Report: Flip Saunders' condition may be getting worse

There has been a lot of silence regarding the condition of Flip Saunders as the Minnesota Timberwolves head coach & president recovers from Hodgkin's lymphoma.

But Minneapolis Star-Tribune beat writer Jerry Zgoda told fans, from reading the tea leaves and from second-hand knowledge, that things aren't looking so good for Saunders, the former Detroit Pistons head coach, in a live chat Thursday.

Saunders was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in August and, while the Timberwolves planned on having Saunders continue coaching at the time, he took a leave of absence in September after a setback.

Here's what Zgoda wrote when asked about a Saunders update Thursday:

There’s no question things have changed dramatically since the team announced his diagnosis in August, back when it quoted his doctors saying the cancer was very treatable and curable. Since then there have been changes to the way his body handled the chemotherapy (and maybe how much cancer they’ve found) that have made it life threatening. Everyone involved has gone radio silent because of the family’s request for privacy and federal patient-privacy laws, etc., but between the complete silence, the lack of people visiting as far as I can tell apart from his immediate family and very inner circle while he remains hospitalized here in Minneapolis and the things I’m hearing second-hand, well, none of it is good.

I’ll just say this, and this is just my own opinion, if he pulls through this: I doubt very much he’s back this year, it’s probably unlikely he coaches again just because of the stress inherent doing both those jobs and I think there’s a pretty good chance he doesn’t return full time to either job. As far as the franchise goes, that will put them in a holding pattern for some time. I can’t see Glen Taylor allowing Milt Newton and Sam to make a major decision until they know more about Flip’s future and Glen decides who will run his team for the long term. I wouldn’t assume it’ll be Milt and Sam going forward, that’s just for the short term until things become clearer.

Timberwolves chief executive Rob Moor said last month, after Saunders experienced complications from chemotherapy treatments, that "our first priority is making sure Flip regains his strength and is back to 100 percent before he is back to work. And while there is no timetable for Flip's return, we believe it will be measured in months, and not weeks. To attempt to place a timeline on things at this time would be unfair to the due process of recovery."

Saunders coached the Pistons from 2005-08, leading the team to three consecutive Eastern Conference finals berths, but failing to reach the NBA Finals each time.

Contact Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianManzullo.