An update on Flip Saunders’ health

It’s been nearly two months since the Timberwolves announced that head coach and V.P. of Basketball Operations Flip Saunders had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Over the past few weeks, it became apparent that Saunders’ condition had worsened and has ultimately led to hospitalization. Because of owner Glen Taylor’s (gracious) insistence for privacy surrounding Saunders and his family during this trial, there hasn’t been much in the way of news regarding Saunders’ condition outside of the initial announcement.

Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune held a live chat that shed a bit more light on Saunders’ situation. While Zgoda’s observations do seem to be based on some pretty significant inferences, but he is a reporter with generally well-placed sources and seems to be pretty confident in what he thinks is going on. Here’s an excerpt:

"There’s no question things have changed dramatically since the team announced his diagnosis in August, back when it quoted his doctors saying the cancer was very treatable and curable. Since then there have been changes to the way his body handled the chemotherapy (and maybe how much cancer they’ve found) that have made it life threatening. Everyone involved has gone radio silent because of the family’s request for privacy and federal patient-privacy laws, etc., but between the complete silence, the lack of people visiting as far as I can tell apart from his immediate family and very inner circle while he remains hospitalized here in Minneapolis and the things I’m hearing second-hand, well, none of it is good.I’ll just say this, and this is just my own opinion, if he pulls through this: I doubt very much he’s back this year, it’s probably unlikely he coaches again just because of the stress inherent doing both those jobs and I think there’s a pretty good chance he doesn’t return full time to either job."

Zgoda went on to note that the franchise will likely be in a “holding pattern for some time”, as Taylor won’t allow general manager Milt Newton and interim head coach Sam Mitchell to make any large, franchise-direction-altering decisions in Flip Saunders’ absence.

This is obviously horrible news. It’s impossible to imagine what the family is going through, and as of now it looks like there is no end in sight. Ryan Saunders is still working as an assistant coach with the team, and this has to be an especially trying period of time for him as he balances caring for his father and being around his father’s team, including coworkers and players.

From a basketball perspective, it’s a luxury to have an acting head coach with a similar vision to Saunders in Mitchell, and a general manager that also is very much on the same page after having worked with Saunders in Washington.

There’s no doubt a difficult level of uncertainty for the players, but at least for this season they are virtually assured that their coach will be either Mitchell or eventually Saunders. There’s enough continuity with the coaching staff as a whole that the team should be able to push through a tough situation.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Flip and the entire Saunders family. Here’s hoping for a complete recovery, no matter what that might mean for Saunders’ career and future role(s) with the organization. Health comes first, and that needs to be the sole focus for the time being.

More from Dunking with Wolves

• The dream starting 5 for Minnesota Timberwolves 5 years from now
• Anthony Edwards’ latest accolade is a great sign of things to come
• In an OT thriller, Team Canada snatches Bronze from Team USA
• Timberwolves start, bench, cut: Mike Conley, Shake Milton, Jordan McLaughlin
• Which Timberwolves roster additions have upgraded the bench?