Flip Saunders Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Wolves’ Flip Saunders On Love, Garnett, Bennett

July 30th, 2015 at 1:19pm CST by Zachary Links

Before the D-League, there was the Continental Basketball Association. Like the D-League, the CBA gave a platform to some of the less-heralded players out there to show their stuff and earn NBA deals. In the case of Flip Saunders, the CBA was a springboard to a successful NBA coaching career. This week, the head coach/president of basketball operations/part owner of the Timberwolves spoke with Zach Lowe of Grantland about Kevin Love, Kevin Garnett, his journey, and much more. Here’s a look at some of the highlights..

On Kevin Love:

I didn’t have a problem keeping Kevin into the final year of his deal and coaching him. Guys just don’t turn down the extra year and $30MM. Even though he maybe wanted to leave, I thought we still had an opportunity to re-sign him. When you are patient, you can say, ‘This is what we need to get something done, and if we don’t get it, we’re keeping him.’

Then things kind of fell into place, with LeBron going to Cleveland and [Andrew] Wiggins becoming available…People thought it was [bluster when I said I wanted to keep him]. Thoughts might have changed when I announced I would coach. Because what coach wouldn’t want to coach a guy who was All-NBA? Coaches want to win that night. I’m in a unique situation, because as the coach, I live in the present, but as the GM, I look into the future. I try to steer both courses. But people believed I would coach the guy.

On balancing roles and whether he watches college game film to scout draft prospects:

I do watch a lot, actually. You also have to trust people you hire. I’ve been in the league for 18 years. I have an understanding of players. I have a wide base of college coaches I talk to, so I know a lot about guys before they even come into the league. Look, there are positives and negatives to it. You need checks and balances. You can’t make snap decisions. What helps is, I came up in the CBA, where you did everything. I was president, GM, coach, everything, for seven years there. You get to understand the intermingling of the business and basketball sides, because they both have to be successful. You learn how to deal with agents. Building trust with agents is as important as anything in our league now.

On Kevin Garnett‘s role:

He’s gonna start. That’s who he is. KG is a starter. He’s the best power forward on our team, actually. No one rebounds better. He’s the best help defender. No one communicates better. He knows the offense, and he can pass it.

On whether he’ll exercise Anthony Bennett‘s fourth-year option:

We’re going to evaluate him over the summer. He played a good Pan American Games. There is no question about his talent. It’s about getting in shape. He’s in shape now. But it’s going to be competitive with all those guys, and also Nemanja Bjelica, who no one talks about.

Wolves Notes: Hummel, Garnett, Jones

June 28th, 2015 at 1:03pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Wolves have extended a qualifying offer to Robbie Hummel worth slightly less than $1.15MM, according to Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press (Twitter link). President of basketball operations Flip Saunders previously indicated he would like to bring back the forward. Hummel scored 4.4 points in 16.5 minutes per game while shooting 45.9% from the field this season.

Here’s more from Minnesota:

It has yet to be announced, but Kevin Garnett will “definitely” re-sign with the Wolves, Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press reports. Walters also adds that Saunders will “definitely” return as the coach, which confirms a previous report. Garnett only played five games for Minnesota after being traded for Thaddeus Young. The 39-year-old will get a chance to mentor the team’s young talent, including Karl-Anthony Towns, which is something the No. 1 overall pick is looking forward to.
If the Wolves weren’t able to strike a deal with the Cavs for Tyus Jones, the team would have looked to add a point guard after July 1st, Walters writes in the same piece. “Then we would have had to go and sign somebody in free agency,” Saunders said.
Had the draft day trade not occurred, the Grizzlies would have chosen the Duke product with the No. 25 pick, sources tell Walters.

Western Notes: Lakers, Duncan, Ginobili, Wolves

June 18th, 2015 at 9:45am CST by Chuck Myron

Mitch Kupchak admits that finding someone who can make an immediate impact as Kobe Bryant nears retirement factors into his approach to the offseason, as the Lakers GM tells Chris Mannix of SI.com. Climbing merely to mediocrity would be a dangerous proposition, Kupchak cautions.

“To some degree,” Kupchak said. “We feel we want to make significant progress from this year to next year. And if we can do that and not mortgage the future — in other words, with a player who is in free agency that’s a veteran — then yeah. It’s a factor because we do want and we need in this city to show progress. And we’ve not made the playoffs for two years running, I suppose you can do it a third year, but our fans are impatient, and they’re used to a good product, and that’s not what we want to do. And we know Kobe is not as happy when the town around him is not enough to win. But, we’ve got to be careful that we don’t do something that puts us in the middle of the pack for the next six or seven years. Because all that does is get you the eighth seed in the playoffs and a draft pick that’s not very good.”

There’s more on the Lakers amid the latest from the Western Conference:

Tony Parker is optimistic that both Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili will return to the Spurs for next season, though he admits that his hope that they indeed come back may cloud his ability to accurately predict what they’ll do, as Parker tells Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News. Regardless, Duncan said to Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg.com that the loss of more than $20MM that he alleges that a former financial adviser swindled him out of won’t play a role in his decision whether to return.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor dismissed any lingering doubt Wednesday, declaring that president of basketball operations Flip Saunders will continue as coach of the team for next season, as Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities relays (on Twitter).
The Pelicans would like to add former Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt as an assistant coach, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
The Lakers have interest in trading the No. 27 pick to clear the salary that goes with it, and talk has also centered on the team packaging the pick with other assets in an offer for another pick higher in the order, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes within his mock draft.
Notre Dame swingman Pat Connaughton, N.C. State shooting guard Trevor Lacey, Iowa State shooting guard Bryce Dejean-Jones, Tennessee Tech center Charles Jackson and UC Santa Barbara center Alan Williams were among those who worked out for the Wolves this week, Wolfson reports (Twitter link).

Draft History: Flip Saunders

June 5th, 2015 at 5:43pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The 2015 NBA draft is less than a month away, and for teams that aren’t still participating in the NBA playoffs, the focus is on using that event to build toward a better future. Now that the NBA Draft lottery is complete, the speculation can truly begin as to which player each franchise will pin its hopes on for the future. Of course, having one of the top selections in any draft doesn’t guarantee that a team will snag a future All-Star. Team executives and scouts still have the difficult task of making the correct call with their picks.

With this in mind we at Hoops Rumors will be taking a look back at the draft history of the primary basketball executive for each NBA team. Their names, reputations, and possibly employment will be on the line as a result of the decisions to come on June 25th, and we’ll be examining what they’ve done in previous years in charge of a club’s front office. Note that many of them have played other sorts of roles within a team’s executive structure, but this won’t take that into account. We’ll continue onward with a look back at the calls made by Flip Saunders, the Timberwolves’ president of basketball operations.

Timberwolves (May 2013-Present)

2013 Draft

No. 14 Overall — Shabazz Muhammad*: 75 games, 8.7 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 0.7 APG. .482/.371/.703.
No. 21 Overall — Gorgui Dieng*: 133 games, 7.5 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 1.3 BPG. .503/.286/.742.
No. 52 Overall — Lorenzo Brown: 55 games, 3.4 PPG, 1.8 RPG, and 2.4 APG. .735/.155/.656.
No. 59 Overall — Bojan Dubljevic: No regular season NBA appearances.

*Acquired from the Jazz in exchange for the No. 9 overall pick (Trey Burke).

**Dealt the No. 26 overall pick (Andre Roberson) and Malcolm Lee to the Warriors in exchange for a 2014 second-rounder (Alessandro Gentile) and cash.

Notable players passed over or available at draft slot: Michael Carter-Williams (No. 11), Giannis Antetokounmpo (No. 15), Mason Plumlee (No. 22), and Rudy Gobert (No. 27).

2014 Draft

No. 13 Overall — Zach LaVine: 77 games, 10.1 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 3.6 APG. .422/.341/.842.
No. 40 Overall — Glenn Robinson III: 35 games, 2.1 PPG, 1.1 RPG, and 0.3 APG. .388/.263/.667.

*Dealt the No. 44 overall pick (Markel Brown) to the Nets in exchange for cash.

**Dealt the No. 53 overall pick (Alessandro Gentile) to the Rockets for cash.

Notable players passed over or available at draft slot: Rodney Hood (No. 23), K.J. McDaniels (No. 32), and Jordan Clarkson (No. 46).

Northwest Notes: Saunders, Jazz, Thunder

May 23rd, 2015 at 8:33pm CST by Arthur Hill

Wolves owner Glen Taylor expects Flip Saunders to return as coach next season, reports Charley Walters of The St. Paul Pioneer Press. Saunders, who also serves as president of basketball operations, led the team to a 16-66 record this year, which was the worst mark in the league and helped Minnesota land the top pick in the draft. However, the Wolves were hampered by injuries all season. “I think he worked so hard last year with all those problems that he wants an opportunity to see if we are healthy, if we really have the team he thought he had,” Taylor said. Saunders expects to hold pre-draft workouts with at least five players, including Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns and Duke’s Jahlil Okafor.

There’s more news from the Northwest Division:

The Jazz will bring in six more players for pre-draft workouts Sunday [Twitter link]. The players are Andrew Harrison of Kentucky, Terry Rozier of Louisville, Vince Hunter of Texas-El Paso, J.P. Tokoto of North Carolina, Terran Petteway of Nebraska and Aaron White of Iowa.
Re-signing free agents Enes Kanter and Kyle Singler is as much a business decision as a basketball decision for the Thunder, writes Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman. The columnist questions the wisdom of giving an eight-figure salary to a defensive liability like Kanter, but concedes that Oklahoma City has few options to replace the two players if they sign elsewhere.
Anthony Morrow was the best free agent signing in Thunder history, Mayberry contends in a separate story. Morrow inked a three-year, $10MM deal last summer and gave Oklahoma City the outside shooting threat it needed. He connected on 43.4% of his shots from downtown and managed to lead the team in games played.

And-Ones: Saunders, Salier, Harrison

May 20th, 2015 at 10:36pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was non-committal regarding whether or not Flip Saunders would coach the team next season, Brett Pollakoff of NBCSports.com relays. “It’s not definite,” Taylor said. “But in my mind, with the effort that he put in this year to bring this team along, it’s probably 90%. If he sees somebody and he changes his mind, he certainly could convince me. I think eventually I want a different coach, and I want him to be the GM. My guess is that he’ll go another year.” Taylor also indicated that the franchise landing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 draft won’t change matters, Pollakoff adds. “I think that Flip will change [his mind] if he sees somebody in the coaching ranks that he really respects, and thinks in the long run that they will be the right guy for this team, then I think he’ll make that decision,” Taylor said.

Here’s more from around the league:

Tim Salier, the Spurs‘ Sports and Entertainment Vice President of Franchise Business Operations, was named the 2015 NBA D-League Team Executive of the Year today, the team announced. “We are very pleased to honor Tim with the Team Executive of the Year Award in recognition of his tremendous contributions to the NBA D-League, the NBA and the Austin community,” said D-League president Malcolm Turner. “Under Tim’s leadership, the Austin Spurs have become a prime example of a how an NBA D-League team should be run to both benefit its NBA parent club and be independently successful.”
David Harrison, a former Pacers first-rounder, is looking to make a comeback to the NBA, and he has hired Zachary Charles of 3pt Sports Management for representation, Cameron Chung of The Sports Agent Blog reports. Charles made it clear that Harrison’s return is not about money, saying, “[Harrison] would play for free. He’s back in love with he game and just wants an opportunity to play. At the end of the day, he’s a 7′ center with a nice jump shot and dominating post moves. He’s a great guy who deserves a shot and his first shot unfairly taken from him. He’s looking at the NBA Summer League, D-League, and overseas.“
Kiki Vandeweghe, the league’s senior vice-president of basketball operations, said that the NBA is unlikely to pass any sort of draft lottery reform to prevent tanking this offseason, Zach Lowe of Grantland writes. “I don’t see anything happening in the immediate future,” Vandeweghe said. “We will continue to study it.”

Flip Saunders On Coaching, Rebuilding, Draft

April 20th, 2015 at 3:36pm CST by Chuck Myron

Flip Saunders gave no indication that he’s planning on stepping away from his Timberwolves coaching duties, as Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press notes from Saunders’ comments today at his end-of-season press conference (Twitter link). The agreement that Saunders, who also serves as president of basketball operations, made to coach the team is open-ended in terms of length, but Saunders said today that he’ll continue to coach as long as it furthers player development and his vision for where the team will be two years from now, tweets Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. We’ll round up more of the best of Saunders’ remarks here:

Saunders entered the season with designs on a team that would compete for a postseason berth this year, but he made it clear today that sort of roster is not his ultimate goal, as Krawczynski relays (Twitter link). “I don’t want to get to the playoffs,” Saunders said. “I want to build a team that can win in the playoffs.”
The team will go with the best player available rather than positional need with its first-round pick, Zgoda notes (on Twitter). Minnesota’s pick will fall within the top four, as the lottery odds show.
It’s unlikely the team keeps both its second-round picks, at Nos. 31 and 36, Saunders said, according to John Meyer of Canis Hoopus (Twitter link). Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities suggested earlier that there was a strong chance the team would either trade one of the picks or use one of them on a draft-and-stash prospect (Twitter link).
The Wolves will prioritize adding strength, better defense and three-point shooting over the offseason, Saunders said, as Krawczynski tweets.

Northwest Notes: Saunders, Pekovic, Hunt

April 4th, 2015 at 4:06pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Timberwolves team owner Glen Taylor said his team would be healthier in the long run if it signed a top-notch coach who would allow Flip Saunders to concentrate on his duties as president of basketball operations, but Taylor wouldn’t object if Saunders stayed on as coach for the immediate future, Sid Hartman of The Star Tribune writes. “I’d like to hire a very good coach [for the long term],” Taylor said. “I haven’t talked about it with Flip as far as next year, but if he wanted to coach he certainly would be allowed to coach.”

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

With surgery scheduled for his injured right Achilles tendon, Wolves center Nikola Pekovic is concerned about his career, Kent Youngblood of The Star Tribune writes. “Of course I am [worried],’’ Pekovic said. “I’m pretty much worrying about how this is going to affect my life in 10 years. I mean, I’m still thinking about basketball [too]. But when you deal so much with something like this….It’s a big deal, I think.’’
Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt gives his assistants much of the credit for keeping the team afloat throughout all the season’s turmoil, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post relays. “It’s a lot of stuff, but it’s manageable,” Hunt said. “I think when you put things in perspective, and you prioritize things and you have good people working with you — I’ve got Noel Gillespie who has a wealth of experience, I’ve got Patrick Mutombo, who is a quick study. So this really helps me as a coach. I don’t feel overwhelmed or that there’s so much coming at me at one time because my guys are catching a lot of that, and that helps.”
Rookie Andrew Wiggins has come a long way in his development since the beginning of the season, Frank Zicarelli of The Toronto Sun writes. Saunders is still trying to get more out of his star player, but acknowledges how difficult this season has been for the young Canadian swingman, Zicarelli adds. “He’s playing in a situation where, because we’ve been so undermanned, that he’s the guy,” Saunders said. “Like [Monday night versus the Jazz], when he got the ball, they had three people over there guarding him. But this will help him when we can surround him with more veteran guys.”

Western Notes: Pekovic, Saunders, Suns

April 2nd, 2015 at 7:47pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Wolves big man Nikola Pekovic will undergo surgery next week to remove damage and repair his right Achilles tendon, the team announced via Twitter. Pekovic is out of action indefinitely, and it’s not yet known if the injury is career-threatening, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune writes. Coach/executive Flip Saunders had all but ruled out Pekovic for the season last week, saying, “We’ve got to do something. We’re not just going to sit there. We tried different ways to let it heal, trying to be as proactive as we can. We have to re-evaluate what we do with him. He’s constantly seeing doctors the last three weeks. We’ll see where it takes us.”

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Saunders said that he and Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor haven’t addressed whether or not Saunders would coach the team next season, Andy Greder of The Pioneer Press relays. “I’m gonna coach until I tell you I’m not the coach, so you can take it that way,” Saunders said. “I’ve enjoyed what I’ve done this year. It’s been a trying year from the injury standpoint, but our staff, we feel when we look at the progress of what our young players have made, that we’ve done what we set out to do when things changed over the first month of the season.” The coach/executive and Taylor reached a deal that’s open-ended in terms of length last offseason. Saunders also serves as the team’s president of basketball operations.
The Suns‘ injury issues have led to increased playing time for rookies Archie Goodwin and T.J. Warren, giving the team a chance to see them shine, Matt Petersen of NBA.com writes. Phoenix’s president of basketball operations Lon Babby is especially happy with what he’s seen of Warren. “He’s just an amazingly efficient scorer,” Babby said. “Every game, [he shoots] 6-for-9, 5-for-7, he’s just around the basket and it seems to come easily to him. Both of those draft picks [referring to Goodwin and Warren], along with Alex Len…are all doing well and bode well for the future.”
Gordon Hayward said Enes Kanter’s critical comments angered the Jazz and that the players took his remarks personally, Doug Robinson of The Deseret News writes. After defeating the Thunder 94-89 last week, the first time Kanter returned to Utah after his remarks, Trevor Booker said, “I definitely wanted to kick his butt. He got his stats and he got his L [loss] as always.“

Northwest Notes: Garnett, Wolves, Blazers

February 22nd, 2015 at 5:55pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Kevin Garnett is expected to sign a two-year deal with the Wolves this offseason and during his new contract, Garnett and Wolves President of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders are expected to try and form a group to buy the team from owner Glen Taylor, writes Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press. During his 20 seasons in the NBA, Garnett has amassed more than $325MM in salaries alone while Saunders has made an estimated $40MM during his 17 seasons as an NBA coach.

Here’s more from the Northwest Division:

Garnett will have his greatest impact on the Wolves during practices, writes Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune. Anthony Bennett and Adreian Payne seem likely to benefit the most from having the veteran around. “Those two, they’ll be able to take more on the court from KG,” assistant coach Ryan Saunders said. “The things he does, the little nuances he knows, they’ll see the ultimate professional.”
New addition Arron Afflalo was ecstatic about the trade that sent him to Blazers, writes Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. The shooting guard believes the Blazers have a real chance to “contend for a championship.” The team believes both Afflalo and Alonzo Gee can help boost its bench unit. “Both guys have been in the league long enough that they know what teams do, it’s just a matter of understanding how we do things,” coach Terry Stotts said. “There will be some time to find a comfort zone, but … I think I have a good feel for who they are as players and what they can do. There’ll be a learning curve for all of us, but hopefully the system that we play fits what they do and they’ll flourish in it.”
Alonzo Gee hopes to make his impact on defense with the Blazers, writes Jabari Young of CSNNW.com. Gee, who has a reputation of being one of the more underrated defenders in the league, admits he will be move motivated playing for a team that has championship goals. “It does change how you look at every game,” Gee said. “Every game counts. You got to go out and try you best to help the team out as well.”