![]() ![]() ![]() Williams, though, had informed the Pistons, Bucks and other NBA teams interested in hiring him that he was not ready to commit to coaching next season and was leaning toward taking a year off, per league sources. Detroit, according to league sources, immediately checked in with Williams and his representatives to gauge his interest in its coaching vacancy and, to put it simply, see if he’d like to meet. Two weeks prior, Williams, the 2022 NBA Coach of the Year, was fired by the Phoenix Suns after a Western Conference semifinals exit. That’s when Gores raised the question to the group: But there was a gut feeling among the collective that the search needed to continue. Up to this point, the Pistons’ intentionally slow-played process had led them to close to a dozen interviewed candidates, according to team sources, with Charles Lee and Kevin Ollie, both of whom had never been an NBA head coach before, leading the pack.īoth Lee, the Milwaukee Bucks’ lead assistant, and Ollie, the former UConn and Overtime Elite coach, had impressed in different ways, per team sources granted anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the hiring process. The weekend before Memorial Day, back in Los Angeles, Pistons owner Tom Gores, general manager Troy Weaver and others in Detroit’s front office held a meeting to figure out what to do about a coaching vacancy that had been unsettled for nearly two months. While Williams was an assistant coach with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016, his wife, Ingrid, died from injuries sustained from a car crash in which she was hit head-on by an SUV that crossed the center line after losing control.The Athletic first reported earlier Wednesday that the Pistons were heavily pursuing Williams to replace Dwane Casey. ![]() He had a five-year stint with the New Orleans Pelicans, who fired him in 2015 with a 173-221 record and two playoff appearances. Williams is 367-336 in nine seasons as an NBA head coach with a 29-27 postseason record. The young team, with some experienced players in the rotation, will have a proven leader on the bench. 1 pick overall in 2021, had his second season stunted by shin surgery after playing in just 12 games.īojan Bogdanovic, who averaged a career-high 21.6 points, Isaiah Stewart, James Wiseman and Marvin Bagley are expected to be back. 13 pick overall last summer, did provide hope for the future with their play last season. The Pistons have not won a postseason game since 2008, when they advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the sixth straight time during a remarkable run that included winning the 2004 NBA title and falling a game short of repeating as champions. 5 pick overall for the second straight year and missing out on an opportunity to draft 7-foot-3 French pro Victor Wembanyama, a 19-year-old supertalent expected to be the first overall pick of the San Antonio Spurs.ĭetroit, a three-time NBA championship franchise, has earned a spot in the playoffs just twice in 14 years. The Pistons did not have good fortune in the draft lottery, landing the No. The Pistons would be thrilled to approach that level of success anytime soon under Williams.ĭetroit won an NBA-low 17 games last season, losing 30% or fewer games for the fourth straight season under Dwane Casey, who stepped down as coach with one year left on his contract to take a role in the front office. The 51-year-old Williams won 63% of his games over four regular seasons with the Suns, but they were eliminated in the Western Conference semifinals two years in a row after losing to Milwaukee in the 2021 NBA Finals. Phoenix fired Williams two-plus weeks ago, two years after reaching the NBA Finals and a year after he won the league's coach of the year honors. One of the people, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been announced, told The Associated Press on Wednesday night that Williams agreed to a six-year contract. DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit Pistons made a bold move in their latest attempt to become relevant in the NBA again.ĭetroit reached an agreement to hire former Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams, according to two people familiar with the situation. ![]()
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