MEMPHIS – Teacher met pupil in the Timberwolves' season opener Wednesday at Memphis, where Flip Saunders coached his first NBA regular-season game in nearly three years against the man he tried to hire last summer.
But what if …
What if the Wolves had been willing to meet Memphis' demands for compensation to hire a coach the Grizzlies already had committed to a contract? What if David Joerger was standing in a locker room across the floor at FedExForum from the one he occupied Wednesday?
The man who came up through basketball's minor leagues as Saunders once did clearly didn't want to go there Wednesday night.
"Ha, ha, ha," Joerger laughed awkwardly when asked how close he came to coaching the other team Wednesday. "That's a long time ago. I can't remember."
Saunders remembered how the Wolves received permission to talk to Joerger when it looked as if mercurial Memphis owner Robert Pera was about to fire him, only to see the Grizzlies give Joerger a raise and contract extension to keep him. Saunders, in turn, hired himself for the job.
Saunders used to allow Joerger to watch training camp practices when the Staples, Minn.-raised coach was working his way up.
"Tell him he doesn't have to look for a job anymore, I got him more money already," Saunders said with a smile. "He doesn't have to worry about that. … We were working at it. It just got to a point where it just wasn't going to work out. I think it got to the point where they realized they didn't want to let him go and they didn't have to. It never got to the point where it actually was going to become a reality.
"But, hey, we talked to him. I respect that he came up through the minor league system and you put in a lot of pain, agony, blood, sweat and tears, but also a lot of happiness. I've liked him personally. I like his work ethic. I like how he coaches. I don't think it was for a lack of trying."
The best intentions …
Saunders' main objective through preseason was to get to Wednesday's opener healthy. His team didn't quite get there: Starting shooting guard Kevin Martin didn't play after he twisted an ankle in Tuesday's practice and backup center Ronny Turiaf was made inactive as well because of hip soreness.
Corey Brewer started in Martin's place. Turiaf's absence became more important when backup center Gorgui Dieng left the game in the second quarter because of a bruised thumb, leaving Nikola Pekovic as their only healthy center. X-rays were negative and Dieng returned to the game in the third quarter with that thumb taped.
Clock ticking
The Wolves have until 11 p.m. Friday to negotiate a contract extension with point guard Ricky Rubio or else he becomes a restricted free agent next summer. Rubio's agent is believed to be asking for a four-year extension at or near the NBA maximum, a deal north of $62 million. Whether the two sides come to a middle ground — likely somewhere more than $52 million — remains to be determined.
"I don't have any feel of that one way or another," Wolves owner Glen Taylor said Wednesday about a deal by Friday night. "They've stated where they're at and we're stated where we're at. I really don't know. We don't have much time left."
Etc.
• Joerger had nothing but praise for Saunders — he called him an offensive "genius" — before Wednesday's game and was asked if he still had his notes from Saunders' training-camp practices in Collegeville, Minn., that he once observed. "I have them on my desk," Joerger said, laughing. "Funny you should ask that."
• The Wolves' 14 first-half offensive rebounds were their most in any half since they had 15 against Golden State on Feb. 27, 2011.
