The last time Flip Saunders came in contact with the Washington Wizards, it was under mixed circumstances. On one hand, he had just been fired by the Detroit Pistons, and for the first time in 14 years, he was not in the enviable position of an NBA head coach.

On the other hand, then Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan and Wizards General Manager Ernie Grunfeld had invited the unemployed Saunders to training camp for four days last October to work with the team, sit in on meeting and run defensive drills.

Still, when the 2008-2009 NBA season began, the 53-year-old Saunders found himself on the outside looking in.

Things have changed a great deal since then.

On Thursday afternoon, after weeks of rumors and speculation, Flip Saunders was officially named the 22nd head coach of the Washington Wizards. As opposed to last summer when his expertise was only needed for a little less than a week, Saunders, with his 583 wins and experience with the Detroit Pistons and the Minnesota Timberwolves, will have four years to lead this team.

Wizards general manager Ernie Grunfeld was quite confident that Saunders was the correct choice.

“He brings the whole package to the table,” Grunfeld bragged. “He brings credibility and a lot of knowledge, and with knowledge, you get respect. My biggest concern is to win basketball games. You hire a coach and you let him coach. Everybody has a little bit of a different system and everybody does things their own way, but the bottom line is to win games. He’s a veteran guy and I like the fact that he came up the hard way. He coached in college and he coached in the CBA. He was Coach of the Year in the CBA, and it takes a lot to coach in the CBA. He paid his dues, and when he came to the NBA, he had a lot of success. He’s had seven 50-win seasons. We were looking for someone who is a winner both in the regular season and in the playoffs, someone who understands X’s and O’s, and someone who has coached elite players before.”

When he was finally introduced and given a chance to speak, it was clear that Saunders had been watching the mighty struggles of this 19-63 Wizards team from afar.

“I studied them a lot, but it’s tough to judge this team without a premier player like Gilbert [Arenas],” Saunders observed. “Then, of course, Brendan [Haywood] was hurt and he’s an anchor on defense, and [DeShawn] Stevenson was hurt. You had so many injuries so it’s tough to really judge the team. I think the young players have a lot of potential… it’s important for the coaching staff and the veteran players to help those players understand what time of character and attitude they need to be professional and be successful in this league.”

Saunders was also asked to touch on any observations he made about the Wizards during his brief stint with them last summer.

“I think the biggest thing I saw was there was a closeness to the team and I think that was the most important thing, ” Saunders reminisced. “I think the most important thing to be a great team, it has to be a melting pot. Everyone can’t be the same; you can’t be a robot. You have some players who maybe have a little bit more enthusiasm, and another player may have more quietness. What’s one player’s strength might be another player’s weakness, so they blend together. And seeing this team in training camp, they shared some of that.”

One player who Saunders did not get the chance to see, let alone assess, last year during training camp was Gilbert Arenas. A few weeks prior to the start of training camp, Arenas has surgery to clean out his knee, and it required him to miss all of two games during the 2008-2009 season.

Assuming Arenas stays healthy during the off-season, Saunders will finally get a chance to work with him on a permanent basis after briefly coaching Arenas during the 2006 NBA All-Star game.

Based on limited contact, Saunders is already impressed.

“The thing I love about him more than anything else is his competitiveness. I look forward to the opportunity to work with him, ” said Saunders during his introductory press conference. “I’m sure that I’m going to learn from Gilbert and he’s going to learn from me. I know Gilbert wants to win more than anything. In the texts and conversations that we had, that’s the main thing that we’ve talked about. I think that he’s ready to take the step in order to do that and have people follow him.”

One of the biggest gripes about Arenas and the remainder of the Wizards roster is their lack of defense. The Wizards were 30th in Field Goal percentage allowed under coach Ed Tapscott, and even under Eddie Jordan, the lack of defense was a glaring hole on the team.

Although much is made of Saunders’ prowess as an offensive coach, he was actually brought to Wizards camp last year for his defensive mind, and as head coach, he hopes to expand on that.

“From a technical standpoint, you have to be able to defend. A lot is talked about the huge playbook that I have. It’s about 60 percent defense and 40 percent offense. People don’t talk much about what I do defensively, because offense is more creative at times, but when the players walk into that gym defense is going to be a priority. If you talk to the coaches that have coached against teams that I’ve had, no one has ever said that our teams didn’t defend.”

Although Saunders led the Detroit Pistons to three straight Eastern Conference finals appearances, he was never able to advance and make an appearance in the NBA finals. That’s an hole in his resume that is very much on his mind as he prepares to lead the Wizards.

“It makes you thirsty,” Saunders said of getting close to the NBA Finals and falling short. “It makes you thirsty to want to get there.”

Considering the Washington Wizards ownership, players and fans have been waiting 30 years to advance past the second round of the NBA playoffs, Saunders’ thirst for more is a perfect match.