On June 19, the Detroit Pistons fired head coach Monty Williams after just one season, with him still paying the remaining money on his six-year, US$76.5 million (S$103.4 million) contract that he signed the previous year.
In a club statement, team owner Tom Gores stated, “I want to thank Monty for his hard work and dedication. Decisions like these are difficult to make.”
“During a season, a coach faces a lot of dynamic challenges, which Monty always handled with grace.” But going forward, we will set a new route after closely examining our performance and evaluating where we are as a company.
Detroit concluded the 2023–24 season with a 14–68 record, a franchise low and the lowest record in the National Basketball Association (NBA), which included a 28-game losing streak.
The task at hand for the new coach and president of basketball operations, Trajan Langdon, is to turn around a team that has floundered over the last five years, winning no more than 23 games in a season.
The Pistons won the NBA title in 2003–04, lost the NBA Finals, and then lost three straight Eastern Conference finals after that. They have only made three play-off appearances since the 2008–09 season, and they have all exited the first round.
Since Larry Brown won an NBA championship with the Pistons in 2004, the team has had nine head coaches.
Gores stated that the latest coach would be found right away.
Gores declared, “We are steadfast in our resolve to deliver a championship-caliber team to Detroit.”
“We will continue our aim to establish a best-in-class front office that will help us achieve sustained success and we will be thorough and quick in our search for a new head coach to manage our exciting young core of players.”
The 52-year-old Williams was let go by the Phoenix Suns in May of last year, following four seasons and two NBA Finals appearances.
With the Suns, Williams finished 194–115 and was named Coach of the Year in 2021–2022. During his final three seasons there, he guided the Suns to the playoffs, going 27-19 in the postseason.
In his five seasons as head coach of the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans (2010–15), Williams likewise finished 173-221.
With the hope that he would improve a club that won just 17 games in the 2022–2023 season, he was hired in Detroit and awarded a deal that at the time was unprecedented.
22-year-old Cade Cunningham led the Pistons in scoring last season, averaging 22.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 7.5 assists in 62 games. In the NBA draft the following week, they will have the fifth choice. Reuters
