Flip Saunders
Flip Saunders
Philip Daniel "Flip" Saunderswas an American basketball player and coach. During his career, he coached the Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Washington Wizards...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth23 February 1955
CityCleveland, OH
ahead coming crowd division excited focused focusing front great night players playing sunday trying
When you get up 15 in your division through 45 games, what you're trying to do is you're focusing on what you have ahead and that's the playoffs. I think the players are going to be very focused and very excited about coming here Sunday night and playing in front of a great crowd in a great atmosphere.
far players
The players have been more than I probably expected, as far as being receptive,
accept compete matter players road tough win
You have to have players that really accept challenges, that like to compete and really like to play on the road more than they do at home. It is more challenging. It's tough to win on the road, no matter who you play.
accept almost challenges character enjoy extremely love players playing road win
You have to have a lot of character to win on the road. You have to have players who love to accept challenges and are extremely competitive. It's almost like they enjoy playing on the road more than playing at home.
again amazed beat ben catalyst defensive player score tough year
Ben is our energy. I would be amazed if he wasn't the defensive player of the year again just from everything he does. He's our lock-down guy. When we have energy, we are tough to beat and tough to score on. When we don't, we can be pretty ordinary. And Ben is usually the catalyst for that energy.
ben best defensive player saying tonight
Ben was great. He showed tonight why I keep saying he's the best defensive player in our league.
best figure happens hold next players release stands teams trades
What happens is, teams sometimes hold on to players to use in trades if they can. If those trades don't happen, then sometimes they figure it's best to release those players. Every team will know more of where their roster stands by next Tuesday.
autographs cared face great help holder kids loss next player season sign smile sports talk tickets time took
I got to know him when he was a player and he had season tickets right next to our bench. I didn't know him just as a season-ticket holder but as a friend. It's a great loss to the sports world and Minnesota. He always had a smile on his face and cared about kids. He always took time to sign autographs and talk to kids and try to help them.
chance effective impact impressed player plays seems
I have been impressed with him from Day One. He always seems to be pretty effective for us. He has a chance to be an impact player in this league. He's still young and he's still learning, but he plays with a lot of aggressiveness.
coach committed drive far good group players sure
Like I said, I think a coach is as good as the players he has. You do have to drive them. You've got to make sure to put them in the right situations. And we have a group that's very committed as far as what we're doing.
came fine float players radar
When I came here, a lot of the players told me it'd be like that. We float under the radar a lot. So I think that's fine with us.
ball corners extra movement player playing shots shows taking
When we're taking shots from the corners and we did a lot tonight, that shows we are playing a lot of ball movement, a lot of player movement and making the extra pass. That's pretty much how you'd want to play offensively.
battle billy club coming few game heat might next players rest trying
We have players we are trying to get rest over the next 11 games. But you get into the heat of the battle sometimes and you need a billy club to get them out of the game sometimes because they are so competitive. We might have a few tangles coming down the stretch.
bit changes coaches few game gave league maybe people players reward rule team understand
I think people will understand that when we go in together, they will understand what it really is all about. A few years ago ... there were rule changes that were made to make the game aesthetically better and to make the game more team oriented, not as individually oriented. I think the reward that the coaches gave our players kind of signified a little bit maybe that's the way our league is going.