Maybe Flip Saunders Isn't Safe, After All

You know that "Flip Saunders' job is safe" talk from yesterday? Turns out he's not out of the woods just yet. From Krista Jahnke of the Detroit Free Press:

A person with knowledge of the situation said president Joe Dumars has not sat down with Saunders yet to discuss the past season, which ended last week to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference finals.

Nor has Dumars met with owner Bill Davidson, who will undoubtedly have his say in Saunders' future.

The person said a meeting between Dumars and Davidson will take place "really soon," and after that, questions about Saunders' future should be cleared up. The person stressed that Saunders has not yet been given any assurance he'll be back.

This contradicts Chris McCosky's article in the Detroit News yesterday, although it's somewhat telling that McCosky has backed off his initial prediction today. Obviously no one not named Joe Dumars knows what's going to happen -- and maybe not even him just yet.

No matter what his status may be with the Pistons, there's no doubt that Saunders will coach in the NBA in 2008-09 if he wants to. He's failed to get the Pistons over the hump and back into the Finals, but he's also averaged more than 58 wins each of his three years in Detroit. I imagine there are at least a handful of teams out there who'd seriously consider canning their current coach should Saunders become available.