Can Monty Williams save the Detroit Pistons?
The Pistons haven't made the playoffs since 2019, and haven't made it out of the first round since 2008. Are they finally on the right track?
Detroit are 80-222 over the past 4 seasons.
The missed on a top 4 pick after only winning 17 games this season.
They now hire Monty Williams and make him the highest paid coach in the NBA (according to a google search, I don’t have the exact details) by handing him a 6 year, $78.5million contract.
I have some thoughts as to why this might not be the best idea..
Should Monty be credited with the Suns’ success?
Allow me to preface this by saying I don’t think he’s a bad coach. Obviously. He was the 2022 NBA Coach of the Year, had the Suns playing amazing basketball, took the squad from winning 46% of their games to 78% during his best season there, but let's look at the facts.
A big part of Phoenix's success was the front office finally getting a pure point-guard to play alongside Devin Booker who was already on track to be a star. We saw flashes of this when they had Ricky Rubio (and had it not been for DeAndre Ayton getting suspended, they would have made the Playoffs in the Bubble) but this became glaringly obvious when Chris Paul joined the squad the following season and they made it to the NBA Finals.
Speaking of Paul, Williams had a pre-existing relationship with him from his time as Head Coach in New Orleans. In fairness, he was the youngest head coach in the NBA when he got hired (38) but after 5 seasons with the Hornets (now known as the Pelicans) Monty was let go as head coach of the Pelicans, after a 173–221 regular season record and 2–8 record in the playoffs. Not great.
Failing to deliver in high-pressure situations
Speaking of things not being great, Williams was at the helm for some of the biggest meltdowns we’ve seen in the Playoffs. Fans love to criticise Doc Rivers for throwing away series leads and crumbling in big games, but why does that only apply to Doc? Monty’s Suns had a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals, which ended with Milwaukee winning 4 straight games to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy.
The following season they were championship favourites after throttling to a league best 64-18 regular season record, only to be completely and utterly humiliated by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round where yet another 2-0 series lead quickly disappeared. The fumbled the chance to close it out in Game 6, and then returned home for Game 7 where Luka Doncic’s squad gave them one of the worst beat-downs I’ve ever seen in the NBA Playoffs. Phoenix looked completely overwhelmed, missed shots they usually make, making bad passes they usually don't throw. They were unprepared as they shot just 6 of 23 (26.1%) from the field in the first quarter.
That brings us to this year, where they may have lost to the eventual champions (unless Jimmy Butler has anything to say about it) but struggled to beat an LA Clippers team in the first round who were without Paul George for the entirety of the series, and without Kawhi Leonard for half of it after he got injured. Whilst Williams can’t be blamed for a trade-deadline move to exchange their best defender (Bridges) and elite shooter (Johnson) for Kevin Durant, which may have altered chemistry, there is one reason that made it clear that the Suns weren’t cut out to win it all; and the reason why I am concerned about him coaching a young team in Detroit.
Relationships with young players
During that Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals, Williams and #1 pick in the 2018 draft, Deandre Ayton, had heated exchange on the sidelines during Dallas’ 33-point whooping of the Suns in Phoenix. Ayton played only 17 minutes in the 123-90 loss, and when Monty was asked after the game why Ayton only played 17 minutes, he said, “It’s internal.”
This was followed by the revelation that the Head Coach did not speak to the franchise center Ayton for the entire off-season, and off-season in which Ayton signed an offer-sheet with the Indiana Pacers only to be forced back to Phoenix by the Suns matching the offer. According to Woj, Ayton said he did not feel valued by the Phoenix organisation.
In December, Williams and Ayton were seen going at each other during a timeout late in the fourth quarter in a game against the Washington Wizards ,with Phoenix down 107-100 with 43.4 seconds left in the game. The Suns went on to lose 113-110.Fast-forward to the end of this season, and Williams decided to sit Ayton for the final five minutes of Game 3 against Denver. Ayton was visibly upset and was seen as jawing in the direction of the team huddle, before refusing to talk with the media after Game 3.
Now we don’t know who’s truly at fault for these situations: Williams, Ayton, both, or neither, however it is concerning to have a coach so disconnected from a franchise cornerstone. If he was unable to maintain a healthy relationship with Ayton, will we see a repeat of that in Detroit?
How is he going to balance lead guard responsibilities between former #1 pick Cade Cunningham and impressive rookie Jaden Ivey? How is he going to handle the big-man rotation between the Pistons’ flurry of young bigs. Jalen Duren has the most potential, James Wiseman is still looking to prove himself after a rocky start to his career in Golden State and is on a contract year, Isaiah Stewart is also on the final year of his contract and provides the team’s toughness, and Marvin Bagley (similarly to Wiseman) has somewhat revitalised his career since being traded to Detroit but with only one year left on his contract will also be expecting big minutes.
Will we see any flare ups with the young stars of the Pistons, or were his issues with Ayton an anomaly? On the flip side of this, Monty helped Anthony Davis develop into the tremendous talent that he is now back when he was coach in New Orleans, so only time will tell.
Getting to the bag
I’m happy that Monty has got the bag, but it’s worth noting that Williams’ Pistons deal could reach eight years and $100M based on team options and incentives. At a base level, Williams is making $13million per season, and could be in line for maybe more. It’s worth remembering that coaches salaries don’t contribute to the salary cap so there’s no limit on them, but compared to Steve Kerr who reportedly makes $9.5M a year, Gregg Popovich who makes $11.5M and Erik Spoelstra who makes $8.5M - making Monty the highest paid coach in the NBA is a risk.
It’s also worth keeping an eye on the fact that he may be the first coach to ever be making more money than his players. The highest paid player on the Detroit roster in 23-24 is Bojan Bogdanovic at $20M whose name is frequently in trade talks anyway. After that is Marvin Bagley who makes $12.5M, that’s less than Williams will be on.
An impossible task
Let’s take a look at how the last few seasons went in Detroit:
2019-20 | 20-46
2020-21 | 20-52
2021-22 | 23-59
2022-23 | 17-65
Ownership will be expecting a significant turn-around after signing such a monumentous cheque for Wiilliams’ services as a coach. At the very least, the Pistons will need to double their win total from last season, and even then it won’t be enough to claim a spot in the play-in. The Magic won 34 games last season and will improve moving into next year, moreover are there any teams in the East which you see getting worse?
Detroit have cap-space but who will they be able to attract? What will the synergy between Cade & Ivey be when Cunningham returns from injury? How will the 4 hungry big-men balance their minutes? Coach Monty Williams has a lot to figure out if he wants to fulfil all 6 years of his contract. Good luck.