After just one season at the helm, the Detroit Pistons terminated Monty Williams as their Head Coach. Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news of the Pistons management firing Williams after the team had another turbulent season this year. Woj also reported that Williams, who had signed a six-year, $78.5 million contract in the 2023 offseason, still has more than $65 million left in his deal. However, the Pistons Front Office is already on the lookout for a new hire.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, the Detroit Piston fanbase is once again up in arms against the wayward direction their franchise is headed. On the other hand, the NBA fanbase at large had a mixed reaction to the firing.
Some fans believe that the Pistons’ Front Office didn’t put enough talent around Williams to expect immediate dividends. An X user wrote, “Fired him when they put together the worst possible team??”
Fired him when they put together the worst possible team??
— Playmaker (@playmaker) June 19, 2024
Another fan echoed a similar sentiment, “MONTY DIDNT GET A FAIR SHAKE”
MONTY DIDN'T GET A FAIR SHAKE.
— Steve 🤙 (@SteveKBark) June 19, 2024
A Knicks fans opined that unless the Pistons bring wholesale changes in the upper management, nothing will change for the bottom-of-the-barrel squad. Alluding to how the Knicks FO tweaks brought them winning seasons, the Knicks diehard wrote, “There ain’t no coach in the world that can save this franchise. Take it from a Knicks fan, It starts from the owner and the front office first to establish a winning culture.”
There ain’t no coach in the world that can save this franchise. Take it from a Knicks fan, It starts from the owner and the front office first to establish a winning culture.
— NYKMuse (@NYKMuse) June 19, 2024
Meanwhile, a lot of fans posited that this is great news for Williams as he will make a lot of money without having to coach one of the worst teams in the NBA. A fan wrote, “He got paid and doesn’t have to coach the pistons anymore? What a win”
He got paid and doesn’t have to coach the pistons anymore? What a win
— Alex🧀 🦌 (@CheeseHerd) June 19, 2024
Therefore, the Pistons Front Office has once again landed in hot waters for their decision. It is true that Williams didn’t improve the fortunes of the franchise but the roster didn’t have enough weight to compete against most teams in the league.
However, Pistons are not the only team to bail out on Williams prematurely.
Monty Williams’ Head Coaching tenures have been mixed bags
After being an Assistant Coach for more than a decade, the 52-year-old earned his first Head coaching breakthrough with the Phoenix Suns in 2019. He led the Suns to a 34-39 record during his first year with the squad in the COVID-19 shortened season.
During Williams’ second season, the Suns landed Chris Paul. The duo of Paul and Devin Booker enabled the team to finish with a 51-21 record, which later culminated into an NBA Finals appearance against the eventual Champions, the Milwaukee Bucks.
Then during the 2022-23 season, the Arizona franchise finished with the best record in the league with 64-18, but couldn’t make it to the Finals. The 2022-23 season turned out to be a disappointment compared to the previous two seasons and the squad fell to the eventual champions, the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semis.
Thus the Suns decided to fire Williams despite a successful tenure in which he won two Coach of the Year awards. The Detroit Pistons picked him up on a hefty contract in the 2023 offseason. After a 2-1 start to the 2023-24 season, the Pistons suffered an atrocious 28-game losing streak, which is tied for the biggest losing streak in NBA history.
They finished with a 14-68 record and registered three fewer wins than the 2022-23 season. Williams wasn’t able to get the best out of young athletes like Jaden Ivey and the Pistons management felt that the Head Coach is ill-suited for a rebuilding roster, which led to his ouster.
