Newly appointed Detroit Pistons head coach Monty Williams is pleased with what he’s seen from his side in pre-season and believes that the Little Caesars Arena franchise is moving in the right direction.
Williams took over in June and will be looking for a big improvement from a team that had a disastrous 17-65 regular season record last time around, which effectively led to former head coach Dwane Casey moving to the front office.
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Williams enjoyed four successful seasons at the Phoenix Suns before he was fired following the team’s loss to the Denver Nuggets in the 2023 NBA playoffs and arrives with a big job on his hands.
In the last 15 seasons, the Pistons have never gotten beyond the First Round of the playoffs, and in all but two of those campaigns, they didn’t even make it to the postseason. That’s quite a downfall given the form shown by the team in the early 2000s when they reached two NBA Finals, winning the NBA title in 2003/04.
Two weeks into the Pistons’ training camp have shown Williams what he has to work with, and he was in a positive mood in a recent press conference, stating;
“You can’t cover everything,”
“You can’t catch every raindrop in training camp, but I think we’re moving in a good place.” Williams added.
When asked about recent comings and goings at the Suns, Williams made it clear he’s moved on and isn’t really interested in the state of play with his former employers;
“I don’t care, at all,”
“As much as I loved being there, it’s just not my focus,”
“That doesn’t bother me at all. I talk to a number of guys there still and we’ve never even talked about with them. I checked on their families and they’ve checked on me. It’s hard to build a program. I’ve learned I got to focus on what we’re doing here. I read it like everybody else, but can’t give that any thought.”
“I’m so concerned with our team growing and dealing with hard and making sure they’re doing the next right thing,”
“All the stuff that we talk about every day, being disciplined. It’s easy to get caught up in somebody else’s team, especially when they make those kinds of moves. You can say, well, you were just there, but I just can’t do that. I have to really focus on where I am and give this organization and this team my whole heart and all my energy. That’s how I was taught.”
The Pistons clearly value Williams highly and will be looking to the head coach to deliver the goods; he was, after all, given a massive six-year deal worth $78.5 million, a league record for an NBA coach.