National Basketball Association Coach Flip Saunders Dies At 60 From Cancer

The team expressed its condolences this afternoon following the news that Saunders passed away after a battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at age 60.

Saunders announced in August that he was being treated for Hodgkins lymphoma, with doctors characterizing it at the time as being "very" treatable and curable.

Saunders is survived by his wife and four children.

It wasn't always a great relationship with the Wolves and Kevin Love, but one of the common threads was Flip Saunders.

Sadly, his condition worsened rapidly, and Saunders was forced to step down, appointing assistant coach Sam Mitchell to take over in his absence.

Before he was a coach, he was a player, and was named the Ohio Player Of The Year during his senior year in high school. "I could talk basketball with him all day and night".

As is the case with many coaches in league history, success would eventually fall and he'd be tasked with trying to improve basketball teams in Detroit and Washington over the next decade.

The Wolves finished with an NBA-worst 16-66 record last season under Saunders, but they won the National Basketball Association draft lottery and selected Kentucky center Karl-Anthony Towns as the No. 1 pick. He led the Timberwolves to eight-straight playoff appearances before he was sacked in 2005.

"Thank you for everything you have done for me coach!"

"We have all been blessed by your wonderful life, Coach Flip", Muhammad tweeted. Instead, the two in time agreed that Saunders would return to run the team, replacing fired David Kahn, and own a small piece of the team. "You really don't get it. Even when it snows on May 3rd you really don't get it, '" Saunders said.