Saunders remembered at Wolves practice; team still 'shocked'

The Timberwolves were in the middle of practice Sunday when General Manager Milt Newton walked onto the court. Before he spoke, some players sensed the worst. Flip Saunders had died.

Shock. Sadness. But at that moment they were all together. A group, a family, all doing what Saunders had brought them there to do. So maybe that made the initial blow easier to take.

But later?

"I think when everybody went home, and went their respective ways, that's when the emotions and everything really set in," Tayshaun Prince said. "When you're by yourself … You start thinking about everything, so you get in a somewhat depression."

Monday, the day after Saunders lost his battle with cancer, the Wolves returned to practice. Being together might make it easier. There is opening day to prepare for, a game Wednesday in Los Angeles vs. the Lakers.

And the best way to honor Saunders is to be ready.

After practice, Newton, interim coach Sam Mitchell and a few players who felt able talked about what the loss meant to them and their team. Rookies Karl-Anthony Towns and Tyus Jones. Veterans Kevin Martin and Prince, who played for Saunders for three seasons in Detroit. Ricky Rubio and Zach LaVine.

It wasn't easy for any of them.

Mitchell said he was still numb. Towns talked about how hard it was just to get out of bed.

"We lost our point guard," he said, "the person who ran this whole machine."

Rubio, appropriately, got right to the point.

"It's something that impacts all of us," he said. "He was rebuilding this team, and he chose every single [player] who is over here right now. … What we have here is a family, and we lost our dad yesterday."

So many memories

Everybody had their stories.

Newton recalled long lunches talking basketball. Mitchell talked of the magic coloring book Saunders gave Mitchell's kids when they were little.

"Until this day, I still have that book," he said.

LaVine recalls meeting Saunders after being drafted in 2014. Saunders wrote LaVine's name down on a piece of paper the day of the draft and kept it in his pocket.

"He gave it to me, I have it in my room still," LaVine said. "He put Zach LaVine on it; I'm drafting you for sure. I'm sticking with you. He believed in me. I got to thank the world for that."

Jones remembered Saunders crossing the street from Target Center to the Bar 508 on draft night this summer to join the Jones' family party and welcome him to the team.

"It seems like yesterday," he said. "It really shows how quickly things can change."

Years ago in Detroit, Saunders showed up, unannounced, at Prince's youth basketball camp.

"I got the kids together, sat them at half court," Prince said. "And Flip started showing them magic tricks. He loved to do that. And you should have seen those kids' faces …

"I prayed each and every single night that a miraculous recovery was gonna come out of this process."

Playing for their coach

But there is a game to play Wednesday, a long season to follow, and the hope is those memories provide motivation.

"I feel like it gives us an extra edge to go out there for the whole season," LaVine said. "We're going to play our ass off every game for him."

And while it might have been difficult to get to the practice court Monday, the practice might have been two hours of therapy. "Like KG said, we all need a day like today," Martin said, talking about teammate Kevin Garnett, who was so close to Saunders. "We need to get back on track and start to play in his memory. It is devastating to lose a man of his caliber. He's an Ohio kid, but Minnesota was his place."

As Rubio said, Saunders brought in every piece, every player and coach. And now they all have something very big to play for.

"We're going to be men," Rubio said. "We're going to go through this tough moment. But, in honor of him, we will be playing hard, giving everything we have out there and honoring him. Winning games."

The team had planned on leaving for Los Angeles on Monday afternoon. Instead, they stayed over for an extra day, will practice in Minneapolis on Tuesday and fly west.

Can playing the game — the games — ease the pain? Perhaps. "But you're never, ever going to forget," Mitchell said. "You're never going to stop thinking about Coach because his imprint is on this building. It's on the Target Center."

But just about everybody said playing hard and playing together is something Saunders would have wanted.

"This is gonna be a tough year for us," Prince said. "But at the end of the day, Flip will want us to go out here and play hard, play with endurance, play strong and go out and play for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Play as a group, play as a unit. And that's what we're going to do.''