For Flip Saunders, winning the Draft Lottery was about more than just basketball

Apr 15, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders gestures from the sidelines in the first quarter against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

The following is a guest piece from our friend Derek James. In addition to writing for Hardwood Paroxysm, Derek covers the Minnesota Timberwolves for 1500ESPN in Minneapolis. Derek is also a co-editor for SB Nation’s At the Hive– the best Charlotte Hornets blog around. He often finds himself writing too many words on irrelevant players. Unrelated to LeBron James, but taught him everything he knows. 

The Minnesota Timberwolves achieved something on Tuesday night that has only been done by two other teams in the last 20 years: win the draft lottery as the team with the worst record in the league. Understandably, fans and Timberwolves people were elated by the news. However, winning the lottery seemed to strike a very personal chord with Timberwolves coach and president Flip Saunders.

Saunders lost his father earlier this year and emotionally recalled some memories of him before his passing in his press conference following the lottery:

"“He was a huge fan of the Timberwolves. The funny thing about my dad is when I would take jobs in Detroit and I went to Washington, I’d come home and he’d still be wearing a Minnesota Timberwolves shirt. I couldn’t get him to change shirts. He always wanted to keep the Timberwolves shirt on. Maybe because that was my first job and I was here so long, but  he was a huge fan and I can remember two months ago when he was watching games and we would talk. He would say you just  gotta build and hope you get another good player. Maybe he had something to do with it.As I said to our guys, ‘My dad … and I have luck. It was a great day.”"

Sometimes the game of basketball means something more than just a game. Amidst all of the celebration and joy there was some emotion following the Timberwolves’ lottery win that had more to do with a father and son than ping-pong balls. For the Saunders’ it seems that basketball was a medium through which they connected. Come next month’s draft, Saunders almost certainly will be able to add that next good player.

(h/t to Judd Zulgad of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities for the full quote from Saunders)