Monty Williams sat in front of a microphone, as he was being introduced as the Detroit Pistons‘ new coach, when something stunning happening — honesty broke out.
“What made you want to take this (job) instead of just taking time off?” a reporter asked.
“The quick answer is, obviously, Troy (Weaver), the players and the money,” Williams said.
Wait a second. A coach was being honest about the money?
First impression: this dude is not only a fantastic coach and a proven winner — a year removed from winning the NBA’s Coach of the Year Award — but he’s authentic and honest. He’s going to connect with this team, as well as this community, instantly.
“I mean, that’s something that people don’t talk about,” Williams said. “They always say it wasn’t the money. I always laugh at them. I think that’s disrespectful. When somebody is that generous to pay me that kind of money, one that should be applauded. And two, it should be talked about.”
So, let’s be honest and talk about the money.
Because how the Pistons landed Williams is both fascinating and revealing, and it shows a side of owner Tom Gores we haven’t seen before.
Give Gores all kinds of credit. Not just for handing Williams the richest coaching contract in NBA history, worth $78.5 million guaranteed over six seasons.
But for also thinking outside the box and not giving up.
After Williams was fired by the Phoenix Suns, Pistons general manager Troy Weaver called Williams and offered him the head coaching job. Williams turned it down before they could even talk about money.
Williams was in a rough place, dealing with being fired. But there was something else. His wife, Lisa, was dealing with breast cancer.
“As we navigated all of that, I was talking to Troy and telling him man, I couldn’t, you know, right now because I gotta take care of my family,” he said.
Then, over a five-day period in May, Gores and Weaver hashed through different coaching possibilities; and Gores kept coming back to Williams.
“What exactly did we offer him?” Gores wanted to know.
Truth was, it never got to a money stage.
So Gores started putting together a plan.
But not just about the money.
A life plan
“Well, the first thing I looked at, if I was in his shoes, how would I feel?” Gores said. “And I kind of realized what it would be like to transition. How do you go from Phoenix to Detroit? What are the things that they would think about? Schools, medical resources, hospitals.”
Williams’ wife had doctors in Phoenix. How was she going to get back and forth to see them?
What would happen with their insurance?
What schools would their kids go to?
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Gores started talking about setting up a health and welfare coverage to make sure they felt comfortable.
He put together a plan so she would have access to a jet.
“We engineered the offer compatible to life,” Gores said.
Then, Weaver leaned into an old relationship.
Weaver and Williams go way back. Williams was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia; and Weaver was born in Washington.
“From the same area,” Weaver said. “We laugh and say we drank the same sewage for a long time.”
Weaver sent Williams a text: “Hey, can you talk?”
Yes, he admits now, it was a longshot.
“I was pretty surprised when he called me back and was open to having a conversation,” Weaver said.
Williams flew out to California, met with Gores and they talked family. And dogs.
And they connected.
“That night was a cool night,” Williams said. “We talked about the vision of the team. We talked about who we all are as people. Mr. Gores gave me a tour of his house and we just talked as fathers, as husbands, as members of our family. And that gave me an ease about him that we did relate to each other on that level.”
And yes, they talked money.
“To be honest with you, I committed that night,” Williams said.
Here you have a coach whose life was turned upside down — his wife had discovered cancer and his confidence was shaken after getting fired.
“He did a tremendous job in Phoenix, and I think us coming to him kind of restored his confidence,” Weaver said.
But him coming to the Pistons should give this organization confidence as well.
It’s a tremendous, talented, winning coach saying: I believe in Troy Weaver, I believe in the young core they have put together, I believe in Tom Gores.
“I was talking to my mentor, Pastor Bill,” Williams said. “When I got the job, he said, ‘you think you you’re going to be what they need.’ And he said, ‘I think this is what you need.’ And that really impacted me. … You know a coach is supposed to come in and change everything. I’m looking forward to how they’re going to impact me.”
Already connecting with his guys
One other important thing happened during this presser.
Nearly all of the Pistons players sat in folding chairs.
When Williams found out nearly every player was attending his news conference “it messed me up this morning,” he said, getting emotional. “You’ll find out that I get emotional sometimes over good stuff like that. And I’m so grateful to all of you guys for being here.”
As Williams talked, the players were all frozen in place. There was no fidigiting. They were looking at him eye to eye, like respectful young men.
“I’ve asked around the league for someone to tell me something squirrely about our guys, just so I know and I can’t find anything,” Williams said. “This is one of those rare situations that I’m walking into a locker room where I feel like I have a great group of guys that just want to get better.”
After the news conference, he came off the podium and went directly to the players.
He started bro-hugging them.
Connecting. If you ask me, it was a small glimpse into why he’s such a successful coach.
Give Gores credit. He put together a jaw dropping contract to get his guy.
Yes, it was about the money.
But it was about something else, too. All the life stuff.
Maybe, for once, both sides needed each other.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @seideljeff.