20 Days, 20 Questions: Can Flip Saunders coach a young team?

by Mike Prada on Sep 22, 2010 11:21 PM EDT in 20 Questions

The question of how Flip Saunders tries to go about coaching the youngest team he's coached in over a decade and a half (possibly ever) was always something on my list of topics to explore, even before 20Q was conceived. That said, the question became even more relevant after Michael Lee revealed this nugget earlier in the week.

He has already tried to connect with his youngsters by coming up with an idea for a Midnight Madness practice that will help the rookies get their first NBA practice out the way at the time when their emotions and nerves are high.

Evidently, Saunders knows this is a legitimate question too. It's not his fault, but it's worth noting that it's been a long time since his players have been this young. With that said, here's our next question:

Will Saunders be patient enough to maximize the development of such a young team like this?

To underscore the contrast between the teams Saunders has coached in the more recent past, here are all the ways to illustrate just how young the Wizards will be next season.

They have four rookies.
Not a single player on the roster was born in the 1970s.
The team has seven players who are 25 or younger.
The team has nine players (if you include Adam Morrison, who may not make the active roster) that have yet to sign a second contract past their slotted rookie deals.
The three oldies on the team -- Josh Howard, Kirk Hinrich and Gilbert Arenas -- are 30, 29 and 28, respectively.
The average age of the seven other players expected to garner the ten most minutes on the roster is 22.1.

On the other side, would you like to know the last time a Flip Saunders-coached team had to integrate a lottery-picked rookie into their mix?

Wally Sczcerbiak and William Avery. In 1999.

Since then, the only other first-round rookies Saunders has been given are Ndudu Ebi in 2003, Jason Maxiell in 2006 and Rodney Stuckey and Arron Afflalo in 2007. Of that group, only Stuckey went in the top 25. It's not Saunders fault this happened, because it was Kevin McHale that cost Minnesota all those first-round picks, but it's still pretty striking. Integrating a bunch of rookies and new young players is something Saunders just hasn't done in a while.

However, he has done it, back in the early stages of his career with the Timberwolves. Saunders took over a morbid franchise in 1996 that was stocked with youngsters and molded them into a playoff team very quickly. In his first full season in 1996/97, he made the playoffs with a 19-year old Stephon Marbury and a 20-year old Kevin Garnett as the team's best players. The comparison isn't perfectly apt, because the other key members of the Timberwolves were older (Tom Gugliotta was 27, Sam Mitchell was 33, Terry Porter was 33, etc.), but it's close enough. Saunders has coached young stars before; it was just a long time ago.

That's why, ultimately, I'm not too worried about this question. Saunders has faced a lot of criticism from some of his former players about his style, but save for that one Andray Blatche incident, most of that criticism has been with veterans. Last season, he was at his happiest later in the year, after the veterans were traded away. At the end of the day, Saunders has to be credited to some degree for Blatche's improvement, Shaun Livingston's resurgence and JaVale McGee's relative success later in the year. He showed more player development skills with youngsters than Eddie Jordan ever did (which isn't saying much, but still...). Assuming the expectations for this year are modest, which they will be, Saunders and his staff should be able to be relatively successful with player development.

To go back to the anecdote from the jump, the one thing that's always impressed me about Saunders is his creativity. Midnight Madness was only the latest example of this. You might remember the I-Touches from earlier in the year, or the fact that he traveled around the country visiting players and emphasizing skill development. You also might remember how he scrapped his Hawk-heavy offensive system late in the year and went to more of a two-guard, post-oriented attack. Saunders has a reputation as a stubborn system coach, but I think that's unfounded. In fact, I think it's the opposite. Older players don't like change and outside-the-box thinking, which partially explains the fallout in Detroit. They want things the way they've been. Younger players, however, are potentially more open to this kind of thinking and respond better to it. I think we saw that last season, and I think we'll see it again.

There are other concerns I have about Saunders coaching this group, but it's youth is not one of them. I think that, by and large, Saunders and his staff will do a pretty good job developing the young talent on this team properly.

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Comments

This might not be the most important question for this season...

But it is certainly one of the most important questions for the franchise as it moves into the future. I hope that Flip’s efforts to connect with his players will have a positive effect on the development of John Wall et al. The big question for me is whether players like Hinrich and Wall will provide strong player leadership from the get-go, since Flip has the reputation of having some trouble reining his more puckish players (the tissy with Blatche last year is a perfect example). Flip will not alienate his team, but his success in developing our youngsters is predicated on how receptive the team is to his instruction.

by mr. 91 on Sep 22, 2010 11:48 PM EDT reply actions

I think this particular style (mode?) of leadership fits Kirk pretty well.

He’s not the in-your-face, vocal type of guy that a lot of people seem to equate with “leading.” But Joakim Noah, who can be rather excitable, has said that Kirk was the guy who would pull him aside and talk him down a little.

I actually expect that the different leadership styles of guys on the team will mesh pretty well.

by wjb1492 on Sep 23, 2010 1:51 PM EDT up reply actions

Flip

Every coach would love to be playing for a championship but this is clearly not in Flip’s cards for the forseable future. However, he has the opportunity to mold players and teach the game. He has some talented “kids” on the roster – some of which other teams have washed their hands of them – and as you point out he has the ability to mold them before they are set in their ways.

Follow me on twitter - @CJ_202SB

by CJ Hempfield on Sep 23, 2010 12:00 AM EDT reply actions

We’re not going to be winning a lot this season, but I hope it’s an enjoyable season anyway for Flip and the coaching staff. Sam Cassell had a lot of fun coaching in summer league, and I hope that enthusiasm continues. Ultimately, I think the attitude of the coach speaks to whether he and his players are on the same page, and we could use some unity on this squad.

by satchmore on Sep 23, 2010 12:43 AM EDT reply actions

Cassell is great for this team

But they desparately need a good big man coach who can work with the youth brigade. Is Flip the hold-up? Or EG? The buck stops where???

by Izman on Sep 23, 2010 9:48 AM EDT reply actions

Bigman coach

The current Wiz bigman coach is Gene Banks. TAI had a good picture of him working with Blatche last season. He may not be the recognizable name that some would like, but he did make some progress with the young guys.

It does not appear that the Wiz are going out to hire someone to replace Gene Banks.

Follow me on twitter - @CJ_202SB

by CJ Hempfield on Sep 23, 2010 2:12 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm not worried about Flip.

I just hope he doesn’t let his standards slip.

I agree about the big man coach. I wish we had one.

by MR on Sep 23, 2010 10:30 AM EDT reply actions

Leonsis has a huge part in this

He needs to give Flip the job security to ensure Flip will be patient with the kids. He needs to sit down with him, tell him his job is safe and stress that he wants the kids development to be priority one.

by BayAreaBullet on Sep 23, 2010 11:45 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

Saunders has his challenge

But Grunfeld and Saunders are joined at the hip and they will rise and fall together. And They will rise and fall with Blatche and Wall. Yet, Leonisis hasn’t the loyalty to Arenas or Saunders and Grunfeld the Pollins did. I am sure there is a vote of confidence from Leonosis to management and the their coaches. The fact is there really is not a better combo GM-Head coach worth giving a shot to in the league. Both are successful and respected NBA mafia guys. Grunfeld and Saunders are tight with each other. Unlike Jorden who I can only imagine squirmed each and every draft day Grunfeld chose the raw tall lanky athletic player who couldn’t shoot , Saunders will get the players he wants. Leonisis is bringing stability to an organization in desperate need of it and he is smart to stick with the present team., which means that Leonosis has been keeping an eye and ear to the Wiz for quite sometime.He sees the ticket. Hes got Blatche. Hes got Wall. hes got a pair of successful people running the team so kudos to Washingtons smartest sports franchise owner. Imagine facing a frontline McGee, Blatche and Booker. People say Booker won’t score. We will see about that. With his size, strength and quickness coupled with the fact his learning curve will be short he might be the rookie of the year. He is not there to be a power forward. Thay would be Seraphin and perhaps Liang. I read that there is no one to coach the Big Men. Uneld is there and McGee needs Unseld to work with McGee. THe wiz are going to run and McGee must rebound and get the ball out of his hands as fast as he can and who better to teach McGee that skill than Unseld? Who better to emulate as a center for this team? If only McGee could get that over head pass down court to a flying John Wall
for some easy baskets. So I give credit to Leonisis for being sage like taking over this team.
Irregardless of the Arenas contract, the Wiz are in a pretty good situation. They still have Howard, Hinrich and Arenas to dangle out after this season for more draft picks. So the Wiz are sitting pretty in a way.

by hambonejackson on Sep 23, 2010 4:05 PM EDT reply actions