https://theathletic.com/1730949/2020/04 ... -coaching/
Since before he could drive a car, Ryan Saunders has been thinking about being a head coach.
But no late-night film session with his father, no telephone conversation with Tom Izzo or strategy session with Erik Spoelstra or Rick Carlisle could prepare him leading a team through a league shuttered by a pandemic. In these uncertain, unstable times, the youngest head coach in the NBA is leaning on his own instincts to provide some foundation to a young team that is searching for guidance.
“We’d obviously love to be playing,” Saunders said during a video conference on Tuesday, his first public comments since the league was suspended amid the COVID-19 outbreak. “Everybody would love to be able to continue on with their normal lives. This isn’t a normal time right now. We need to find other ways to connect and other ways to help guys not feel isolated at the moment. I know our group, our staff and our organization has done a great job of that.”
The Wolves have tried to stay ahead of the curve in unprecedented times, with vice president of basketball performance and technology Robby Sikka heading an aggressive response, president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas staying connected to the league as it tries to chart a course for an eventual return to play and assistant general manager Joe Branch leading the way when it comes to engaging a team that was completely revamped just over a month ago.
Saunders has been right in the middle of it, organizing video film sessions with players and meeting regularly with coaches and the front office to evaluate a new-look team with just 14 games of tape to examine.
“We’ve gotten to know our guys better than we had a month ago,” Rosas said. “Anything and everything that matters to them we’re trying to understand and we’re trying to build a commitment, we’re trying to build a community based on who individuals are and what they’re going through right now.”
That has always been where Saunders really excels. No amount of X’s and O’s ingenuity or in-game experience will help coaches across the league right now. The league has shut down practice facilities for weeks and most players do not have basketball hoops in their places of residence, so there is little work that can be done on their games. Heck, much of the Wolves roster was still living in temporary housing after getting traded in early February. They need stability and guidance, encouragement and assurance.
Saunders has taken steps to engage directly with players throughout each week, talking basketball, asking about their families and sending the message that the organization is concerned about their well being. He has built a rapport with Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney, another relentlessly optimistic leader. Swinney has spoken to the team in a group video session as the Wolves look for ways to keep the team connected.
It is the kind of thing that endeared him to the players long ago and the kind of thing that has occasionally induced eye rolls from the more hardened NBA observers. But right now, it is what the Timberwolves need most.
Karl-Anthony Towns is in the throes of the crisis with his mother, who has been hospitalized and on a ventilator since being diagnosed with COVID-19 weeks ago. The bond between Saunders and Towns was forged years ago, and it has never been more important.
“I’ll just say that his strength and the strength that he’s shown for his teammates and just for him being able to share is not just admirable, but it’s something that he should be commended for, the way he was able to bring attention … to safe practices and social distancing and doing the right things right now and being ultimately part of a solution,” Saunders said.
It is the latest in a series of challenges he has faced as a head coach since taking over for Tom Thibodeau in January of last season. Back then, it was navigating myriad injuries through the final three months while trying to gain a foothold in his first experience as a head coach. In his first full season as coach, without the interim tag, Saunders has dealt with Towns missing two long stretches with a knee and wrist injury and a series of trades right before the deadline that brought in eight new faces. Now he is sheltered in place with his wife and young son, unable to coach his players, meet with them in person or see them in game action.
“The reality is we’ve had guys in our environment for over a month,” Rosas said. “And, of course, we’d like that to be more, but the exposures, the opportunities, the relationships, the experiences, the assessments that we have to make, we feel confident about all of our players that are on our roster and we feel confident about what the future holds.”
The longer the league goes without restarting — NBA commissioner Adam Silver said recently that they won’t even discuss a restart until at least May 1 — the more likely it would seem that the Timberwolves will not get back on the court this season. They are not in the playoff mix, so even if the league can get going at some point later this summer, a direct-to-playoffs type restart would seem more practical unless there are more creative remedies enacted.
Meanwhile, Saunders, Rosas and the rest of the staff are trying to plan for things like a restart, a draft and free agency without any real idea of when any of that will happen. In a profession that often relies on structure and routine, there is none of that right now. But in reality, Saunders has not had much structure in his first 18 months on the job. Last season it was taking over in the middle of a dysfunctional season and riding with the likes of Cam Reynolds, Mitch Creek and Jared Terrell out of necessity. This season he had to start undrafted rookie Naz Reid, give two-way players Jordan McLaughlin and Kelan Martin big minutes and incorporate an entire new team on the fly.
“With a young team, keeping guys engaged, that’s one of the primary focuses, not just during a tough time like this, but throughout the course of the season,” Saunders said. “You try to find different ways and what this has allowed us to do right now, we use the word opportunity a lot, but it’s allowed us to learn more about these guys. Learn a little bit more about their families because you care about their families. You care about these players and you want to make sure that they feel supported and when we’re able to talk more on a deeper level, you can’t help but learn more and learn what might make that guy tick.”
At such a young stage of his career as a coach, Saunders is still forging a resume. He is not yet Carlisle or Spoelstra from a game-management standpoint. His 36-70 record is not going to get anyone excited. He doesn’t have the talent at his disposal like Doc Rivers in L.A. or Mike Budenholzer in Milwaukee.
But he is a proven communicator, a coach who can adapt to changing environments and is willing and able to look past the results of a game to see the person behind the player. There will be time to judge Saunders and the Wolves on wins and losses. There is no playbook for him in this situation. Spoelstra, Carlisle, Gregg Popovich — they’re all in the same boat. Saunders is doubling down on his approach, the one he feels most comfortable with. The one that got him to this position in the first place.
Right now, the youngest team in the league needs his ability to connect now that basketball has been taken away from them.
“We miss the game dearly,” Saunders said, “but to be able to spend quality time with family, especially our kids in formidable years, formidable times, that’s definitely something you don’t want to take lightly.”
