Saunders begins cleaning house in Minnesota

The Minnesota Timberwolves have named Flip Saunders as the team's new president of basketball operations. (AP/John Raoux)

MINNEAPOLIS — Flip Saunders has started the restructuring expected when he took over as Minnesota Timberwolves president last week.

Saunders fired international scouting co-ordinator Pete Philo, regional scout Curtis Crawford and Will Conroy on Tuesday. The moves were made as Saunders clears room to get a staff together for next month’s draft.

Philo was instrumental in ushering in a new focus on foreign players. He helped land point guard Ricky Rubio, guard Alexey Shved and put the Timberwolves at the forefront of that growing trend. He also played a key role on draft night.

Crawford is a close friend of Brandon Roy’s and was moved into a scouting position after he did not make the team last training camp.

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