It was announced Wednesday morning that the Detroit Pistons will fire head coach Monty Williams. It’s a massive decision as Williams just signed a six-year $78.5 million contract this past season and is still owed $65 million. Detroit finished this past season with a 14-68 record, the worst in the NBA. They also tied the NBA record with 28 straight losses.
The news comes just 19 days after the Pistons announce Troy Weaver is out as the GM. It’s a complete overhaul for Trajan Langdon and his Detroit squad. Although, it was reported that the decision was made by Pistons owner, Tom Gores.
Expectations
When Williams signed with the Pistons the expectations were for him to turnaround a franchise that has been in the gutter for the past 5 seasons. During his time in Phoenix with the Suns, Monty turned a 19-63 team into a 51-21 team with a finals appearance. That Suns team was actually up 2-0 before losing four straight games to the Bucks- including two losses within 7 points to close it out. He was then bought out by the Suns after two straight Western Conference Semifinals losses.
Reality
During his time with Detroit the story for Williams was much different. It wasn’t just the bad record and NBA record-tying losing streak. Cade Cunningham didn’t see as much of a jump as we expected from year 2-3. Jaden Ivey stagnated and saw his numbers slightly decline in year 2. Even a positive player like Jalen Duren while being a double-double machine became worse defensively. Any way you slice it, Monty Williams failed during his short time with the Pistons.
Bad Timing
The news that the Pistons fire Monty Williams comes at a bad time for Detroit as a franchise. They’re looking for a new coach at a critical point. The Pistons have such a young roster and the #5 pick in the NBA draft, they need to be focusing on capitalizing on this offseason. But nonetheless, the search for a new head coach begins.
Who will Detroit hire? Frank Vogel just recently hit the market after losing in the first round with the Suns. Sean Sweeney is the lead assistant of a Dallas team that just went on a run to the finals. Or perhaps Trajan Langdon goes to his previous New Orleans job to pluck away their assistant, James Borrego. While the decision to fire Williams came from ownership, Langdon has made it clear the next coaching hire is fully in his control.
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