett, Wiggins, Towns, coach Sam Mitchell, Ricky Rubio and all the other Wolves who Saunders brought in, will be there to try to bring in a win. But it’s going to be impossible for anyone to think about just the game, and that’s okay.
Saunders said back in August that the support he received “has truly reminded me that the goodness of people should never be questioned,” but that only came because of the number of lives Flip impacted in his tragically short lifetime. The goodness of people was exposed because of the goodness of Flip Saunders.
