Gersson Rosas believed enough in Ryan Saunders to retain him as the Minnesota Timberwolves' full-time head coach. Still, that doesn't mean the 33-year-old son of the late Flip Saunders was granted full autonomy by Rosas over Minnesota's coaching staff. Far from it, in fact.
According to Marc Stein of The New York Times, the Timberwolves' new president of basketball operations didn't just oust every member of Saunders' existing staff, but also refused to hire veteran coach Sidney Lowe as the team's lead assistant.
In Minnesota, Gersson Rosas, the new president of basketball operations, made the interim coach, Ryan Saunders, his head coach but ousted every member of Saunders’ staff from last season — while also refusing Saunders’ desire to hire Sidney Lowe as his top aide on a new staff.
Saunders, previously an assistant, was named Minnesota’s interim head coach in January following the ouster of Tom Thibodeau. At 33, he's youngest head coach in the NBA. The Timberwolves went 17-25 during Saunders' time on the bench last season, a respectable win-los total considering both their overall record and a spate of injuries that afflicted the team throughout the regular season.
Lowe began his coaching career with Flip Saunders and the Timberwolves in the early 1990s, and has since enjoyed three additional stints in Minneapolis. His most recent one came from 2014 to 2016, when he was an assistant with Ryan Saunders. Lowe is currently on Dwane Casey's staff with the Detroit Pistons.
The Times also reported on Wednesday that Minnesota has interviewed the Portland Trail Blazers' David Vanterpool and the Memphis Grizzlies' Chad Forcier for positions on Saunders' staff.
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