Minnesota Timberwolves’ Flip Saunders rips Boston Celtics

Oct 20, 2013; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love (42) dunks while Boston Celtics center Vitor Faverani (38) and teammate forward Kelly Olynyk (41) defend during the third quarter at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 20, 2013; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love (42) dunks while Boston Celtics center Vitor Faverani (38) and teammate forward Kelly Olynyk (41) defend during the third quarter at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports /
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Minnesota Timberwolves’ Kevin Love took a trip to Boston and that caused a bit of a ruckus in the sports world over the weekend.

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With Love reportedly unwilling to sign an extension in Minnesota and the Boston Celtics armed with assets to potentially swing some sort of deal for Love, speculation ran rampant.

Love attended the Boston Red Sox 4-0 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday afternoon and chatted it up with Celtics’ point guard Rajon Rondo. He also reportedly met with New England Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski, is already being recruited to Boston by Red Sox slugger David Ortiz and plans to speak with fellow former UCLA Bruin Bill Walton about playing for the Celtics.

None of this has fazed Timberwolves’ president Flip Saunders.

“The last I knew Kevin was under contract with us, and I expect him to be playing for us next year,” Saunders said Sunday after a workout of draft prospects via The Associated Press. “I don’t really dictate where guys go on vacation or what they do. They can go wherever they want to go.”

“I know there’s a feeding frenzy out there from a lot of teams,” Saunders said. “Unfortunately, they have no say. I plan on Kevin being here.”

Saunders went on to rip the Celtics’ fans that they were going to land Tim Duncan in the 1997 NBA Draft. Of course, the Spurs wound up winning the lottery rather than the Celtics while the Celtics landed the third and sixth-overall picks. They used those picks to select former Colorado Buffaloes’ point guard Chauncey Billups and former Kentucky Wildcats’ guard Ron Mercer.

“They’re the same fans who thought they had Tim Duncan,” he joked. “They still think they got Tim Duncan in the draft. I’m not really sure, but the last I looked he was playing for San Antonio, Old Man Riverwalk.”