I hate Cancer thread

[Carlos Danger]

It sounds like they caught it early at least. Thoughts and Prayers out to Flip and his family::

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/flip-saunders-diagnosed-with-hodgkin-s-lymphoma--plans-to-keep-coaching-173057190.html

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

Yeah, tough news for Flip and his family. At least its one of the most treatable types of cancer with a high survival rate. Get well Flipper!

[Monster]

Well now we know why Flip gave up Mountain Dew. ;) best wishes to Flip and his family hopefully he ends up being well.

[Monster]

At least we get some fun stuff out of this bad news. I woulda gained even more weight in college than I did if Inwas working for the little doughboy. Lol

@LaVelleNeal: Molitor on Flip Saunders: ``I'll be thinking of him and pulling for him.'' The two worked at Pillsbury together while at the U.

@LaVelleNeal: Molitor said one of their duties was to go to the tasting room and, ``try three different kinds of bundt cake.''

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

Sucks. Prayers out to Flip and his family. You can question his coaching and decision making as a GM, but he seems like a top-notch human being, and at the end of the day that's all that matters.

Hopefully he'll beat the cancer down just in time to celebrate the Wolves surprising everybody and snagging the 7th seed, then upsetting the aging Spurs who slipped to the 2nd seed due to some late, untimely injuries. Wolves win the series in 6, and again KG dances on the press table after the clinching win at home.

[TheGrey08]

Shitty news, but on the bright side catching it early is good and it's very beatable.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

I'm a fan of Flip as an NBA character and as a guy, so I concur with all the sentiments expressed in this thread...hopes for a successful outcome and relief that this apparently was caught early.

But this is a Timberwolves thread in which we go into excruciating analysis of how even the most insignificant news might impact the team's fortunes, and we seem to be dancing around that topic here. I get that...it might seem crass to talk about the impact of Flip's misfortune on the team. But I think most of us can hold two thoughts at once...both concern for Flip's outcome and concern for the team, with the clear understanding that the former is ultimately much more important.

All that said, this is likely not good news for the Wolves. I'm at the stage of life where I seem to have more friends going through various chemotherapy treatments, and while the experiences vary, going through chemo is generally very tough both physically and emotionally. I expect that Flip will try to schedule his treatments at times when there is a break in the schedule, but there will likely be periods of time where he will be exhausted and not very effective at either of his two jobs and will be leaning a lot on Mitchell and Milt. I'm a Mitchell fan and I don't know how much the team will be affected on-court when Flip isn't able to coach, but I don't know all that much about Milt. Hopefully they will both be able to fill in effectively for Flip when needed.

More importantly, if I were a family member or close friend of Flip's, I would be hoping that he would step down from at least one of his two jobs. We have talked here often about the difficulties of handling two high-stress NBA jobs, and it has to be even more challenging while battling cancer and undergoing chemo treatments. I sensed one of the reasons Flip didn't ever consider George Karl as a coaching candidate was because of his cancer, and he was in remission. It's not out of the question that Flip finds his roles too grueling, and is forced to step down from one job...most likely the coaching role. If so, there might just be a temporary field promotion for Mitchell or Lowe, or Flip might make an appeal to his buddy Thibodeau.

Anyway, let's hope Flip gets to a full recovery without too much distress. But let's not ignore the significance of this move on the team's fortunes.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

Get well Flip! I always love watching the Jimmy V speech, always makes me stop complaining about my small problems.

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

Hodgkin lymphoma has 98 proc 5year survival rate with favorable diagnosis (which sounds like the case). On top of that chemo should be done well before regular season starts, so yeah i dont see reason why should Flip change anything. I actually believe that Flip will be able to evaluate if he can handle the load or not in October.

Definitely wish all the best to him and his family, as cancer and chemo is no joke.

[Monster]

LST on your addressing the elephant in the room I think Flip wants to coach this year. I think he also obviously is building something really special from the talent all the way through the organization bringing in legit personnel and building facilities that are first rate. He isn't going to hand all that off to someone he doesn't have full confidence in and will work with him to fulfill his vision. Just because of his health his isn't going to short circuit what he wants to do. People may not agree with him as a coach but the guys has done a lot of good the last couple years since taking over the franchise.

Let's say that Flip has some issues with his health. He likely has lots of confidence in a guy like Mitchell and Lowe to fill in for him for a short time as head coaches. Those guys have the experience and know Flip very well. I don't want those guys as the long term solution but I see no reason why Flip shouldn't have confidence in them if he has to step away for a while. Lowe is a bad HC but Mitchell has a pretty decent resume. Flip bringing back KG and signing Miller and Prince Flip makes as much sense to coach this team as anyone and I bet he is thrilled about the coming season looking at the roster.