Suns hire Monty Williams

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Ronin

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“I am thrilled to welcome Monty Williams to the Suns family as our next head coach,” said Suns GM James Jones in a statement. “Monty brings a wealth of NBA experience, both as a coach and former player, in addition to being a high-character individual who will infuse basketball wisdom and life lessons into our locker room. Monty is well respected for his coaching pedigree, leadership and commitment to the community, all of which make him the ideal person to lead our team moving forward.”
http://arizonasports.com/story/1920502/phoenix-suns-hire-monty-williams-as-new-head-coach/
 

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Just came here to post the same thing, saw it on the Suns Facebook feed.

I do find it a little interesting that Woj and another "insider" said we left the meeting the other day without making an offer. I figured news would be kept quiet with Monty because he doesn't appear to be the type to leak things.

Also I think this also means he chose us over the Lakers, which is a big step forward IMO. Yes, they're dysfunctional and so are the Suns but it seems we're viewed as less dysfunctional, which is moving us up!


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Posted this in another thread but it fits here as well. I looked up Monty's past assistants and for anyone interested here is info on everyone who he's had on his staff...


I decided to dig into Monty's past some just to get an idea of who he might bring with him if he is hired. What I learned looking at the assistant coaches he has is that he's also from the Larry Brown coaching tree, which is tied to Popovich, and it appears he had a loyal staff. 3 of his assistants served under him for all 5 years that he was the Pelicans coach. I wrote a little blurb on each of them below and if they're in the league currently I tried to note that. All of the names should link to their page on Basketball Reference.


Bryan Gates - Assistant Coach for 5 years under Monty. He started his NBA coaching career under Paul Westphal in 2009 in Sacramento.


Fred Vinson - Assistant Coach for 5 years under Monty. He got his start in 2009 under Mike Dunleavy in LA. He was let go when Monty was by the Pelicans but was rehired by the Pelicans for this last season where he serves as an assistant to Gentry.


Dave Hanners - Assistant Coach for 5 years under Monty. Has been in the NBA as an assistant coach since 2001 where he was Larry Brown's assistant coach in Philadelphia. He shared the bench with Igor on the 2004 World Champion Pistons under Larry Brown. I found that interesting but I'm sure some will consider that a negative. He followed Brown to the Knicks and Bobcats after he left the Pistons.


Randy Ayers - Assistant Coach for Monty's first 2 years, left and returned for his final year. Was not in the NBA during those off years, also got his start under Larry Brown in Philadelphia in 1999.


James Borrego - Assistant Coach for Monty's first 2 years in New Orleans. Left to be Jacque Vaughn's lead assistant when Vaughn coached the Magic in 2012-13 season. He served as the interim head coach for the Magic when Vaughn was fired during the 2014-15 season. He is currently the head coach of the Hornets.


Carlos Daniel - Assistant Coach & Player Development Coach - Spent 2 years under Monty, the final 2 in New Orleans. He has not been in the NBA since Monty was let go by the Pelicans.


Mike Malone - Monty's Assistant Coach in his first year as the Pelicans coach. He left after that to be Mark Jackson's assistant for 2 years before he became the head coach of the Kings and then the Nuggets, where he is currently their head coach.


Kevin Hanson - Assistant Coach for Monty's last season in New Orleans. He was let go and out of the NBA for 1 year but was rehired by Pelicans in 2016 and is currently an assistant on their staff under Gentry.
 

Dan H

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Seems like we are actually getting some well-regarded talent at the top of the organization.

Maybe it's wish-fulfillment, but I kind of hope this means that the league gave Sarver a talking to about stepping back from micromanaging everything.
 

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5 years. Suns had to pay up in years due to their 1 year Rep. He's guaranteed to get at least 2 if not 3 years on this deal.
 

Dante

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I'm glad that the Suns finally got their guy even though he probably had other offers on the table like the Lakers that were clearly interested in him. Might not mean much but it shows that we're at least a more desirable spot than most people think. Now I just hope that he gets more than one year to build his system here and that he gets this franchise back on the right track.
 
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