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
bring bryan mike players situation team
They all bring something to the table. Bryan got the players there. Mike put the players in a situation to be successful. Nash implemented the situation to be successful. They all bring something, and that's what team is all about.
anybody guys players sweat
Same thing. We don't want to get anybody hurt. Just let guys get a sweat and give some of our young players an opportunity.
ankle bad easy games gets hurt leg people players position sit watch work
The thing you have to watch out for is if you sit a guy, and his leg gets weaker. We're not going to put him in a position where he's going to hurt his ankle more. People out there, they don't know how bad the ankle is. It's way too easy for everyone to say, ?Just sit him and not have him play.' But players work 82 games to get into a rhythm, to play well in the playoffs.
coaching establish hard individual performing players start thinking trying whether
The thing about young players, whether it's coaching or not, is that young players are always going to start out the same way -- they play hard and they play. That's who they are. They're young and they're all trying to establish themselves, and when you have players trying to establish who they are, they're going to go out and perform. Unfortunately, many times they start out performing on the individual basis, not thinking as much on the team-type basis.
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.
fine game gets guy line minutes players productive
I think if a guy gets in the game and he's productive, then he's going to get more minutes. That's what it's about. And it's that fine line: Do you become productive when you get minutes, or do you get minutes and then become productive? That's always the fine line between players and coaches.
both confidence ends players score shows stops
We can still get stops and we can score 67 in a half, ... That shows the players that they can get it done at both ends of the floor, which is going to be big for their confidence as we go through the season.
biggest brought court deal far gave handle mitchell players porter practice prepare responsibility sam surrounded terry tried type veteran
We surrounded (Kevin). We brought in two veteran players in Sam Mitchell and Terry Porter that we thought were two very professional type individuals that would show him how to handle practice situations, what it was to be professionals, to prepare for practice, to prepare for games, how to deal as far as off the floor, not to put yourself in any awkward-type situations. And then we tried to communicate with him. Our biggest thing was we gave him enough responsibility on the court that he was able to perform, yet still improve.
deal expect games great players team turn veteran
From what I read and hear, as a team and with Shaq, they feel like they are going to be able to turn it on when they need to. Veteran players have that belief. We go through that here in some games But I expect them to come with a great deal of energy.
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.
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.
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.
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.