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Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders lost a lengthy battle with cancer yesterday. Born Philip Daniel Saunders, he had been a player in his youth before becoming a coach. He had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma only two months ago, and had initially planned to continue as coach despite his illness.
The sad news of the death of the team's President of basketball operations and head coach was shared by the team on Twitter:
Early August, the Timberwolves announced that Saunders was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma which was at the time believed to be “very treatable and curable”. However heading into the September, the prognosis was bleak, and it was announced that he would miss the entire 2015-16 regular season following his hospitalization.
Saunders began his NBA coaching career mid-way through the 1996 season with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Under his tutelage, then-high school draftee Kevin Garnett developed into one of the greatest players of the 2000s. The biggest success he achieved with the Wolves was their trip to the Conference Finals in 2004, where they unfortunately fell apart at the hands of the star studded Los Angeles Lakers.
Despite his axing from Minnesota in 2005, he achieved a lot of success with the Timberwolves that goes down in the history books. Courtesy their best record in the West in 2004, he was named the West All-Stars Head Coach. He is also the only head coach in the history of the franchise to have a winning record and seal a playoff berth.
From 2005 to 2012, Saunders spent the sidelines coaching teams such as the Detroit Pistons and the Washington Wizards. In all his three seasons with the Pistons he led them to the Eastern Conference Finals, alas falling short each time. He returned to Minnesota in 2013 as a the President of Basketball Operations and part owner of the franchise.
He was taking huge steps to make the Timberwolves a success again from helping outstanding young talent like Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine and Karl Anthony Towns, to engineering a move midway through last season to bring Garnett back to the Target Center and help mentor these young players. He also paid significant attention to the renovation of the Center and the construction of a new downtown practice facility.
Although everybody was aware of his battle with cancer, his death comes as a sudden shock and a huge blow to the NBA fraternity. Many players across the league took to social media to show Saunders their love and respect.
Guess the Lakers players!
