Monty Williams

Montgomery Eli "Monty" Williams (born October 8, 1971) is an American professional basketball coach and a former player and executive who is the head coach for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the head coach for the New Orleans Hornets / Pelicans from 2010 until 2015, and was an assistant coach with the United States national team under Mike Krzyzewski. In May 2019, he was hired to be the next head coach of the Phoenix Suns, following the 76ers' season and the 2019 NBA Playoffs.[1]

Monty Williams
Williams as Pelicans' head coach in 2014
Phoenix Suns
PositionHead coach
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1971-10-08) October 8, 1971
Fredericksburg, Virginia
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
High schoolPotomac (Oxon Hill, Maryland)
CollegeNotre Dame (1989–1994)
NBA draft1994 / Round: 1 / Pick: 24th overall
Selected by the New York Knicks
Playing career1994–2003
PositionSmall forward
Number2, 41, 3, 5
Coaching career2005–present
Career history
As player:
1994–1996New York Knicks
1996–1998San Antonio Spurs
1999Denver Nuggets
1999–2002Orlando Magic
2002–2003Philadelphia 76ers
As coach:
2005–2010Portland Trail Blazers (assistant)
2010–2015New Orleans Hornets / Pelicans
2015–2016Oklahoma City Thunder (associate HC)
2018–2019Philadelphia 76ers (assistant)
2019–presentPhoenix Suns
Career NBA statistics
Points2,884 (6.3 ppg)
Rebounds1,296 (2.8 rpg)
Assists544 (1.2 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  United States
FIBA U21 World Championship
1993 Valladolid National team
Assistant Coach for  United States
men's national basketball team
World Cup
2014 Spain Team
Olympic Games
2016 Rio de JaneiroTeam

Playing career

As a 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) small forward from the University of Notre Dame, Williams was an honorable mention All-American, averaging 22.4 points and 8.4 rebounds during his senior season.[2] Williams was an NBA first-round pick despite a pre-existing heart condition. He was selected by the New York Knicks in the first round (24th overall) of the 1994 NBA draft. Williams played in 9 NBA seasons from 1994 to 2003. He played for the Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers.

In his NBA career, Williams played in 456 games, scored a total of 2,884 points and averaged 6.3 points per game.[2] On April 8, 1997, he scored a career-high 30 points as a member of the Spurs against the Denver Nuggets. Chronic knee problems forced him into retirement in 2003.

Coaching career

In 2005, Williams won an NBA championship as a coaching staff intern with the San Antonio Spurs. In 2005, Williams was hired by new head coach Nate McMillan as an assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers.[3] On June 7, 2010, Williams was offered a three-year contract to be the head coach of the New Orleans Hornets.[4] At the date of his hiring, Williams became the youngest head coach in the NBA at 38 years old.[2] In his first season with the Hornets, the team finished with a 46–36 record and made the playoffs.[5]

On August 18, 2012, Williams accepted a four-year contract extension from the Hornets (later renamed as the Pelicans).[6] On June 9, 2013, Williams accepted an assistant coach role with the U.S. national team, along with Jim Boeheim and Tom Thibodeau, for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The New Orleans Pelicans finished the 2014–15 season with a 45–37 record before losing to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. On May 12, 2015, Williams was let go after five seasons as head coach of the Pelicans, compiling a 173–221 regular-season record and going 2–8 in the playoffs.[7] On June 29, 2015, Williams became the associate head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder.[8] On June 1, 2016, it was announced that Williams would not return with the Thunder.[9] On June 4, 2018, Brett Brown announced that Williams would join his staff in Philadelphia as the lead assistant coach, his first coaching job in two seasons.[10]

On May 3, 2019, the Phoenix Suns announced they had agreed to terms with Williams to be the team's head coach at the conclusion of the 76ers' 2018–19 season. The Suns compiled a 26-39 record in 2019-20, before the season was postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The Suns were invited to the NBA's Coronavirus Bubble in Orlando in order to play eight seeding games, where Williams coached the Suns to an 8-0 record. Despite this, the Suns failed to qualify for the NBA Playoffs.[11][12] He is also a member of the NBA Competition Committee.[13]

Executive career

In 2016, Williams became the vice president of basketball operations for the San Antonio Spurs. On June 26, 2017, while being vice president for the Spurs, Williams was selected as the winner of the Sager Strong Award during the first NBA Awards Show.

Personal life

On February 10, 2016, Williams' wife, Ingrid, died from injuries sustained from a car crash in Oklahoma City after her car was struck head-on by a vehicle that crossed lanes after losing control. The couple had five children together.[14]

Head coaching record
Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %
Playoffs PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win–loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
New Orleans 2010–11 824636.5613rd in Southwest624.333Lost in First Round
New Orleans 2011–12 662145.3185th in Southwest————Missed playoffs
New Orleans 2012–13 822755.3295th in Southwest————Missed playoffs
New Orleans 2013–14 823448.4155th in Southwest————Missed playoffs
New Orleans 2014–15 824537.5495th in Southwest404.000Lost in First Round
Phoenix 2019–20 733439.4663rd in Pacific————Missed playoffs
Career 467207260.443 1028.200 
gollark: It's not a GC problem, they're referenced in an object.
gollark: The issue is basically that it loads Markov chains into RAM when operating on them and never clears then ever.
gollark: Maybe I need to implement a LRU cache instead of just loading all things ever into RAM?
gollark: This is due to people bad.
gollark: No, it's remarking on how few there are.

References
  1. "Suns hire 76ers assistant Williams as coach". ESPN. May 3, 2019.
  2. "NBA.com Monty Williams". www.NBA.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  3. "Portland Trail Blazers News Headlines". Portland Trail Blazers. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
  4. "Blazers assistant Monty Williams is offered head coaching position by New Orleans". The Oregonian. June 4, 2010. Retrieved June 4, 2010.
  5. "2010-11 New Orleans Hornets Schedule and Results". Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  6. "New Orleans Hornets Coach Monty Williams gets four-year contract extension". nola.com. August 18, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
  7. "Pelicans fire coach Williams after 5 seasons". Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  8. "Thunder Announces Coaching Staff". NBA.com. June 29, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
  9. Reid, John (June 1, 2016). "Monty Williams not returning to Thunder as assistant coach". NOLA.com. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  10. Wojnarowski, Adrian (June 4, 2018). "Monty Williams to return to coaching, become 76ers lead assistant". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  11. "Suns agree to terms with Monty Williams to become new head coach". Phoenix Suns. May 3, 2019. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  12. Marshall, John (May 4, 2019). "Williams agrees to deal to become Suns coach". NBA.com. The Associated Press. Retrieved May 4, 2019.
  13. "Monty Williams - Official Booking Agent, Speaker, Agency, Representative". Kauffman Sports. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  14. "Ex-Pelicans coach Monty Williams' wife dies in automobile accident". February 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.