Flip Saunders has been in his new job as President of Basketball Operations with the Minnesota Timberwolves for about a week now. On Thursday he began to put his stamp on the franchise when he shuffled the front office and fired five scouts.
“He fired five scouts — international scouting director/player personnel Pete Philo, regional scouts J.T. Prada, Curtis Crawford and Steve Gordon as well as special-assignment scout Will Conroy — today in his first full week on the job as president of basketball operations.”
Saunders was expected to make substantial changes to the Timberwolves’ scouting department as he looks to go away from the regional based system that was put in place by his predecessor David Kahn. Scouts Milt Barnes and Derek Pierce had years remaining on their contracts and will remain with the club.
Time is of the essence in Minnesota as Saunders is expected to hire a new general manager and will now have to replace most of the scouting department with just seven weeks remaining before the NBA Draft. The Timberwolves currently have four picks in the upcoming draft including two first rounders.
Preparations for the draft will really begin to crank up next week at the annual Draft Combine in Chicago that will be held on May 16-17.
