[ESPN.COM] Saunders to be named Pistons coach

Speaking of the Pacers winning the East...any word of keeping Artest?

 

http://www.freep.com/sports/pistons/pistons21e_20050721.htm

Flip side: Saunders hired

Pistons' new coach known for adaptability
July 21, 2005

BY KRISTA LATHAM and PERRY A. FARRELL
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITERS

On Tuesday, the Pistons said good-bye to a coach who had a favorite, oft-quoted phrase.


Meet the coach
Name: Philip (Flip) Saunders.
Age: 50.

Hometown: Cleveland.

College: Minnesota.

Coaching path: Head coach, Golden Valley Lutheran College, 1977-81; assistant, Minnesota, 1981-86; assistant, Tulsa, 1986-88; head coach, Rapid City (CBA), 1988-89; head coach, La Crosse (CBA), 1989-94; head coach, Sioux Falls (CBA), 1994-95; head coach, Minnesota Timberwolves, 1995-2005.

Records: Went 253-157 in the CBA; ranks third all-time in league victories. Went 411-326 in nine-plus seasons with the Timberwolves. His 17-30 NBA playoff record included seven consecutive first-round exits, in 1997-2003, before Minnesota lost to Lakers in 2004 conference finals.

Money: Timberwolves owe him $5.5 million. Family: Wife, Debbie, and four children.


Maybe you've heard it. Something about playing the right way?


Well, new coach, new motto. On Wednesday, the Pistons hired former Minnesota Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders, and it seems he comes with a favorite ditty of his own.


"You know that phrase, 'If you don't like change, you're going to go the way of the dinosaurs'?" said Jim LaBumbard, director of media relations with the Toronto Raptors, who worked with Saunders in the CBA and at Minnesota. "He always used that, and I think it really fit him because he was always able to adapt to his players. He was never afraid to change."


Good thing, because the next change for Saunders will be a big one.


The Pistons admitted Wednesday that they worked through the day to complete a contract with the 50-year-old coach. In the evening, they announced that a news conference would be held at noon today to announce their next coach. The team, being coy, wouldn't say who that was.


Saunders and the Pistons have agreed to a four-year contract worth $20 million, the Free Press has learned. President of basketball operations Joe Dumars did not return calls seeking comment.


When the deal is announced today, Saunders -- who has been the Pistons' leading (and maybe only) candidate for some time, possibly even since Larry Brown's second surgery in March -- will find himself on the biggest stage of his career and with a team that expects to continue winning -- a lot.


And the Pistons might find themselves moving from Brown's world of "playing the right way" -- his way -- to one in which the personnel on the floor will determine the style of play.


"He likes to adapt to his players," LaBumbard said, "rather than make them adapt to him."


Saunders, who spent seven years in the Continental Basketball Association before his nine-plus years in Minnesota, didn't return calls Wednesday. He went 411-326 with the Timberwolves.


LaBumbard and others who have worked with Saunders said the Pistons had picked someone who carefully demanded the best from his players and got results in almost any circumstance.


"He has a presence," LaBumbard said. "He doesn't yell, but he gives off a confidence."


Even as an unproven, rookie NBA head coach in 1995, Saunders found a way to get players to trust him and to listen.


"I remember when he came up to Minnesota, everyone said the reason he was there was because he and Kevin McHale were friends," LaBumbard said. McHale was the Timberwolves' vice president of basketball operations. "At his first practice, all the guys were like, 'Oh, geez, he got the job?' But after practice was over, Doug West just looked at me and said, 'He knows his stuff.' It was a great first impression."


Saunders seems to make a strong impression wherever he goes. Growing up, Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach Eric Musselman idolized Saunders, who played for his late father, Bill Musselman, at the University of Minnesota. (McHale was a teammate.)


"He wore No. 14 at Minnesota, so I wore No. 14 growing up," Musselman said. "I even tried to emulate the way he shot. He kind of brought his knees together when he jumped, so I tried to do that, too."


Years later, Musselman had the honor of giving his idol a job. As a 23-year-old general manager of the Rapid City CBA team in 1988, Musselman plucked Saunders from Tulsa, where he was an assistant, and gave him his first head-coaching job in pro basketball.


Saunders went on to become the third-winningest coach in CBA history.


He did it by constantly evolving along with his team. In the CBA, players come and go through free agency and NBA call-ups. Saunders won two CBA titles and compiled nearly 300 victories by getting the most out whichever players he had at the moment.


"He would lose the leading rebounder one night, and then a guy who scores 20 points a game the next," Musselman said. "We'd literally go from a fast-break team to a slow-it-down team overnight. He was always adjusting on the fly, and he's won at every level."


But what adapting will he need to do in Detroit? With all five starters returning from a team that went to two straight NBA Finals, the roster is as close to stable as any Saunders has inherited.


Perhaps the biggest adaptation will be adjusting to the pressure of having to win immediately with an already assembled team.


But those who know Saunders scoff at the thought that he might not be up to the challenge.


"Next year, whatever pressure he has from the outside, Flip is such a competitive person that he'll put even more pressure on himself," Musselman said. "It doesn't matter where he's coaching, whether it's La Crosse or Minneapolis, he wants to win."


NOTEBOOK: The biggest knock against Saunders remains his seven straight first-round exits from the NBA playoffs. In 2004, the streak ended when the Timberwolves reached the Western Conference finals before losing to the Lakers. Last season, he was fired in February after the Wolves fell to 25-26.


Knicks, Brown to meet: The New York Knicks planned to meet with Brown as early as today, the New York Daily News reported. The paper said Knicks president and former Piston Isiah Thomas was ready to offer Brown a five-year contract worth at least $50 million. Brown called coaching the Knicks a "dream job" during the season and also spoke with Cleveland about becoming its president.


Bucks hire James: Brian James signed a multiyear contract as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks, general manager Larry Harris said. James, 49, was an assistant coach for the Pistons in 1995-98, under Doug Collins. James spent the past two seasons as a scout for the Seattle SuperSonics.


Contact KRISTA LATHAM at 313-550-6173 or [email protected]. Contact PERRY A. FARRELL at 313-222-2555 or [email protected]. Free Press news services contributed.