DETROIT — For most of the spring, finding a coaching job in the NBA was the last thing Monty Williams cared about.
After being fired by the Phoenix Suns after their elimination from the postseason, Williams spoke to a few teams when his family received some disturbing news—his wife, Lisa, had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Williams was introduced on Tuesday as the new head coach of the Detroit Pistonsand discussed his wife’s health in an effort to help others.
“The reason I bring it up is not to talk about my family, but to make it more of a focus that women need early detection testing. We did a genetic test and then scan after scan after scan, and then find her early, and that may have saved my wife’s life.”
“It can save others.”
Williams had been in contact with Pistons general manager Troy Weaver, but withdrew from competing for the Detroit job when his wife was diagnosed.
“While we were navigating all that,” he said, “I was talking to Troy and I told him, man, I couldn’t, you know, now because I have to take care of my family.”
Williams, whose first wife, Ingrid, died in a car accident in 2016, was ready to take at least one season off to spend more time with his wife and kids. He also helps his son Elijah—a major recruiting target for schools across the country—to deal with this aspect of his life.
“After we got the good news about Lisa, I was with my kid on trial when I got a text from Troy for no reason,” he said. “I thought it was all completely off the table, but things moved quickly after that.”
Williams flew to Los Angeles to meet with owner Tom Gores.
“I met Troy for five days at my house, and I told him we had a critical responsibility to get this right for our players,” said Gorris. They actually trusted us and are going about their own practices. I wouldn’t say it was a shouting match, but we talked about how important it was to get it to these guys.”
Williams coached New Orleans from 2010-2015, going 173-221 and losing twice in the first round of the playoffs.
Things were different in Phoenix. Taking over a team that had gone 19-63 in 2018-19, Williams led the Suns to a 34-39 record in the pandemic-affected 2019-20 season, then a 51-21 record and a berth in the NBA Finals in the compact 2020 year. – Schedule 21. Lost in six games to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Phoenix went 64-18 and was named the #1 Western seed in 2021-22. Williams was named Coach of the Year, but the Suns were eliminated in the second round by the Dallas Mavericks.
This season, they fell to 45-37 and another second-round loss, this time to the Denver Nuggets.
Now he will have to restart this process in Detroit.
The Pistons had the worst record in the league at 17-65, but had no luck in the draft lottery, earning the fifth pick. They have gone seven years without a winning season and have not won a playoff game since Game 4 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals.
Detroit has a promising young core in Cady Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Doreen, but Cunningham missed most of last season with a stress fracture.
“You can see the talent of this group and you see the scale, but what I really liked are the people,” said Williams. “When I talk to them, they look me in the eye, which is impressive. When I text them, they come right back to me. There is a hunger and a desire there.”
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