Flip Saunders still on minds of Wolves players

A year later, Timberwolves guard Zach LaVine keeps in his dresser drawer a coin and scrap of paper Flip Saunders gave him.

The coin bears the team logo, a token Saunders had commissioned in limited quantities for Wolves players and staff members to remind them they're part of something exclusive and special.

Saunders scribbled down LaVine's name the morning of the 2014 draft, a premonition the Wolves president of basketball operations and coach had about the athletic draft prospect Saunders hoped and believed he'd select with that night's 13th pick.

LaVine keeps those mementos close by to remember Saunders, who died a year ago Tuesday at age 60.

"I still have that — where he said if I'm still on the board he's drafting me — so I'm very thankful for that," LaVine said. "It's right next to the little coin he gave us. I got all that still."

In his 2½ years back with the Wolves, Saunders made personnel decisions that brought seven players on the team's 15-man roster to Minnesota: He acquired LaVine, Gorgui Dieng, Shabazz Muhammad, Karl-Anthony Towns and Tyus Jones through the draft and traded for Andrew Wiggins and Adreian Payne.

"This core group of guys, he put together a lot of this team so he's in our memory all the time and we try to keep that alive," LaVine said. "We think about him all the time."

"When Flip passed away, it took me like two months to get back to normal," Dieng said. "I couldn't sleep. Sometimes I came to the game and I didn't feel like playing. It was just a tough time for me. I feel like he gave me everything I've got today: He drafted me. He brought me here. He always fought for me to play."

Saunders made a draft-night trade that brought Muhammad with the 14th pick and Dieng with the 21st pick in that 2013 draft. Dieng played sparingly for coach Rick Adelman during his rookie season, but the team's basketball boss remained firmly in his corner.

After practices, Saunders urged Dieng to return to Target Center's basement practice gym, where the two men worked together with a heavy medicine ball on conditioning and other facets of Dieng's game.

"I was super tired, but he was always pushing me super hard," Dieng said. "He was like, 'Hey, you gotta go. If you're not playing, you've got to be in shape. I'm fighting for you now so when it's time for you to play, I want you to prove them wrong.' Stuff like that, he was always getting me ready."

By March of his rookie season, Dieng had moved into the starting lineup, where he began averaging a double-double in the season's final 18 games. He was named the Western Conference Rookie of the Month for March and in April hit the game-winning shot that beat Houston and finished off a 12-point, 20-rebound game.

"I can't tell you, without him I would not be this far in this league," Dieng said. "He always put a lot of pressure on me, but a good pressure. It helped me to get ready."

Towns still wears a rubber bracelet that bears Saunders' name.

"I think about him a lot," Towns said. "I'm still wearing his band on my wrist. It's still something I keep very tight to me. I know every day he's watching over us, and we're just trying to complete the vision he had."

Wiggins said he is reminded of that vision every day he comes to work.

"Whenever you step into this practice facility and you're playing for the Timberwolves, this is all his vision," Wiggins said. "We're just keeping it alive. Coach [Tom] Thibodeau and everyone in the organization are doing a great job with it. You can't replace Flip. He believed in me probably more than anybody else in the NBA. He traded for me, before I played a single game in the NBA, for a superstar on his team.

The Wolves will play on, beginning a new season Wednesday at Memphis. They play on with Thibodeau pacing and prodding from the sideline, but they also play on with their former coach always a part of them.