Monty Williams

Keith Langlois

(Editor’s note: With training camp approaching,&nbsp;Pistons.com&nbsp;continues a series that examines the questions they must confront in their quest to turn the corner on general manager Troy Weaver’s restoration of the franchise to greatness. Today’s question: Can Monty Williams have the same dynamic impact on the Pistons as he had on the Phoenix Suns at his last NBA stop?)

When Monty Williams landed in Phoenix ahead of the 2019-20 season, the Suns were coming off a 19-win season but already had the guts of a playoff contender in place with Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges and DeAndre Ayton as mainstays.

What he did with that team in two seasons was astounding – going from 19 wins to 34 to 51 (in a 72-game schedule) and a berth in the NBA Finals – and a huge reason why he was immensely attractive to the Pistons when Dwane Casey decided to transition to a front-office role.

From owner Tom Gores to general manager Troy Weaver and throughout the organization, the Pistons feel they’re poised for a similar growth spurt. It doesn’t necessarily mean the expectation is that they’ll appear in the NBA Finals in 2025 – that takes things not only under your control falling into place but good fortune, too – but Williams’ hiring was a bold statement of how the Pistons view themselves at this point in time.

It was also a bold statement by Williams about how he sees the organization he’s joined – because this was a coach with a breathtaking set of options.

“We did not have the best record in the league – actually, the worst – and teams with the best records in the league were after this guy,” Weaver said in introducing Williams in June. “He wanted to partner with us and lead the charge. We’re ready to take a step forward. We had a lot of injuries last year that derailed us, but we’re ready to take a step forward.”

“Monty’s a great leader for these young men,” Gores said, “but he wants to win. Troy and I have discussed that. We think we’re capable of winning. Our young folks have really improved. There’s a ton of improvement that’s happened over the last few years.”

In Cade Cunningham, the Pistons have a player they believe can ascend to the All-NBA status of Phoenix’s Booker. In Jalen Duren, they have a 19-year-old center who can have an impact similar to Ayton. In rookie Ausar Thompson, they see a player who can someday have the two-way impact of Bridges.

And that doesn’t even get to Jaden Ivey, Isaiah Stewart, James Wiseman, Killian Hayes, Marvin Bagley III and Isaiah Livers – or veterans like Bojan Bogdanovic and Alec Burks or newcomers Monte Morris and Joe Harris or first-round rookie Marcus Sasser.

Weaver values depth and he’s given Williams a roster that can be used to construct any variety of lineups. He’s been known to be a strong defensive coach and one who emphasizes ball and player movement at the other end.

Look at the ways Phoenix improved across the board in his first two seasons. The team Williams inherited there had finished 28th&nbsp;in offense, 29th&nbsp;in defense, 29th&nbsp;in net rating and 30th&nbsp;in rebound percentage. In season one under Williams, the Suns improved to 17th, 12th, 14th&nbsp;and 16th. And in season two, when they went to the Finals, those numbers went to seventh, sixth, third and 14th.

It should be noted that after Williams’ first season in Phoenix, the Suns – because they had put themselves in position to do so with their on-court progress – were able to trade for Chris Paul. The Pistons are projected to be armed with a veritable war chest for free agency in the summer of 2024. Gain some traction under Williams this season and perspective on the Pistons as a landing spot will do a 180 around the league.

In acquiring Morris, a Michigan native with six seasons under his belt, the Pistons add a player who brings with him some of the same qualities as Paul for his efficiency and ability to take care of the basketball while orchestrating offense. Morris slots in as point guard with a second unit that should give the Pistons a significant edge most nights given their depth.

With Cunningham poised to take a major leap in year three coming off his dazzling turn at USA Basketball’s summer camp, Duren and Ivey fresh off terrific rookie seasons and the hyperathletic rookie Thompson added to the mix, Williams has an array of tools at his display to occupy his off-season’s imaginings.

“You see the talent, for sure,” Williams said of his first impressions of the Pistons. “You see the size. When I talked to them, they all looked me in the eye, which is impressive. I text and they get right back to me, which is rare in the NBA.

“If you’re asking about similarities to Phoenix, what was similar is those guys were hungry. They wanted it. I remember my first meeting with Devin Booker. He was like, ‘Coach, whatever you need, I’ll do it.’ That allowed the kind of success we had there. I look at these guys, I see a lot that excites me.”

pistons-camp-questions-can-monty-williams-work-his-magic-as-he-did-on-the-suns

Pistons camp questions: Can Monty Williams work his magic as he did on the Suns?

Vince Ellis

Over the last four seasons as coach of the Phoenix Suns, Monty Williams has won … a lot.

A branch growing from San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s coaching tree, Williams had a nearly 63 percent winning percentage during his Suns tenure, and led Phoenix to the 2021 NBA Finals. A year later, after leading the Suns to a 64-18 record, he was named the NBA Coach of the Year.

And he is the next Detroit Pistons head coach.

The Pistons formally introduced one of the top coaching names in the league Tuesday afternoon at the Henry Ford-Pistons Performance Center, and it didn’t take long for him to reveal a major factor in his decision-making process – his wife’s recent breast cancer diagnosis.

The health scare had Williams seriously contemplating taking the year off, but after a patient and ultimately collaborative coaching search led by general manager Troy Weaver and Pistons owner Tom Gores that was bolstered by a fateful Memorial Day weekend meeting at Gores’ southern California home, the Pistons landed Williams.

It was a festive scene at the PPC with current players and members of Williams’ family joining former coach turned front office executive Dwane Casey, Pistons executives and employees, the ownership group and local media in welcoming Williams. Applause greeted Williams when he was formally announced. When Gores, Williams and Weaver later posed for photos, they all beamed proudly.

“Monty, thank you for believing,” Gores said. “The MVP in all of this in being able to get Monty is his family. Everybody else wanted him and I think we're lucky enough to have him.”

Williams, 51, replaces Casey, who moves into a front office role after five seasons patrolling the sidelines at Little Caesars Arena. Williams inherits a young core of promising young players which include Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren, the upcoming fifth overall pick of the NBA draft and others. Reportedly, Williams has agreed to a six-year deal worth more than $78 million, a major financial commitment from Gores.

“I want to have success here to the point where people think I'm from Detroit, the way that they think (ex-Piston, former Detroit mayor) Dave Bing is from Detroit, even though he's from D.C.,” Williams said. “I want have that kind of impact here.

“I'm marrying myself to the job, and I told the players this morning I'm going to give them everything I have because it is a franchise that has a rich history.”

With the NBA crowning the Denver Nuggets as NBA champions on Monday night, the Pistons were able to garner some spotlight with the well-received hiring of Williams.

“Monty wanted to partner with us and lead the charge because of the work that our players have put in, and we're going to continue to stand on that, continue to do things the right way,” Weaver said. “Now that we have a new coach, new leader, we're ready for this next step. I'm just grateful to ownership for providing resources and support.

Here’s the story of how Weaver, Gores and the Pistons landed Williams.

‘It wouldn't have happened but for Tom’

Williams wasn’t available when Casey announced after the final game of the season that he was ending his coaching career.

The Suns finished the regular season at 45-37, which earned the Western Conference’s fourth seed. After the trade deadline acquisition of superstar Kevin Durant, the Suns were considered one of the favorites. &nbsp;But after the Suns fell in the second round of the NBA playoffs to the Nuggets, Williams was fired.

Weaver immediately reached out to Williams (the two men worked together in Oklahoma City), but he said he was strongly considering taking the year off, although he indicated he found the Pistons job intriguing because of Cunningham and the young core. After the initial talk, Williams called back several days later to indicate he was taking the year off.

“I had a situation in my family that needed attention,” Williams said. “I talked to my wife today about whether or not we should talk about that publicly, but that was a huge part of my decision making. My wife found out that she had breast cancer during the playoffs.”

Early signs are promising, and she encouraged Williams to share the details of her cancer diagnosis to bring awareness.

But in the meantime, the Pistons continued their search and zeroed in on three candidates: Overtime Elite coach Kevin Ollie, Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Charles Lee and New Orleans Pelican assistant Jarron Collins.

But Gores suggested the Pistons retain optionality and consider other possibilities. The Pistons continued the process, scheduling Lee and Ollie for a second round of interviews with Gores in Los Angeles.

But during a call with Weaver, vice chairman Arn Tellem, assistant general manager George David and alternate governor Mark Barnhill, Gores pressed for other options. Several names were mentioned, but none were clearly identified.

The following day, Gores suggested reaching out to Williams again and get more into the specifics about what an offer would entail. Gores also wanted to lean into the human side and meet Williams in person. Everyone thought it was a good idea and to their surprise, Williams was interested. Williams had discussed it with his agent and his wife, who gave her blessing for Williams to pursue the job.

“I've got to give Tom credit because, and you see why he's such a successful deal maker, and that if he's interested or wants something or thinks it's just good for his business or good for the Pistons, he's going to leave no stone unturned,” Tellem said.

Gores acted fast, instructing Weaver to engage with Williams. Gores offered to dispatch his private plane to Phoenix that day if Williams was amenable to a meeting. He was on a plane to L.A. from Phoenix by that afternoon, and the two men met at Gores’ southern California home.

Williams brough along two of his six kids and they bonded with Gores’ daughter, Amanda.

The two men immediately hit it off. Gores gave him a tour of his Beverly Hills home. Williams was familiar with a breed of dog that Gores’ son, Charles, owns.

Williams let it be known that he was eager to work with Weaver, recalling their days together in Oklahoma City. &nbsp;By the time the meeting ended, there was a path forward.

“It was just one of those nights that allowed for us to be real,” Williams said. To be honest with you, I committed that night. I told them that if everything worked out with my wife, this was the place that I wanted to be. There wasn’t anything special about that night. We ate, we talked, we referenced (football coach Tony Dungy) a couple of times. He's a hero of mine, but it was just a normal conversation.

The executive team contacted Williams’ agent and also had the legal team start working on the makings of a deal.

As the next day unfolded, there were a flurry of phone calls to work through the contours of an offer. Between those calls, Tellem was in contact with Williams’ agent with Weaver remaining in constant contact with Williams.

At around 9 p.m. on Memorial Day, Tellem was directed to bring the deal to a verbal agreement. That agreement was reached overnight, and Williams was on his way to becoming the 37th coach in franchise history. The process and healthy debate provided the desired outcome.

“I wouldn't call it a yelling match at all, it's just that we discussed how important it was to deliver to our players,” Gores said. “We have great young players, their characters are great so we felt the responsibility to deliver. We've gone through a lot. We've gone through some pain, but like any good thing, you have to go through some pain.

“I understand that we took a long time. I heard all the stuff that Troy and I are not making decisions or Troy and I are not agreeing, but we agreed most of the time.”

The news of Williams’ hiring came just over three weeks after the franchise suffered a gut punch. After suffering through a 17-65 season, the worst mark in the league, the Pistons hoped to land the top pick for the upcoming NBA Draft. French big man Victor Wembanyama is the most-hyped prospect since LeBron James went No. 1 overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003.

But fortune shined on the Spurs, who won the lottery. The Pistons endured the worst possible outcome and will pick fifth on June 22.

That makes for perfect timing when it comes to Williams’ arrival.

“I was really down after the lottery, still slowly recovering, but this to me may be just as good as winning the lottery,” Tellem said. “We may not have won the player lottery, but we won the coaching lottery thanks to Tom and his insistence that we hire the very best possible coach to lead the team.

To get an outstanding coach like Monty to come here is a huge win for the players and the franchise and for the city of Detroit.”

Despite the recent struggles, Williams inherits a young nucleus. The Pistons’ last two rookies –Cunningham and Ivey – have shown great promise and will likely hold spots in the starting backcourt in the coming years.

Williams is experienced with reclamation projects. The Suns won only 19 games the year before he was hired in Phoenix.

“I’m walking into a locker room with a great group of guys who want to get better,” Williams said. “You see the talent for sure. You see the size. When I talk to them, they all look me in the eye, which is impressive. I message them, and they get back to me right away, which is rare.

“There is a hunger. A desire. They all want it. It really gets to you when you think about it.”

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How the Tom Gores, Troy Weaver meeting with Monty Williams sealed the deal for the next Detroit Pistons head coach

Monty Williams got to the contract before anyone brought it up. Asked why he’d want to start over, essentially, when teams with immediate championship potential, Milwaukee and Philadelphia, made overtures to him, Williams plowed straight ahead.

“The quick answer is Troy (Weaver), the players and the money,” Williams said. “That’s something people don’t talk about. They say it wasn’t the money. I always laugh at that. I say it’s disrespectful when somebody is that generous to me, that kind of money, that should be applauded and should be talked about.”

So the money – reported to make Williams the NBA’s best-compensated coach – got his attention. But it was Tom Gores’ refusal to take no for an answer and Weaver, the general manager who came to develop a mutually respectful relationship with Williams when they were together in Oklahoma City, and the job he’s done in stocking the roster with talented players who universally and unfailingly put team success first that were the closers for a coach who could have taken a gap year and lived comfortably off the three years left on his Phoenix deal.

The night at Gores’ Los Angeles-area home – one that Williams said ended with his commitment to succeed Dwane Casey as Pistons coach – was spent with Gores making Williams feel wanted and Weaver selling him on the quality of character of the young players he’s drafted or otherwise acquired.

“Troy talked about he would put that locker room up against any locker room in the league,” Williams said. “He said that right from the jump. I was talking to my mentor, Pastor Bill,” who told him, “You think you’re going to be what they need. I think this is what you need.”

“After looking at the roster and doing background work on everybody – because he’s just that dude – he said, ‘These guys are going to be good for you.’ I’m looking forward to how they’re going to impact me in a good way.”

It won’t take long for him to find out. Practically the entire roster attended the Williams introductory press conference Tuesday at the Henry Ford Pistons Performance Center at a time of year when most NBA players are spread across the country at their homes or training headquarters.

“I talked to them and they all looked me in the eye, which is impressive. I text and they get right back to me, which is rare in the NBA,” Williams said. “You see it today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a press conference and they all show up. The hunger, the desire – they all want it. It gets to you.”

Williams takes over a 17-win team four years after he took over a 19-win Phoenix team that two years later won 51 games and advanced to the NBA Finals. The reason Gores and Weaver pursued Williams so doggedly is there’s a faith throughout the organization that the Pistons are ready to make a similar leap forward.

“It was critical and it’s a really important time,” Gores said of reeling in Williams. “What I kept thinking and mentioned to Troy, these players here have trusted us and were holding their own practices. ... We talked about how important it was to deliver to our players.”

Williams called his contacts around the league “to get someone to tell me something squirrelly about our guys.” He got crickets. “I feel I have a great group of guys that want to get better.”

Cade Cunningham, the unquestioned leader of that locker room despite his age, 21, was among those at Tuesday’s unveiling, and the Williams-Cunningham relationship – from everything we know about the fiber of both ends of the equation – will be the dynamic that drives the Pistons forward. Williams said when he got to Phoenix, Devin Booker told him, “Coach, whatever you need, I’ll do it.”

“And that allowed the kind of success we had there. I look at these guys, I see a lot that excites me.”

Cunningham is one of six players 22 or younger, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren among them, who comprise the core that Weaver could sell to Williams. The Pistons can add to that with the No. 5 pick in next week’s draft plus $30 million in cap space.

“We’re ready to take a step forward,” Weaver said. “We had a lot of injuries last year that derailed, but we’re ready to take a step forward.”

The reported six-year deal Williams agreed to means he’s the one who’ll oversee the next several steps. A man of deep faith, he has full faith where those next steps will lead.

“I want to have success here to the point they think I’m from Detroit the way they think Dave Bing is from Detroit even though he’s from D.C.,” Williams said. “I want to have that kind of impact here. I told the players this morning, I’m going to give everything I have to the job because it is a franchise that has a rich history and that means a lot to me.”

monty-williams-im-going-to-give-everything-i-have-to-the-job

Monty Williams: ‘I’m going to give everything I have to the job’

If an algorithm existed that would spit out the ideal head coach for every NBA team’s situation, the Pistons search for Dwane Casey’s successor could not have hoped for a better outcome than what they’ve landed on: Monty Williams.

Williams is exactly the right combination of teacher, temperament, visionary, tactician and philosopher that a roster teeming with as many talented young players as general manager Troy Weaver has put in the pipeline needed to take its next steps.

“After spending some time with Monty, it’s clear that he’s found a unique balance between achieving victory at the highest level while at the same time nurturing a culture of growth, development and inspiration,” Pistons owner Tom Gores said. “I’m beyond excited. This is a huge win for us.”

What Pistons fans want most is assurance the next steps they’re now poised to take translate into more wins. That’s the full expectation, from Gores – whose unswerving commitment to building a champion is defined by this successful pursuit of arguably the most desirable coaching candidate from a distinguished field – on down. The days of living at the bottom of the standings are over.

“I couldn’t be more proud to have Monty joining us at this important time to lead us into the next decade of our future,” Gores said. “He embodies all of the qualities we want in a leader for our Pistons franchise, and most importantly a teacher and mentor for our players. He will have an impact on every aspect of our franchise, on and off the court.”

Williams’ track record of player development at New Orleans and Phoenix, where promising young players like Anthony Davis, Mikal Bridges and several others blossomed on his watch, and of pushing the buttons that allow talented young players to grow into cohesive young teams made him the ideal candidate to take the baton from Casey and push Weaver’s restoration forward.

Maybe Davis, who went from 13.5 points and 8.2 rebounds the year before Williams arrived to 20.8 and 10.0 in year one under him, would have been great under any circumstances. But the way Bridges (8.3 points and 3.2 rebounds pre-Williams, 14.3 and 4.2 in year one and 20.1 and 4.4 in year two with him) and Cam Johnson (8.8 and 3.3 pre-Williams, 12.5 and 4.1 in year one and 15.5 and 4.4 in year two with him) flowered in Phoenix seems a harbinger of what Pistons fans can anticipate on his watch here with six key players 22 or younger.

Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart, Killian Hayes and James Wiseman are primed to take similar leaps forward. They now have a leader proven in accelerating that process.

It was four years ago Williams took over a 19-win Phoenix team. He nearly doubled that in season one, winning 34, and then coached the Suns to 51 wins and the NBA Finals in his second season – where it took all of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s wondrous abilities to prevent the first title in Suns franchise history.

Williams, in fact, becomes the second coach in NBA history – five-time Pistons All-Star Gene Shue the other – to take over two teams coming off seasons in which they won fewer than 20 games according to ESPN Stats & Info. It’s almost impossible to find a coach with a track record of success in overseeing quick, dramatic turnarounds. The&nbsp;&nbsp; Pistons team of Gores and Weaver found one and convinced him Detroit was the situation right for both him and them over several other reported overtures for Williams’ services.

Weaver vowed upon arrival three years ago to re-create the blueprint that made the Bad Boys and Goin’ to Work era Pistons NBA champions. Those teams were led by Hall of Fame coaches, Chuck Daly and Larry Brown. Nothing was more important than the relationships those recognized basketball geniuses forged with their key players.

The 1989 and ’90 Pistons don’t become champions if Daly and Isiah Thomas didn’t click and the 2004 Pistons wouldn’t have, either, if Brown and Chauncy Billups hadn’t struck their harmony. That coach-quarterback relationship is so utterly critical to team success and it ripples through the rest of the roster. Certainly Daly had to win over Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman and Brown the same with Ben Wallace and Rip Hamilton and their running mates, but it starts with the coach and the guy who has the ball in his hands to dictate the terms of how their team executes.

The ingredients are now in place for a third great Pistons era with a coach on a Hall of Fame track and a young star who shows every characteristic necessary to become a worthy successor to the Pistons heritage of brilliant backcourt players.

So let’s start with the Monty Williams-Cade Cunningham union. And here we get to the aspect of this hire that should most excite Pistons fans and inspire confidence this journey is about to become fascinating and, ultimately, exhilarating.

Everything we know about Williams and everything we know about Cunningham screams inspired pairing. Both have the sort of emotional IQ that will make for an open relationship where appraisals are delivered and received with mutual respect. It’s the basis required for every successful coach-star marriage. No union of two partners is ever conflict-free, but the greatest unions result when differences are aired and the best ideas from either side come together to make the whole something greater than the sum of its parts.

It was critical the Pistons hired a coach worthy of Cunningham’s talent and his respect and Williams hits every mark on that score. Cunningham has immediately won over Pistons veterans in his two seasons with the Pistons.

“This is Cade’s room,” Kelly Olynyk said as Cunningham’s rookie season – his rookie season! – came to a close. “That’s what we need from him – as a point guard, as a leader, as the future of Detroit and the Pistons.”

Bojan Bogdanovic voiced similar sentiments not even a month into his tenure with the Pistons last season, a big part of the reason Bogdanovic was excited about signing a contract extension to stay in Detroit shortly after his September trade acquisition.

The Pistons have every confidence Williams will be a home-run hire for Cunningham’s development as a player and a leader – and their fans should, too. That will have a domino effect on the rest of the young core – Ivey and Duren, Wiseman and Stewart, Hayes and Marvin Bagley III, Isaiah Livers and on and on and on … with the No. 5 pick in this month’s draft about to enter the fold. Add to that the bounty of cap space at Weaver’s disposal and there you have the basis for the faith the Pistons had in their decision to pursue a top-of-the-market coach at this very moment. They’re ready for takeoff.

Among the many things driving that belief: Williams’ peers, NBA head coaches, voted him their NBCA Coach of the Year in both 2021 and ’22. Think about that a minute. NBA head coaches, uniquely qualified to judge the body of work of NBA head coaches, thought Monty Williams was the best of them two consecutive seasons.

Gores – whose commitment to giving his franchise every resource possible to grow a champion is proven again by what’s being reported as a relentless pursuit &nbsp;– and his team will go into the Monty Williams era with a firm belief they have the absolute ideal coach to grow this promising young core into a team whose seasons will end not in April but in May and eventually in June. It’s why Gores wouldn’t let his pursuit of Williams end without sealing the deal.

“I was able to spend some time with Monty and members of his family, and it was clear that he’s not only a great coach and leader, but a man of great character who shares our goal to be impactful on and off the court. Dwane Casey, who has transitioned into a front-office role, helped set the table and guided the early development of our young core. We now have a talented young team ready to step up to the next level and I have committed to providing every resource possible to maximize their potential. We are investing in Monty and he is investing in us. We’re excited to have him.”

It's almost as if they put everything they were looking for in a new coach into an intelligent search engine and wound up getting the only one that checked off every conceivable box. Buckle up. It’s about to get very real for the Pistons.

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Pistons land right coach, Monty Williams, at right time for a dynamic new era

Pistons.com

DETROIT, Mich. (June 2, 2023) – The Detroit Pistons announced today an agreement with Monty Williams to join the organization as Head Coach. Williams, who will be formally introduced at a news conference in Detroit next week, has already initiated the transition and begun scheduling player meetings and staff development.

“I couldn’t be more proud to have Monty joining us at this important time to lead us into the next decade of our future,” said Pistons owner Tom Gores. “He embodies all of the qualities we want in a leader for our Pistons franchise, and most importantly a teacher and mentor for our players. He will have an impact on every aspect of our franchise, on and off the court.

“After spending some time with Monty, it’s clear that he’s found a unique balance between achieving victory at the highest level while at the same time nurturing a culture of growth, development and inspiration,” Gores said. “I’m beyond excited. This is a huge win for us.”

Williams agreed to terms after a whirlwind series of discussions with Gores, Pistons General Manager Troy Weaver and other Pistons executives that began over Memorial Day Weekend and culminated on Thursday with a signed agreement.

“A week ago, I was not sure what the future would hold,” Williams said. “But, after talking with Tom and Troy, I was excited hearing their vision for the Pistons going forward. They had a thoughtful plan and I am so appreciative of the emphasis they placed on the personal side of this business. They showed tremendous consideration for me and my family throughout this process.

“They also showed a commitment to success and doing things the right way,” he said. “As we discussed the team and expressed our collective goals, I realized that this would be a great opportunity for me to help a talented young team and build a strong culture here in Detroit. This is obviously a special place with a deep basketball history, and my family and I are looking forward to the opportunity to be a part of this city and organization.”

Weaver said the Pistons, who were already interviewing candidates for the head coaching job, were surprised when Williams became available.

“Monty represented the ideal prototype for our young team, but we didn’t expect him to be available,” Weaver said. “When he suddenly became available, we jumped at the opportunity to speak with him. That doesn’t mean the others in our process were not strong candidates. They were. But Monty is the prototype.

“When we set out on this search, we wanted a leader focused on discipline, defense and development,” Weaver said.&nbsp; “His capability, his experience and his philosophy checks all those boxes.&nbsp; He has high character and high conviction. He will be a great leader and mentor for our young core, and given his career as a player, he’ll connect with our veteran players as well.”

The team’s initial overture to Williams, a call to gauge his interest in meeting to discuss the Pistons opportunity, was placed on hold as he took time to consider whether or not to return to coaching immediately, or wait a year.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Gores and Weaver re-connected with Williams, and offered greater insight regarding what the opportunity to join the Pistons would look like. The initial call led to a meeting at Gores’ home, and a substantive discussion that led to the broad outline of what would eventually become a deal.

“I was able to spend some time with Monty and members of his family, and it was clear that he’s not only a great coach and leader, but a man of great character who shares our goal to be impactful on and off the court,” Gores said.

“Dwane Casey, who has transitioned into a front office role, helped set the table and guided the early development of our young core. We now have a talented young team ready to step up to the next level, and I have committed to providing every resource possible to maximize their potential,” Gores added. “We are investing in Monty, and he is investing in us. We’re excited to have him.”

Williams, 51, has served as a head coach, associate head coach or assistant coach in the NBA for 16 of the past 18 years. &nbsp;He has coached in one NBA Finals (2021), one NBA All-Star game (2022) and won a Gold Medal with USA Men’s Basketball as an assistant coach in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

He led the Phoenix Suns to the Western Conference Semifinals this past season, and was named 2022 NBA Coach of the Year after leading the Suns to an NBA-best and franchise record 64 wins during the 2021-22 season.&nbsp; He led Phoenix to the NBA Playoffs in each of the past three seasons, including a trip to the NBA Finals in 2020-21.&nbsp; The Suns won 34 games during his first season on the job in 2019-20, a 15-game improvement, and 51 during his second year.

As head coach of the Suns from 2019-23, he compiled a 194-115 (.628) regular-season record and the aforementioned NBA Finals appearance in 2021, the Suns’ first trip to the NBA Finals since 1993. &nbsp;He has amassed 160 wins since the start of the 2020-21 season, the most in the NBA during that span. &nbsp;Phoenix won two Pacific Division titles during Williams’ tenure, including a league and franchise-best 64-18 (.780) regular-season record in 2021-22. &nbsp;He has been named Western Conference Coach of the Month five times during his career and finished second in Coach of the Year voting in 2021. &nbsp;In 2022, Williams became the first coach to represent the Suns as head coach in the NBA All-Star game since Mike D’Antoni in 2007.

Prior to his appointment with Phoenix, he served as head coach of the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans from 2010-15.  Williams led New Orleans to the playoffs twice in his five seasons and his 2014-15 team finished eighth in offensive rating.

Williams began his post-playing career as a coaching staff intern under Gregg Popovich during the 2005 NBA Championship season with the San Antonio Spurs and served as vice president of basketball operations for the club from 2016-18.&nbsp; While with the Spurs, he was presented with the Sager Strong Award at the inaugural NBA Awards in 2017.

His assistant coaching career began with the Portland Trail Blazers under head coach Nate McMillan in 2005-06.&nbsp; Portland made the playoffs twice during Williams’ tenure (2008-09 and 2009-10) and the 2008-09 squad ranked second in offensive rating and fourth in opponent points per game.

He also spent one season (2015-16) as the associate head coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder under head coach Billy Donovan and helped the Thunder to the Western Conference Finals. &nbsp;Pistons General Manager Troy Weaver was part of the Thunder front office during that season.

Williams returned to the bench in 2018-19 for one season as an assistant coach under head coach Brett Brown and the Philadelphia 76ers prior to being named head coach of the Suns. In seven seasons as an NBA assistant, Williams’ teams registered a 304-270 (.530) mark with four campaigns of 50 or more wins. &nbsp;His teams qualified for the playoffs in four of the seven seasons. &nbsp;&nbsp;

A native of Fredericksburg, VA, Williams played collegiately at the University of Notre Dame (1990-94). &nbsp;He was named honorable mention All-American in his senior season for the Irish, averaging 22.4 points and 8.4 rebounds.

Williams was selected by the New York Knicks in the first round (24th overall) of the 1994 NBA draft. &nbsp;He went on to play nine seasons in the NBA with the Knicks, Spurs, Nuggets, Magic and 76ers. &nbsp;Williams averaged 6.3 points and 2.8 rebounds on 48.1% shooting in 456 career games.

Williams earned a degree from Notre Dame in 1995. He has five children: Elijah, Janna, Micah, Lael and Faith.

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