Flip Saunders came into the Wolves and team president, decision maker and with a piece of ownership having the goal of making this team a winner. And improving the front office’s relationship with Kevin Love so he doesn’t bolt in a couple years, but frankly a big part of that ties back to winning.
Saunders spoke with Jerry Zgoda of the Star-Tribune in a Q&A that included discussion of the D-League — where it is possible Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng will spend part of the season — as well as Nikola Pekovic’s new deal and team building. (He also talks about not coaching, click the link to read him say he’s okay with it.)
Let’s start with the D-League comment, which when he first said Muhammad could spend part of the season there, Saunders came off as almost threatening the team’s rookie (who got kicked out of the NBA’s Rookie Seminar).I’m a proponent of minor leagues. I was there seven years and had 21 guys called up. It’s a good development league, it’s not a punishment league. Guys can get better and gain confidence. We’re going to try to utilize it. I don’t think we’ve used it very much here in the past. If we send somebody down, we’ll send somebody from our staff with them so they don’t feel we’ve forgotten about them. That’s the biggest thing: You don’t want anyone that goes there to feel they’ve been forgotten.
Now saying that, we might not have anyone go down there this year, but we are very open about it and we’re going to have a very good relationship with our Iowa team.As a part owner, was it harder for Saunders to agree to a $60 million contract for Pekovic?
Which sort of ties into what Saunders says about the team they built — remember they added Kevin Martin and essentially get Kevin Love and Chase Budinger back after missing much of the season injured (plus Ricky Rubio is fully healthy).
I think Minnesota moves up into the West playoffs next season, likely as the 6/7/8 seed. This is a good and deep team that needs to gel but has an elite coach. Sleep on Minnesota at your own risk.