Phil "Flip" Saunders, the Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations and head coach, passed away at the age of 60 on Sunday.

Phil "Flip" Saunders, the Minnesota Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations and head coach, passed away at the age of 60 on Sunday.

A minority owner of the Timberwolves, Saunders was diagnosedwith Hodgkin's lymphoma in June and had been hospitalized since late September. After a brief hiatus from coaching and after a coaching stint with the Washington Wizards from 2009 to 2012, Saunders coached the Timberwolves during the 2014-15 season. He had coached the Timberwolves from 1995 to 2005 and the Detroit Pistons from 2005 to 2008.

Saunders won 654 games in his career. He led Minnesota to the conference finals in 2004 and led the Pistons to three consecutive conference finals from 2006 to 2008.

When defensive rules changed in the early 2000s, Saunders was one of the first coaches to play an extensive zone. He turned the Timberwolves into a great team with Kevin Garnett in those years, and appeared to be leading a resurgence in Minnesota, with Garnett returning, too.

Kevin Garnett paid a touching tribute to Saunders on social media along with several other of Flip’s co-workers and old players.