04/20/24
February 12, 2005
McHale give Flip Saunders his walking papers.: After 9 years on the bench, Flip will be "reassigned". McHale will take over as head coach.
posted by lilnemo to basketball at 06:14 PM - 16 comments
"McHale said the fault probably lies more with the players than Saunders for the team's struggles, but making a coaching change was a quick fix." I can think of a couple of specific players...
posted by chris2sy at 09:25 PM on February 12, 2005
Being a T-wolves fan since the beginning, It's hard to see Flip go. He had turned the team around. I had my doubt about Sprewell and Sammy-boy last year, but its funny what winning will do about your opinions of certain players! The T-wolves have a lot of talent on that team and it wont take too much suffling to get them back to great form. I will be very happy once two players are traded...... Flip will coach again, he was highly repected around the league.
posted by daddisamm at 12:43 AM on February 13, 2005
Not a fan of "fire the coach" quick fixes, and it seems McHale would be smarter than that. At least, as daddisamm notes, Flip also has the advantage that many GM's will hire him on the spot under the misconception that they're really hiring Rudy Tomjanovich out of retirement.
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posted by hincandenza at 03:20 PM on February 13, 2005
"I don't want to be a long-term coach," McHale said. "You have to stop the bleeding somehow and start looking forward to playing better basketball." Does anyone else question whether or not McHale is the right man to "stop the bleeding?" Sure he played on many championship teams and was a consistent NBA all-star, but he was never really a vocal leader. In fact, I recall reading a book, I believe written by Larry Bird in which McHale was basically accused of being a whiner in the locker room, wanted more shots, etc. Anyway, McHale doesn't strike me as the type to come in and fix the problems. Aren't there any proven, long-term coaching solutions available? It seems like a number of guys would have to seriously consider a T-Wolves offer: Phil Jackson to name one.
posted by mayerkyl at 12:00 PM on February 14, 2005
Phil Jackson would be great for this team, and it would be a return to the midwest (he grew up in ND). 
posted by emoeby at 04:19 PM on February 14, 2005
I think clearly the issue here is that Cassell and Sprewell have been pretty much total dogs this year. I mean, this was exactly the same team that went so far last year, plus a heathly Szcerbiak. This is the same old story that gets played year after year in the NBA - the biggest coach-killer league around.
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 05:05 PM on February 14, 2005
In Spree's case, "coach-killer" almost became a literal term.
posted by dusted at 05:25 PM on February 14, 2005
Wow. I guess I am the only person who sees an eerie resemblance between Saunders and Tomjanovich...
posted by hincandenza at 09:07 PM on February 14, 2005
Nah, I always get those two confused...not only that but when I saw the picture that emoeby linked above I thought Phil Jackson's picture was one of Saddam Hussein, who I want to coach Sprewell, but not the rest of the team.
posted by chris2sy at 10:57 PM on February 14, 2005
Of the the currant wolves, I would keep KG, Wally, Maddog, Hoiburg, Hassel, and Griffin. Maybe Hudson if he got his act togather--Everybody else would go-- Hudson has been almost as bad as Sam adn Spree. The Kandi-man is out there is left field! You need a coach that KG can relate to and learn from. Kg bought flips system-thats what made everything work! I will really miss Flip!
posted by daddisamm at 11:51 PM on February 14, 2005
posted by yerfatma at 02:36 PM on February 16, 2005
Goddamned, that's some funny-assed shit.
posted by wfrazerjr at 04:03 PM on February 16, 2005
Consistent comedy gold, that CB.
posted by dusted at 05:19 PM on February 16, 2005
man that's good. if he had an rss feed I would totally start following rss feeds in order to keep on top of his latest (though infrequent) musings. as it is, i may have to make do with the every coupla months mention it gets here. i see he's got an RSD feed but that doesn't fly with the yahoo rss reader I set up and would seem to require me to learn new software. yaargh.
posted by gspm at 06:04 PM on February 16, 2005
So the Hall of Famer called his old college pal and teammate from the University of Minnesota and delivered the news. Wow, I didn't realize they'd known each other for so long. That must've sucked. That said, there's obviously something wrong with the T-wolves. It'll be interesting to see how the team plays with McHale taking over. Flip had a good run, though. Maybe he'll get a chance somewhere else in the future.