Wolves to honor late coach with 'Flip Saunders Night'
The Minnesota Timberwolves are making Flip Saunders a permanent fixture at Target Center.
The team announced plans Tuesday to honor the late coach and team executive with "Flip Saunders Night" during a game Thursday, Feb. 15 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
A banner honoring Saunders is set to be unveiled at the event, while the Timberwolves' Fast Break Foundation will present a donation to the Flip Saunders Legacy Fund. Commemorative coins will also be distributed, a nod to one of Saunders' initiatives during his time with the team.
“Flip meant so much to our organization as a coach, but he meant so much more to all of us as a friend,” Wolves owner Glen Taylor said in a statement. “His impact on our organization and what he meant to the Minnesota basketball community is something that will always be with us."
The winningest coach in franchise history, Saunders led the Wolves from 1995-2005, guiding Minnesota to eight consecutive playoff appearances. He spent three season with the Detroit Pistons after parting ways with the Wolves in 2005, then spent two seasons -- and 17 games of a third -- with the Washington Wizards, before returning to Minnesota in 2013 as the team's president of basketball operations.
He resumed coaching the team while presiding over a comprehensive rebuild, trading star Kevin Love, acquiring forward Andrew Wiggins and drafting center Karl-Anthony Towns with the team's first No. 1 overall pick.
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Saunders announced that he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in August 2015. He was hospitalized in September, and died in late October.
The current Wolves continue to hold Saunders in high esteem. Towns represented the Wolves at the 2016 NBA draft lottery, and wore his former coach's wedding ring as a necklace at the urging of Saunders' son, Wolves assistant coach Ryan Saunders.
