Monty Williams Is The New Coach Of The Pistons After They Decided To Give Him A Shit Ton Of Money And The Largest Coaching Deal In NBA History
Dylan Buell. Getty Images.
Advertisement
Live look at Monty Williams!
You could make the case that Monty Williams got kind of a raw deal in Phoenix. I always looked at his firing as more ownership related than a decision being made because the guy was a bad coach or the wrong coach for that team. When a new owner buys a team, they generally want their own guys. They want to make an impact right away. It's part of the reason we saw them go all in on KD. Once that move didn't win a title and the Suns were blown out by a billion for the second straight year at home, seeing the Woj tweet of Monty Williams' dismissal wasn't all that surprising.
Well, it would appear that one new owner's trash just so happens to be another owner's treasure.
Did I ever think we'd see a $100M coach? That's pretty crazy on the surface, and Monty Williams' $13.08M AAV salary would be the 104th highest salary in the NBA among players. This is certainly not a small chunk of change, and after securing this deal Monty Williams is now among the top 10 highest paid US coaches of any sport.
While the sticker price may seem nuts, we're talking about a billionaire's money so what difference does $13M make to that guy? What matters for the Pistons is establishing a culture and developing their young talent. While Monty Williams may have his issues as a coach, the one thing he thrives at is those two things, especially establishing a culture. The entire run by the Suns these last few years you could argue have been a direct result of establishing a new culture. Just think back to the Bubble speech
Advertisement
After that 8-0 run in the Bubble, the SUns became one of the best teams in the entire NBA. In these last 3 seasons, they went 160-76 which is a .677 winning percentage. Pretty good! They were two wins away from a title. For a team that hadn;t won over 39 games since 2013-14, it's safe to say that he played a huge role in turning around that franchise.
He now has to do the same for the Pistons, who could certainly use all the help they could get. This is a team that hasn't won over 23 games since 2018-19, and that team went 41-41. They haven't been past the 1st round as a franchise since 2007-08. For a rebuilding team loaded with really intriguing young talent, the Pistons need to establish a culture before they can really make any sort of tangible progress, which is why I get forking over all that cash to someone who is pretty damn good at doing that.
When you look at their roster, there is real talent on the Pistons
Many thought this past season would be their leap season, but when Cade Cunningham went down for the year just 12 games in, that was sort of it. It certainly didn't help that all that losing/tanking didn't even benefit them in the Lottery given they finished 5th despite being one of the 3 teams with the best odds, but who knows, maybe they flip that pick for some more NBA ready talent. Everything we've seen from Cade says he's going to be really good, Jaden Ivey had a pretty damn impressive season for a rookie
Jalen Duren is already looking like a monster after his rookie season
Advertisement
both guys made the All Rookie 2nd team, and here's the thing too.
The Pistons have money to burn once we get to July.
They enter this summer with the 5th most projected cap space at $40M. Why can't they use that money to bring in players that can help this rebuild? I'm not talking max guys, but solid role players? Would it be crazy if they gave someone like Austin Reaves a big offer sheet? Or Grant Williams? What about Cam Johnson or PJ Washington? The point is, they have assets and they have cash to burn, and usually in the NBA when you have those things and an owner that makes a bold move like this in order to win, teams tend to get better rather quickly.
Is it insane to suggest that with an influx of talent and a good coach that the Pistons could get into Play In contention next year? I don't think so. We are seeing a similar thing happen in Orlando, where these young teams are starting to make progress in their rebuild and are entering the mid 30s range in terms of wins. Why can't that be an improved Pistons team?
When you give someone a 6 year deal at this kind of money, you're banking on the fact that not only will he help you improve, but players around the league will want to come play for Monty. So while it may have stung to get canned from a Suns job that you basically rebuilt, I imagine the blow is a bit softer after you become the highest paid coach in NBA history. That's not too shabby.