MINNEAPOLIS -- Fastened to the wall inside Flip Saunders' Target Center office, there's a list of every available NBA free agent. Each name is ranked according by position. When any player in the league gets cut, his name gets added to the list, and the front office re-ranks everyone at that player's spot.
But Saunders isn't in there playing mental chess this afternoon.
Instead, the Timberwolves head coach and president of basketball operations is in the basement. With curtains drawn around the team's Lifetime Fitness practice facility -- it'll move into its own workout space across the street after the season, a project spearheaded by Saunders himself -- he's watching David Adelman feed Robbie Hummel passes so the injured forward can work on shooting with his left (off) hand. Soon, Saunders will check up with his son Ryan on how his film study session with Ricky Rubio went (at 10-15 minutes, it probably wasn't long enough for Rubio's liking). There's Sam Mitchell having another heart-to-heart with prized rookie Andrew Wiggins. Calvin Booth teaching Nikola Pekovic and Gorgui Dieng some post moves. Mike Penberthy meticulously honing Chase Budinger's 3-point shot. Soon, Saunders will touch base with Newton and see what kind of trade chatter, if any, he's heard while the coach and his assistants oversaw practice the past 2 1/2 hours.
This is the split-personality life Saunders signed up for when he appointed himself head coach last summer. And while it may not be ideal, or permanent, the long-time NBA head man's done his best to strike the proper balance.
"Would I be here if the circumstances were different? Maybe not," Saunders said earlier this season. "Maybe someone else would be here. But I'm here, I'm enjoying it, I'm exciting about working with the young players."
Flip the Coach grapples daily with a dismal 14-win record, doing his best to focus on the development of those youngsters he's procured -- Wiggins, Dieng, Zach LaVine, Shabazz Muhammad.
There have been encouraging signs. Most notably, Wiggins' rookie-of-the-year-worthy play. Muhammad was one of the league's most improved players before a finger injury ended his season, and he and Dieng are two of the top three or four products of the 2013 draft at present. LaVine's had his moments, too, though the kid who turned 20 on Tuesday is still an NBA infant.
Disappointment is hard to ignore, though. A lot of it's been out of Saunders' control; three of his starters have missed at least 32 games with injuries. Second-year forward Anthony Bennett, currently out with an ankle ailment of his own, hasn't progressed as previously hoped. Most recently, Saunders had to waive second-round pick Glenn Robinson III to make room for another big man -- Justin Hamilton, off waivers -- in case Pekovic misses more time with his nagging ankle issues.
Ah, there's Flip the Executive. Since the season began, Saunders has made 14 transactions, including four trades.
He brought Kevin Garnett back to Minnesota and fans back to the arena with a trade-deadline deal sending Thaddeus Young to Brooklyn in exchange for the former Wolves MVP. In two separate trades, he landed reserve shooting guard Gary Neal and rookie power forward Adreian Payne nine days before the deadline, giving up Mo Williams, Troy Daniels, cash and a lottery-protected first-round pick in 2017. He dealt Corey Brewer to Houston and Ronny Turiaf to the 76ers for essentially cash and future second-round picks, shedding some salary as the club moved into heavy overhaul mode.
If Saunders is to help snap this franchise's postseason drought -- which will reach 11 seasons when the Wolves finish this season near the top of the lottery standings -- he'll have done it from the ground up.
"Flip's had to do a lot more," said Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, one of four NBA executives who balance coaching with general management. "They have a lot more work, far more assets that they have to try to get in and out. He has a ton of flexibility. When I came in and looked at our roster and our flexibility, there's not a lot we could do. We're more in the minimum-contract and midlevel stuff.
"He's trying to rebuild an entire team."
To do so, Saunders has had to delegate. Newton, hired early last summer, worked the phones diligently ahead of the Payne, Neal and Garnett trades. Vice president of basketball operations Rob Babcock and a vast network of regional scouts have proven reliable, too, Saunders said.
"You've got to have confidence in your staff," Saunders said. "Milt's been through that situation. Rob Babcock has been a general manager before (for the Toronto Raptors from 2004-06). So I've had a lot of confidence in those people."
Saunders handed himself the reins following Rick Adelman's retirement, but only after a diligent coaching search came up empty. Then he made what's still the biggest move of his short but busy tenure as head of basketball ops -- trading Kevin Love and obtaining Wiggins in return.
Today, Year 1 of what could be a short-term experiment -- owner Glen Taylor has said repeatedly this isn't his "preferred" scenario -- will soon give way to an offseason of speculation about who the next Minnesota coach might be.
But until he finds it, Saunders -- who led this team to eight straight playoff berths form 1996-2004 -- will remain on the tightrope.
"It's two separate things, and you've got a lot of help on the personnel side, as Flip does here," said Stan Van Gundy, whose Pistons team is 23-40 and 5 1/2 games back of a playoff spot in his first year as coach and president of basketball operations. "It really doesn't detract at all from what you're doing coaching-wise.
"It's just that sometimes your coach doesn't do a good job . . . and then he makes you look bad on the personnel side."
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