After a nearly 7-week long coaching search, it turns out the Minnesota Timberwolves didn’t have to go very far at all to find their man, as team president and part owner Flip Saunders has confirmed that he will indeed take over the head coaching spot left vacant by former coach Rick Adelman’s resignation in April.
Saunders has extensive experience coaching in the NBA, most notably in his previous tenure with the Timberwolves from 1995-2005, a span in which he led the franchise all eight of their playoff appearances, and even brought the team to the Western Conference finals in 2004. However, he was fired in 2005, and rejoined the team in his front-office role just last year. Saunders also had short coaching stints with the Pistons and Wizards, and has an impressive career record of 411-326.
Saunders, who has hinted at his desire of a comeback to coaching before, decided to return to the bench after current Memphis Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger declined to take on the the job. While several other well known candidates, such as Vinny Del Negro, Scott Skiles, Lionel Hollins, and Sam Mitchell were brought in for interviews, only Joerger was ever offered the job.
Already looking to assemble his coaching staff, Saunders is expected to attempt to lure current Detroit Pistons 37 year old guard Chauncey Billups into retirement with an assistant coaching offer. Saunders coached Billups for two seasons when he played for the Timberwolves from 2000-2002.
At this point, it is still unclear if Saunders sees himself as a long-term answer for the team at head coach, or if he is simply a one-year stopgap until he can conduct a better coaching search next off-season. Saunders, at 59, is definitely young enough to continue coaching for some time if he desires, however his interest may be to continue in his front-office role only.
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