Nearly two months after Dwayne Casey stepped down as head coach, the Detroit Pistons are desperately chasing Monty Williams, the NBA’s head coach since 2021, to be their next man in command, according to league sources. the athlete.
League sources said the Pistons are preparing to offer Williams in the range of $10 million annually, which would make him among the highest paid coaches in the league. Sources added that Detroit had been hoping for the past several weeks that Williams would consider accepting the job.
With General Manager Troy Weaver leading the offense, the Pistons made it clear that they would enter their coaching search with the intention of playing slow for the process. Detroit has identified names like former Milwaukee Bucks coach Charles Lee, former University of Connecticut coach and former elite overtime coach Kevin Ollie and New Orleans Pelicans assistant Jaron Collins as potential successors to Casey, but kept an open mind depending on the head coaches under contract. available.
If Williams declines the proposal, league sources said, Lee, a Bucks assistant since 2018, is expected to appear as a potential option. Former NBA reporter Mark Stein I reported his backup conditions On May 24, Williams had turned down an earlier offer.
Since the start of the first round of the playoffs in the NBA, four coaches have been fired – Williams (Suns), Mike Budenholzer (Bucks), Doc Rivers (76s) and Nick Nurse (Raptors). Williams, right away, was on Detroit’s radar, according to league sources. Milwaukee, too, is aggressively pursuing Williams, according to league sources.
At first, Williams told the teams—including the Pistons—that he was interested in taking a year off. The 51-year-old, who led the Suns to the NBA Finals in 2021 and won Coach of the Year in 2022, still owes nearly $21 million over the next three years from Phoenix.
However, Weaver, Pistons owner Tom Gores, and others in the Detroit organization continued to pursue Williams. Gores and Weaver met twice with Lee and Ollie, both still in mind for the job, but always with the intent of a serious run at Williams assuming he was seriously considering taking another job.
That kind of financial commitment is on brand for Gores, who bought the team in 2011 and had a 51% stake in the organization until 2015, when he became the sole owner. He likes to impress when it comes to hiring a coach. He loves the big name. In 2014, Gores hired Stan Van Gundy to be head coach and president of basketball operations, which enticed Van Gundy to head to Motor City over Golden State. In 2018, when Van Gundy and the Pistons parted ways, Gores put full court pressure on Dwayne Casey, the coach of the year he had just fired from the Raptors.
At the time, Casey also intended to take a year off after leaving Toronto, where he helped turn the franchise into a consistent winner, but Gores’ quest and willingness to make a significant financial commitment forced Casey into action.
The Pistons are a rebuilding team with young constituent pieces in 2021, with Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Doreen, and Isaiah Stewart selected in 2021. Given where Detroit is in their process, the next coach will play a huge role in whether or not the historic franchise returns to relevance. Start rebuilding. For the Pistons, it is important to identify a coach who can provide leadership and experience to their youth roster.
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In Williams’ first season in Phoenix, he led the Suns to 34 wins, a year after regulation finished with just 19. He has experience in taking a young team to the next level. He also worked alongside Weaver in Oklahoma City. It will be fully supported in all areas.
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