Monty Williams Fired as Pistons HC with 5 Years, $65M+ Left on Contract
Joseph Zucker@@JosephZucker
Featured Columnist IVJune 19, 2024
The Detroit Pistons confirmed Wednesday that have fired head coach Monty Williams after one season on the bench.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski first reported the decision.
Williams sudden exit comes after after Detroit handed him a record-setting six-year, $78.5 million contract. The Pistons are now left to pay him more than $65 million to not coach anymore.
Because of that, the franchise is opening itself up to plenty of mockery.
That's still better to admit you made a costly mistake than persist with a partnership that isn't working. That risked doing far more damage to the team than having the owners simply write Williams a large check.
And it only took one year to raise serious questions over Williams' fit with the Pistons' young roster.
Detroit's 14-68 record was its worst ever and the season included the longest losing streak in NBA history (28 games). More than that, Williams didn't seem to be forging the kind of culture that would pay long-term dividends, and some of his strategic decisions were puzzling to say the least.
Starting Killian Hayes, who was waived in February, over Jaden Ivey to open the season was a head-scratcher. The same was true for leaning on the likes of Evan Fournier, Malachi Flynn and James Wiseman and tinkering with lineups that have little to no upside.
That's not to say the Pistons are a head coach away from being a playoff contender.
Detroit hired Trajan Langdon as its new president of basketball operations earlier in the offseason, and firing general manager Troy Weaver was his first piece of business in the role. The organization is effectively hitting the reset button after five years of being in the lottery, which is always the sign of a rebuild gone bad.
Langdon now has the opportunity to hire his own head coach, one who's better suited for the squad. The Pistons are entering the coaching carousel at a relatively late stage, but the scale of the challenge ahead for Williams' replacement would've probably limited the pool of suitors regardless of when the vacancy became available.
One benefit is that whoever comes in should be afforded plenty of patience.
