Quotable

"I've made a lot of great decisions in my life. … Occasionally I've made a wrong decision, and perhaps supporting Flip leaving our organization as coach is one of those things I've done wrong."

Taylor on having fired Saunders years ago

"You know, it's interesting: On ESPN, all you have to do is know about five teams. This wasn't one of the five."

Saunders on the TV commentary job he'll wrap up this weekend.

"I tell you, I'm happy with where I'm at now. I have a lot to do right now. … What I would never do is anything to put the team in jeopardy."

Saunders on whether he wants to coach in the NBA again

"He's your All-Star, and so it is extremely important [to have a good relationship with him]. I've always said I believe he's the most unique player in the NBA. There is no one who has the ability he has to rebound at the level he does and go out and play the perimeter as a stretch forward. ... To have a [power forward] who can shoot the ball like he can? He becomes a very potent player. So it's important to get him on board.''

Saunders on Kevin Love's relationship with the team

"He wants to win. And I believe a lot of times players, the signals they send out by wanting to win sometimes is the wrong signal. … Hopefully Kevin knows how important he is to the organization. If he doesn't, that's definitely something I'll definitely make a point to do."

Saunders on whether the team's relationship with Love needs improvement

"To help him I think it's important to bring in role players that make your main players better, not the other way around. So we have to bring in people who can knock down shots for him, because he's going to find all kinds of guys open shots."

Saunders on Ricky Rubio

"I thought he played a lot better in the second half [of the season]. Right now his position is probably a [power forward]. He's a small forward, but he's more of a four than a three. Whether he can learn, in Rick [Adelman]'s system, to play a three? This summer will be big for him."

Saunders on Derrick Williams

"I'm not going to get into that. He's important to us, let's put it that way."

Saunders on whether he will try to re-sign center Nikola Pekovic

"Right now they go a lot on regional scouting. I've always been one who believes some of the better organizations have something I call all-in scouting. I think you have to be able to see everybody."

Saunders on the Wolves' current front-office scouting team

"When I'd go work for ESPN, [other anchors] would say, 'Where do you live?' And I'd say, 'Minnesota.' They'd say, 'Why Minnesota? You can live anywhere you want to live.' And I'd say, 'Well, you don't really understand Minnesota unless you're from Minnesota. You really don't get it. Even when it snows on May 3rd, you don't really get it.' The loyalty and the passion that the people have here is what always drives me back."

Saunders on his ties to Minnesota

"Success is based on putting ourselves in a position where in the future we can be a team that contends for the NBA championship."

Saunders on expectations

"I've always believed in a system that is equal opportunity, ball movement, player movement, high-assist, low-turnover. I think [Adelman] believes in a lot of the same things."

Saunders on how his and Rick Adelman's philosophies will mesh