Flip

Saunders

Minnesota desperately needs a shooting guard and to improve their 3-point prowess, so that’s hardly surprising. Saunders is clearly looking to put his stamp on the franchise, and his tenure running the team could be defined by how he handles the offseason with a big decision looming on restricted free agent Nikola Pekovic as well as preparing for his first draft in his new role. The team also has the No. 26 overall selection.

Although the move doesn’t have fantasy relevance, it’s clear that Saunders wants to leave his stamp on the organization and that comes as expected. Of those who were dismissed, the longest-tenured was with the team for eight seasons. Saunders also spent “much” of Wednesday with Rick Adelman, another sign that the veteran head coach is anticipating a return.

Per Broussard, Saunders isn’t planning to make a hire until after the draft. It’s not clear who might be on Saunders’ list, but he’s crafting the front office the way he wants to and has ownership’s blessing to do so.

“What I mean by that is there won’t be any All-Stars in two years out of this draft,” Saunders said. All GMs have an agenda and his quotes should be viewed with circumspection, but he’s not the first person to suggest a lack of elite talent among next season’s rookies. Flip also mentioned that the only players he won’t consider with the Wolves’ two first-round picks (Nos. 9 and 26) are point guards. Farewell, David Kahn.

“We want to get some guys who can make Ricky [Rubio] better,” Saunders said. “If you have guys who can stretch the floor and create more openings for him to penetrate and find those guys, he’s going to be a better player. I don’t know if you can win in the NBA if you don’t shoot threes.” His point is well taken since Luke Ridnour has been an out-of-position starting SG for the past two seasons, and the Wolves shot a league-worst 30.5 percent from downtown last year.

Taylor said before the season he’d be interested in selling the club if the right suitors came along. On Friday, Taylor said he had “seller’s remorse.” “All of a sudden, I realized, well, what if I do sell this team? I like coming to games. I like being part of this team,” Taylor said at the news conference introducing Flip Saunders as the team’s new President of Basketball Operations.

Additionally, Saunders will get an ownership stake in the team, but it’s not clear how big that will be. Saunders replaces an inept David Kahn, and although Kahn will be defended for the “position” he’s leaving the team in, he made numerous questionable decisions during his tenure and the writing was on the wall for some time.

Flip Saunders will still be pulling the strings, while Newton is expected to focus more on scouting and personnel. But now that David Kahn is out of the way, it seems like every move the Wolves are making these days is a good one.

Team president Flip Saunders has been running the show since David Kahn’s departure, but Minnesota has made Newton a “prime target” to assume GM duties. He has a wide array of experience as a player, scout, assistant director of Team USA, and more.

While Saunders said he has heard from potential coaches, he added that his current plan is to continue as the Wolves’ head coach. “Right now I’m coaching the team. It’s a question everybody asks. It’s interesting, when I ended up coaching a year ago, it was the right thing to do at that time for the organization,” Saunders said. “Until I feel we can get somebody who can move forward a little bit, we’ll [stay] where we’re at.”