Suns Hire Monty Williams as Next Head Coach

Sixers assistant Monty Williams is finally getting another chance at being a head coach.

The Phoenix Suns announced today in a press release that Williams will become their new head coach. Williams will remain with the Sixers until the end of that club’s playoff run before making the move.

According to a recent tweet from Shams Charania of The Athletic, the deal will be a five-year contract.

General manager James Jones said in a statement, “I am thrilled to welcome Monty Williams to the Suns family as our next head coach…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 coach pedigree, leadership, and commitment to the community, all of which make him the ideal person to lead our team moving forward.”

For Williams, this will be his second stint as an NBA head coach. He previously led the New Orleans Pelicans/Hornets from 2010-15. He posted a 173-221 (.439) record with the team, along with two postseason appearances. However, they didn’t win a playoff series during the stretch.

Despite this, he is regarded as one of the NBA’s top assistants, and has been working with Sixers coach Brett Brown in Philadelphia this season. He had a two-year absence before this season while he mourned the death of his wife, Ingrid, who was killed in a car crash in Oklahoma City back in February 2016.

He spent some time with the Thunder as an associate coach back in 2015-16. Before that, he was an assistant for Portland for several years.

Williams is taking over the role in Phoenix previously filled by Igor Kokoskov, who was fired after one season. The idea that the Suns are giving him a five-year deal suggests to many, including to me, that they are finally going to give a head coach some patience in developing the team, including stars like Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, and Mikal Bridges, as well as some other young prospects.

Whether or not this is an ideal move for Williams, it’s clear that he would like to be a head coach. The only thing I question about this is whether or not he’ll actually go those five years. The consensus around the league is that Robert Sarver is the worst owner in the league and that nobody would like to work for him. However, the talent on the court is very promising and that would appeal to any head coach.

I wish Monty Williams the best and I hope this works out better than it did in New Orleans. However, you can never be too sure with Sarver, as well as the rest of that Suns front office. He will need to be more effective in this position than Kokoskov, and that may mean winning one year in, or even this season.