作者jinshenn (Don't panic)
看板Timberwolves
标题[外电] Coach Flip Saunders dies of cancer
时间Mon Oct 26 09:30:50 2015
http://goo.gl/HIicre
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Flip Saunders, who rose from the backwaters of basketball's
minor leagues to become one of the most powerful men in the NBA as coach, team
president and part owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, died Sunday, the team
said. He was 60.
Saunders was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in June and doctors called it
"treatable and curable." But he took a leave of absence from the team in
September after complications arose during his treatment, which included
chemotherapy. He had been hospitalized for more than a month.
"
Flip was a symbol of strength, compassion, and dignity for our organization,"
owner Glen Taylor said in a statement. "
He was a shining example of what a true
leader should be, defined by his integrity and kindness to all he encountered."
Sam Mitchell has been named interim head coach and GM Milt Newton is heading
the team's personnel department.
Saunders went 654-592 in 17 NBA seasons with the Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons
and Washington Wizards. But his best days came in Minnesota, where he nurtured
Kevin Garnett from a teenager who jumped straight from high school to the NBA
in 1995 and helped turn the woeful Wolves into a perennial playoff team.
The Timberwolves had started to practice on Sunday when Newton got word from
Taylor of Saunders' death. Practice was halted and a devastated Garnett left
the floor, walked to the parking garage at the practice facility and sat down
in the spot marked for Saunders. He posted a picture of the moment on his
Facebook page with the message "Forever in my heart ..."
"
He was a great human being and one of the best offensive minds in basketball,"
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, a friend of Saunders for three-plus decades,
told The Associated Press. "
I could talk basketball with him all day and night."
Philip Daniel Saunders was born on Feb. 23, 1955, in Cleveland and was a prep
basketball star at Cuyahoga Heights High School. His mother Kay nicknamed him
Flip after hearing the name at a beauty salon. He played in college at
Minnesota, teaming with Kevin McHale and Mychal Thompson as a senior to lead
the Golden Gophers to a 24-3 record.
Not long after graduating, Saunders got into coaching to begin a long and
winding path to the NBA. He started at Golden Valley Lutheran College just
outside of Minneapolis and was as an assistant at Minnesota and Tulsa before
seven seasons in the Continental Basketball Association.
Saunders often credited his stint in the CBA with instilling in him the work
ethic and breadth of organizational knowledge he needed in the NBA. He made
stops in Rapid City, South Dakota; La Crosse, Wisconsin; and Sioux Falls, South
Dakota, and often retold stories of his adventures in the minor league while
expressing affinity for the NBA coaches who followed similar paths.
He landed in the NBA in 1995, when he wrote a letter to new owner Taylor asking
for a job. His college buddy, McHale, took over the basketball operations with
the Timberwolves and Saunders became the general manager. When Bill Blair was
fired 20 games into the season, Saunders was suddenly the head coach of a
struggling franchise that had never made the playoffs.
Saunders and Garnett led the Wolves to eight straight playoff appearances, the
last a trip to the Western Conference finals in 2004. He was fired the next
season when the team disintegrated thanks in large part to contractual battles
with Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell. The Wolves have not made the playoffs
since.
Saunders won 64 games in his first season in Detroit in 2005-06 and 176 in his
three seasons coaching the Pistons. But he couldn't quite get a veteran-laden
team over the hump and into the NBA Finals, so he was dismissed in 2008.
He coached three more years in Washington before returning to Minnesota as
president of basketball operations in 2013. Again, he took over a franchise in
turmoil and was bringing the Timberwolves back to relevance before he fell
ill.
Saunders deftly handled the exit of disgruntled forward Kevin Love, trading him
to Cleveland for a package including budding young star Andrew Wiggins and
Thaddeus Young, who was flipped to Brooklyn in February to secure Garnett's
return.
"
Flip you were one of a kind. Great basketball mind and even better human
being," Love said on Instagram. "
You had a great impact on my life personally
and professionally. RIP my friend. Prayers are with the Saunders family during
this time."
Saunders also signed Ricky Rubio to a four-year contract extension, drafted
Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad and Karl-Anthony Towns, brought in veterans Andre
Miller and Tayshaun Prince and helped design a new $25 million practice
facility across the street from Target Center.
As team president, coach and a minority owner, Saunders grabbed a level of
influence within his organization that was unmatched in the NBA. His
fingerprints were on everything, from personnel decisions to in-game
strategies, even down to the pregame entertainment.
"
Today is not a day to reflect on Flip's accomplishments in basketball or what
he brought to us as an organization on the court, but rather to indicate what
he meant to us as a co-worker, friend, member of the community and the
basketball world at large," Taylor said. "
We as an organization are devastated
by his passing, and our hearts and prayers go out to (his wife) Debbie and the
entire Saunders family as they endure this extraordinary loss."
Saunders is survived by his wife, Debbie, son Ryan and daughters Mindy, Rachel
and Kimberly.
"
The Timberwolves have lost a brilliant leader, and Minnesota has lost an
outstanding citizen," Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said.
He liked to sneak up behind unsuspecting visitors to Target Center, clamp his
hand down on a shoulder and squeeze with a vise-like grip that came from hours
of massaging his polio-stricken mother in his youth.
He would carry around autographed cards of himself to hand out to fans, and
playfully give them to media members as well with a mischievous grin on his
face.
"
We have all been blessed by your wonderful life, Coach Flip," Muhammad
tweeted. "
You will be deeply missed. Rest in peace."
Gregarious and outgoing, he endeared himself to a Twin Cities community that
viewed him as a hometown boy done good, with his Gophers roots overshadowing
his Cleveland upbringing. And Flip loved Minnesota right back. When he returned
to the organization after 10 years away, he recounted a story about working for
ESPN and being asked why he still lived in Minnesota so long after he was
fired.
"
And I'd say 'Well, you don't really understand unless you're from Minnesota.
You really don't get it. Even when it snows on May 3rd you really don't get
it,'" Saunders said. "
And the loyalty and the passion that the people have
here is what always drives me back."
---
抱歉,没太多时间翻译,只能贴原文了
感谢老桑替这支球队,乃至於整个篮球世界带来了一切。
https://youtu.be/QHLRD_w6cPo
差不多五个月前,老桑和其他高层成员庆祝抽中状元签,现在看来颇令人感伤。
记得那时老桑的父亲也才刚离开,这阵子对他们整个家族是段难熬的时刻。
We'll miss you. Rest in peace, Flip.
--
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1F:推 bo497751553: 越想越难过,谢谢po文,老桑R.I.P 10/26 10:10
2F:推 kevin51521: 一路好走QQQQ 10/26 10:23
3F:推 minifox: QQ R. I. P. 10/26 10:30
4F:推 HCLG: 影片QQ 10/26 10:30
5F:推 bycarbird: 好难过... 10/26 10:38
6F:推 porst: R.I.P 希望小狼们好好努力! 10/26 11:31
7F:推 ktkowhypop: R.I.P 10/26 11:52
8F:推 atyin: 小桑好可怜 希望小狼们加油!!! 10/26 11:59
9F:推 newest: QAQ R.I.P. 10/26 12:21
10F:推 andy78714: R. I. P....... 10/26 12:37
11F:推 hikari0: R I P 10/26 18:14