Monty Williams Fired (Hired by Detroit)

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Monty didn’t want that job in theory until they paid him out of retirement. That’s always dangerous. It’s been a terrible job for 15 years.
 

Hoop Head

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didn't bridges lose his starting spot when monty first got to the suns?

No. Bridges had 1 year under his belt and was only a part time starter as a rookie. That year we had Ariza, TJ Warren, and finally Oubre as starters but none were starters for long stretches due to health. Booker and Oubre were the starting SG and SF to start Monty's first year and I believe that was the best duo for the job at that time. Oubre had really come on for us the year prior before getting hurt towards the end of the season. Mikal finished the year as starter due to his uptick in production and Oubre being injured and in Monty's dog house. Oubre is probably Monty's worst nightmare as a son-in-law and probably spurred that whole quest by Monty to find proper husbands for his daughters.
 

Phrazbit

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No. Bridges had 1 year under his belt and was only a part time starter as a rookie. That year we had Ariza, TJ Warren, and finally Oubre as starters but none were starters for long stretches due to health. Booker and Oubre were the starting SG and SF to start Monty's first year and I believe that was the best duo for the job at that time. Oubre had really come on for us the year prior before getting hurt towards the end of the season. Mikal finished the year as starter due to his uptick in production and Oubre being injured and in Monty's dog house. Oubre is probably Monty's worst nightmare as a son-in-law and probably spurred that whole quest by Monty to find proper husbands for his daughters.

Oubre was fun but that team got waaaaaaaaaaay better once Oubre went down.
 

AzStevenCal

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Oubre was fun but that team got waaaaaaaaaaay better once Oubre went down.
Yes they did but our turnaround coincided with the addition of CamP who played great for us and Dario getting into great shape (and the Coach said something to the effect that Saric was consistently our best player during the bubble).

Oubre helped us grow from a really bad team with nothing to cheer for other than Devin to a two man team that was almost watchable on some nights. We'll never know how much his absence had to do with our improvement but to credit it all to his 'injury' is very inaccurate IMO. In fact, we went 2-5 when Oubre went down prior to that 8 game bubble streak.
 

Superbone

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My understanding was Oubre was cleared to play in the bubble but chose not to.
 

AzStevenCal

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My understanding was Oubre was cleared to play in the bubble but chose not to.
I remember conversations about it at the time but I'm not sure about the specifics. Fortunately we didn't need him.
 

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My understanding was Oubre was cleared to play in the bubble but chose not to.

I recall him being cleared but knowing what we do now about Monty, I'm not sure that wasn't a Jae Crowder situation. It was very odd he wasn't there despite his camp saying he was ready to go.
 

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Oubre was fun but that team got waaaaaaaaaaay better once Oubre went down.

That year was a trainwreck. Not only was Covid an issue but Ayton had his PED suspension for the first 25 games. We had Baynes playing great for that first month and then he seemed exhausted and couldn't keep up. It took Saric too long to figure out what his role was since he played next to different C's regularly for the first half of the season. We went on our bubble run without Oubre but Oubre wasn't holding us back or the cause of poor play. It was chaotic from the get go and in comparison makes this season look calm and steady.
 

Phrazbit

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That year was a trainwreck. Not only was Covid an issue but Ayton had his PED suspension for the first 25 games. We had Baynes playing great for that first month and then he seemed exhausted and couldn't keep up. It took Saric too long to figure out what his role was since he played next to different C's regularly for the first half of the season. We went on our bubble run without Oubre but Oubre wasn't holding us back or the cause of poor play. It was chaotic from the get go and in comparison makes this season look calm and steady.

The team played better without Oubre, they put up better numbers on both ends when he didn't play. He can individually play well but he doesn't play as "part of a team" well. He is a major black hole on offense, if he got a rebound you knew he wasn't giving the ball up, that possession was going to start and end with him. His defensive gambles make him a liability on that end. If he isn't hot on offense then he can really drag his team down.

He averaged 20 a game last year with Charlotte yet had to settle for a league minimum contract this off season. The league is onto him.

He could be a really positive player if he'd ease up on the hero ball stuff and simply stay near his man on defense, but a tiger rarely changes it's stripes.
 

Yuma

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Monty Williams after the Pistons 25th loss: "I want to be careful with my words, because this one hurts more than most of them," first-year coach Monty Williams said. "A team that played last night got [50] points off turnovers and rebounds. It is unbelievably hard to understand how we can get outworked in those categories."

This sounds like how we are losing for the most part. We don't value the rock. Monty is having the same problem in Detroit. Clearly, keeping Monty wasn't the solution for the Suns. Clearly it's not Vogel either.
 

Ronin

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Gores has been speaking to Williams about the team's rotations

Early in his third response, Gores casually slipped in perhaps the most surprising and interesting quote of the entire interview. (Emphasis mine.)

"As far as where we were going in getting this set of players and flexibility, I think the work is still there," Gores said. "We have to assess what's not working. I'm down to Monty and I talking about rotations. I don't normally do that. Monty is so good and knows what's he doing, he's open to even talking about it."
 

Proximo

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i watched part of Monty's press conference after the 27th loss and he was tearing up.

I actually feel sorry for him, because he seems completely lost.

But I also think anytime you just take a job purely for the money, it usually doesn't work out well for you.
 

95pro

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i watched part of Monty's press conference after the 27th loss and he was tearing up.

I actually feel sorry for him, because he seems completely lost.

But I also think anytime you just take a job purely for the money, it usually doesn't work out well for you.

I feel nothing for these guys making millions. It’s not hate it’s not shade but when you make a numbing amount of money will you have to take what comes with it.
 

AzStevenCal

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i watched part of Monty's press conference after the 27th loss and he was tearing up.

I actually feel sorry for him, because he seems completely lost.

But I also think anytime you just take a job purely for the money, it usually doesn't work out well for you.
For that much money? I think it works out great for him, but maybe not until he gets away from it.
 

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I was one of Monty's biggest detractors by the end, but I take no glee in his suffering this season, especially if its to the point that he's breaking down a little on the podium.
 

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Monty is suffering? Breaking down at the podium... He is an experienced pro at dealing with the media. He isn't feeling any pain when checking his
financial investment$ and bank account$. He isn't living in the slums off of 8 Mile road. He has a great contract that any NBA coach would love to have.
The loyal Piston fan base are the ones suffering, not Monty.
 
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