Although it isn’t official yet, NBA reporter Marc Stein has indicated that Monty Williams is expected to return for his second year as head coach of the Detroit Pistons.
Williams has around $65 million left on his six-year guaranteed contract with Detroit, signed last offseason. The GM responsible for this deal, Troy Weaver, is no longer with the team.
Owner Tom Gores, who was instrumental in bringing Williams on board to replace Dwane Casey, appointed Trajan Langdon as president of basketball operations. Langdon has been given full authority to reshape the front office, coaching staff, and roster.
Since his appointment, Langdon has not yet spoken to the media but has already moved on from Weaver, added Michael Blackstone to the front office, and brought in Fred Vinson, one of the NBA’s top shooting coaches, as an assistant coach.
The addition of Fred Vinson has fueled speculation that Williams will return as head coach. Adrian Wojnarowski reported, “Fred Vinson is joining Monty Williams’ Detroit Pistons staff as an assistant coach.”
Stein spoke with a source who views this as clear evidence that Williams will return. It’s an understandable interpretation, as Stein writes:
Stein credits his source as someone with “knowledge of Detroti’s thinking,” so it shouldn’t be discounted. But I am struck by how passive the framing seems to be. It’s not that they know Williams will return but that the Pistons wouldn’t add to his staff if they were going to move on.
I’m not sure why a team would be reluctant to add a sorely needed shooting specialist in any scenario. If Williams returns, there is a spot for Vinson on the staff. If Williams is fired, there is a place for Vinson on the staff.
I can buy that Williams returning is the most likely outcome, but if we’re to believe that it was basically a 50-50 proposition the day Langdon was hired, it still feels to me like it is a tossup.
If they were firm in their commitment to Williams for one more season, I’m unsure why the team hasn’t made it clear through either a news release or by having Langdon’s introductory presser.
I’ve read that Langdon is not particularly keen on speaking to the media, but it feels inevitable that he will have to talk as the organization’s new president. If he wanted to say as little as possible, you’d think that he would have done it right after being hired, where he could hand wave everything away as “being under evaluation’ and not wanting to comment until he had “gathered all the information needed.” He’s been on the job for weeks and gathered plenty of data. There is no way he wouldn’t be expected to address issues at length in a presser — including why Williams and the team failed last season and why he is being given another shot to turn things around.
Time is running out, especially with the NBA Draft less than two weeks away. Langdon will soon have to face the media scrutiny; he can’t avoid the microphones for much longer.
