Flip Saunders announced last month that he had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The official release said he would continue uninterrupted as Timberwolves’ president and coach.
Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:
Sources: As president/coach Flip Saunders battles cancer, assistant Sam Mitchell will soon be elevated to Minnesota's interim head coach.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 10, 2015
There's hope Saunders will return to bench this season, but plan will be for Mitchell to give him time to work on health, sources tell Yahoo
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 10, 2015
Sam Mitchell coached the Raptors more than four seasons, even winning coach of the year. He returned to Minnesota, where he played, as an assistant coach last year. Mitchel is a strong No. 1 assistant and probably deserves another head-coaching opportunity.
Nobody wanted to see it come like this, though.
Considering Saunders didn’t seem long for coaching even before this diagnosis, he might be done on the sideline. But his career is secondary.
The top concern is Saunders getting healthy.