[外電] Firing surprised Saunders

[Afflalo (Arron Afflalo)]

Ex-coach said he thought he would be brought back after Saturday meeting.

Chris McCosky / The Detroit News

AUBURN HILLS -- Flip Saunders was taken by surprise when Joe Dumars informed
him Tuesday morning that he'd been fired. Just three days earlier, Dumars had
told him that this past season was his best out of the three he had coached
in Detroit and Saunders left with the impression that he was going to return
for his fourth season.

"After talking to Joe (on Saturday), I was excited," Saunders said, less than
three hours after he had been fired. "We had talked about the direction he
was looking to go in and about what he was looking to do in the offseason and
I was excited. I felt like it was going to be a great challenge."

Dumars said the decision to fire Saunders was made for two reasons -- he felt
the team needed to have another voice and another direction at the head coach
level, and when the decision was made not to give Saunders a long-term
extension, he didn't want to bring him back as a lame-duck coach.

"I knew coming in what the expectations were," Saunders said. "But I also
know that there wasn't anybody else who could have come in and done a better
job than we did given all the circumstances. That much I am sure of."

Saunders, who will take his $5.4 million salary for 2008-09 as severance,
said he hadn't had time to think about what his next move might be. He made
it clear, though, that he would pursue another head coaching job in the near
future.

"This was a crazy situation," Saunders said. "I am disappointed at not
getting to the Finals -- not just getting to the Finals, but not winning a
championship. It's a funny thing. You go through all the ebbs and flows of an
82-game schedule, and then you go through a 10-day span in a playoff series
where a couple of your guys don't play well and that's basically what you are
judged on.

"It's just what happens."

Saunders leaves the Pistons with the highest winning percentage in franchise
history (.715), three straight Central Division titles and three straight
trips to and losses in the conference finals.

http://tinyurl.com/6edulg

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