Monty Williams is officially a one-and-done in Detroit.
After a season in which the Pistons won only 14 games while tying an NBA record 28-game losing streak, the Pistons dismissed their head coach in an offseason that has also seen Detroit give Troy Weaver the axe.
Despite the record, Williams’ dismissal was still pretty bold considering the substantial money and years left on his contract. According to Adrian Wojnarowksi though, the decision to remove Williams came directly from Pistons owner Tom Gores who will fork over more than $65 million with five years left on a contract to essentially make Monty go away.
However, Gores’ boldness opens up new team President of Basketball Operations Trajan Langdon to bring in his guys, which he had already done in a sense last week when the team hired away former Pelicans assistant Fred Vinson for the same role in Detroit.
Monty Williams “Blindsided” by the timing of his firing
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, “Williams was certainly blindsided today by the timing of his dismissal.”
Much of that surprise came as a result of Williams already having meetings with Langdon to discuss potential future moves for the team.
Perhaps though a cold reality set in for Gores when he realized that the Pistons haven’t won more than 23 games in any of the past five seasons and only won more than 20 once during that stretch. Perhaps it was the fact that despite having a franchise cornerstone player in Cade Cunningham in his second season the team actually took a step back last season. Either way, whether you agree or not with the move to axe Williams now, one thing is probably for certain and that is things can’t possibly get any worse next season… right?
