Minnesota Timberwolves Coach Flip Saunders Steps Aside For Cancer Treatment
Minnesota Timberwolves Coach Flip Saunders is undergoing cancer treatment. A person who wished to remain anonymous because details had not been officially released spoke to the Associated Press and revealed Flip Saunders would step down from his coaching position so he could focus on his cancer treatments.
The Minnesota Timberwolves have a news conference scheduled for September 11, 2015 to make a major announcement, but did not specify what it was about.
Saunders has Hodgkins lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system, and has been receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatments to combat the cancer since June. Saunders hoped to be ready to resume his coaching responsibilities when training camp resumed in October but he will need more time to address his cancer.
Saunders is still the Minnesota Timberwolves’s president of basketball operations so he will still be involved in the team’s affairs. Assistant coach Sam Mitchell will replace Flip Saunders as head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Sam Mitchell coached the Toronto Raptors, leading them to to playoffs in two seasons and was named Coach of the Year in 2006-07. Mitchell also served as an assistant caoch for the New Jersey Nets before became an assistant coach for Saunders last year.
Mitchell brings with him head coaching experience and mental toughness his young players need to mold their talent.
Tags: anti-cancer, cancer awareness