Wolves coach Flip Saunders was at the podium Sunday, breaking it down. Rookie Zach LaVine had struggled against the Lakers. Too many misses, too many shots blocked, and Saunders was explaining why.
He insists upon using his right hand, even when he drives to the basket on the left side, Saunders said. You go back to the right hand in those situations, he said, and that's where the big boys are waiting to block it. And then Saunders smiled. It's OK, he said. After all, it took him 57 games to break Stephon Marbury of the same habit in the 1996-97 season.
So here we are again. Much has been made of the Wolves' youth movement this season, a process exacerbated by a slew of injuries. LaVine and Andrew Wiggins are getting big minutes, big responsibility. And for every glimmer of promise there is a difficult lesson learned.
And Saunders, again, is doing the teaching.
If some coaches lose their taste for coaching raw youth as they age, Saunders has dived in again. He did it in the mid-90s, when he mentored teens Kevin Garnett and Marbury. It happened again in Washington when Saunders helped teenager John Wall through his first season-plus of his career. Tuesday, Saunders will be in Washington coaching against Wall, who has blossomed into one of the league's best point guards, when the Wolves play the Wizards.
And it's happening again, now, with Wiggins and LaVine.
"I am drawn to the idea of being able to have an impact on a player," Saunders said. "And the most impact you can have is when they're young."
Obviously the team Saunders is coaching this season is in large part his own making. As president of basketball operations he drafted Shabazz Muhammad in the first round last year and LaVine this year. Saunders traded for Wiggins and second-year player Anthony Bennett. Now, he had hoped a healthy roster would have provided a balance of youth and veteran leadership, but injuries to Ricky Rubio, Kevin Martin and Nikola Pekovic have skewed those plans.
But, in any case, Saunders knew what he was getting into.
"He's a teacher," Ryan Saunders said after a recent practice that ended with Flip Saunders running individual drills for LaVine and then Wiggins. As Flip Saunders' son and assistant coach — Ryan was in Washington, too — he is enmeshed in this youth movement, too.
"He respects the game. He wants to grow the game, pass on his knowledge. Look at him now talking to Zach. There is always something. He will do whatever it takes to help the guys get better."
History of success
His track record for development is a good one. Garnett, headed to the Hall of Fame, led the Wolves into eight straight playoff berths. Marbury was on the brink of stardom when he forced his way out of Minnesota.
Wall? Injuries coupled with an extreme youth movement got Saunders fired by the Wizards after two-plus seasons working there. He coached Wall for a season-plus. What happens here with Wiggins and LaVine is not yet known.
But Saunders is working it, hard, with a style that blends a strong mentor relationship with the willingness to be, at times, very honest. It's a style he developed learning the coaching ropes in college, in the Continental Basketball Association and the NBA.
"In college or the CBA, players are always trying to get somewhere," he said. "It's, 'I'm trying to get to the NBA.' So you could work with that, that was their carrot. Many times, when guys get to his level, there's not always that carrot. It has to come from within. Kevin Garnett wanted to be the best. John Wall wants to be the best. One thing you learn is, if a player wants to be great, they'll accept hard coaching."
After a poor performance in a loss in San Antonio on Dec. 6 Saunders was all over Wiggins. Both in the locker room and to the press, where he announced that Kawhi Leonard had kicked Wiggins' butt. But on the plane ride home Saunders and Wiggins talked, looked at film. "I said, 'Listen, I'm trying to get you to play out of your comfort zone. And I do that because I love you, not because I don't,' " Saunders said. "
Wiggins responded with a four-game stretch in which he scored nearly 20 points per game.
"He cares," Wiggins said. "He believes in the process. He puts a lot of time and effort in with the young guys."
Saunders said he's quite hard on LaVine, mainly because he can take it. But also because he's a point guard; Saunders is always hard on point guards.
Ryan follows Flip's example
Before Tuesday's game there will be some sort of Wall-Saunders reunion. Both Flip and Ryan Saunders were close with Wall. Ryan spends so much time with Wiggins and LaVine that folks jokingly refer to them as his sons.
Guess that makes them Flip's grandsons.
"He has the same fire to try to work with guys," Ryan Saunders said. "He's the same coach, to me."
No generation gap here. Great players want good coaching, even if it's difficult sometimes.
"You challenge 'em," Flip Saunders said. "You do not accept mediocrity. They do not accept it right away. But then, two days later, you'll see them do exactly what you talked to them about.''
