Betrayer

This is the week of draft smoke and boredom while we wait for crazy season to begin next Thursday.

Who? Toronto rebuild incoming.

Would love to see a rule where the team that waived a player can't re-sign him for 12 months. Cut the shenanigans.

Where's he going to ring chase next? I'm guessing Lakers.

He has one of Whitmore's strengths as "feel for the game". I'm a fan of Whitmore, but that's literally his biggest weakness. He has "Interior Scoring" as one of Walker strengths, even though the guy shies away from contact worse than Killian. Again, one of his biggest weaknesses. I'm not sure anyone else has Amen that low (#6). I'm not sold on the Hamidou twins, but even I'm not letting Amen drop to #6.

**** isn't coming off the board until around pick #10, so he could be a target if they trade down. Still though, this team needs 2-way wings. Only one team in the bottom third of the NBA on defense has made it past the first round in the past 5 years. With Cade, Ivey, ****, and Bogey we'd be historically bad. I'd like **** off the bench as a 6th man, but I'm not spending a top 10 pick on a bench player when this team desperately needs 2-way Forward talent.

Certainly agree that you need the players and Monty's ceiling may not matter at all if Cade, Ivey, and Duren aren't "him". However, there's no better example of the importance of coaching than this postseason run by the Heat. Sure, having the talent of Doc River's Celtics team can win it for you regardless but Detroit teams will rarely (if ever) have that luxury.

He’s fine in the regular season using a system that empowers the players, but once teams start strategizing against their opponents in the playoffs he gets chewed up. If you watched the Suns get smashed out of the playoffs multiple times you saw his weaknesses on center stage. Talk to any Suns fans and they’ll say the same. Poor game management, poor play calling, poor at making adjustments. He’ll be fine to help this team take the next step because he’s basically an upgraded Casey, but his contract will outlast his usefulness and they didn’t help him out any by getting a top assistant who has exactly the same strengths and weaknesses.

Would have preferred them grabbing someone who can compliment Monty by covering up his weaknesses - discipline and X's & O's. That's definitely not Silas who's terrible at both of those things. Same as Monty. Same as Casey.

I'm fine with Whitmore or Hendricks. Probably leaning to Hendricks more now, but either would make me happy. Not sold on Hamidou Thompson, but I can see the upside. Probably too much of a project for such a high profile coach.. Walker feels like a Weaver player and that scares me. If you peel back the numbers on where and how he scored (and didn't), his offense really scares me. I don't want to draft a glue guy with the #5 pick. I also think getting Monty really opens up the possibility we trade this pick.

Monty went away from the 0.5 second system as time went on in Phoenix. Guys like Chris Paul and then Kevin Durant simply don't play that way. So I think it remains to be seen if Monty is going to try that again. If he does, then yeah, Wiseman and Bagley trying to post up all the time is over and I couldn't be happier about it. I think it also has an impact on the draft. If they keep the pick, someone like Whitmore whose downside is passing and "feel" probably moves down their draft board. He's not a 0.5 second offense kind of player unless they see something to make them believe that was all because of his youth and the horrendous system at Villanova last year. However, I also think it really opens up the door for us to trade the pick. You've got a high profile coach that you're paying big money, so you might move the pick for an established player and kick start this thing. Side note: I see Phoenix fans teasing us about Landry Shamet who was apparently Monty's version of CoJo.

I like that Gores is willing to spend the money. I like that they went out and got their guy. Compared to the competition we were told about, he was clearly the best choice. I don’t care how much he costs, because it’s not cap space He’ll be solid and raise the floor of this team. As others have said, he may even attract some talent with his name and reputation. And if it wasn’t obvious before, it’s crystal clear now that Gores is done with the tanking (so hopefully at least one of Cade, Ivey, and Duren are “him”). Only concern I have is the length of this contract. If the team has the talent to take multiple steps forward over the next few years, a deluxe version of Casey isn’t the guy that’s going to get you the trophy. Monty is good enough to get them to the playoffs provided the talent develops as we hope, but in my eyes there will need to be one more “next coach” to take that final step. Hopefully Gores can swallow his pride and his wallet enough to make that happen if/when that time comes.

No matter how this goes, consider me less than excited. At this point I just want them to make an announcement and rip the band-aid off so we can start examining the wound. Monty has a respected name, but every description of him sounds like just another Casey to me. Great man, player's coach, good for culture, stagnant offense, poor game management, collapses in the playoffs, and plays favorites with vets he likes.

Really interesting that Ollie left OTE without having a job. Maybe they were just looking for an excuse to fire him and simply let him go for interviewing with another job? Or, maybe the Pistons offered him a different job in the organization since he's Weaver's buddy and just asked him not to announce it yet until they announce the coach.

Can't wait to hear the press conference when they try to say that Lee (or Ollie) was "their man from the start" and they "couldn't think of anyone better to lead this team." Meanwhile those guys are sitting at home right now wondering if they're going to get that 2am booty call after we get turned down by our first choice.

This 100%. If nothing else, this series should demonstrate the importance of good coaching. One team was coached well, moved the ball, played defense, and played together. The other side just tried to toss a couple stars out there and win it on sheer talent alone.

Ollie wasn't interviewed for any other head coaching jobs. Why leave OTE if he didn't get the Pistons job? I don't see how this goes any other way unless they did something weird like hire him for a different role after he interviewed for HC.

Well, he guaranteed game 6 too, sooo… Either way, it was a fantastic game, so hopefully game 7 is as much fun.

We all better get used to this idea. I’m sure Ollie will want to pay the nepotism forward and we’ll draft one of the twins.

Saying goodbye to his old job at OTE pretty much tells you he’s going to be the coach. The other candidates where underwhelming, but this is disappointing.

Taylor Hendricks vs Jarace Walker:

Reports are that Monty is simply planning to take a year off, but I guess we'll see if maybe he was just holding out for a different team.

It's also being reported that they offered Monty Williams a large contract and he rejected it. Imagine going through a multi-week process to get the Pistons HC job and then you find out that in the middle of all that they made a side offer to another coach who never even got an interview or had to fly to LA to see Gores. Maybe the Pistons "narrowed" it to 2 candidates, or maybe Collins just decided this circus wasn't worth his time anymore.

The good old days. To be fair though, it was only enough if you were the Pistons. That defense was on a different level.

As the days go by I'm leaning more and more towards defensive candidates at the #5 pick. Especially after watching these playoffs and seeing that only once has a team in the bottom 10 on defense gotten past the first round of the playoffs in the past several years. Pistons were #29 in defense last year. I heard a trade proposal the other day that involved sending Bogie out to Dallas for the #10 pick and I'd be all over that. Our defensive ceiling is capped with Cade and Ivey as our backcourt of the future. I think you simply have to hope that those guys pop as your offensive core and surround them with 3 and D dogs at the Forward positions. Bogie either has to become a bench scorer or get moved while he has value. Guys like Grady are falling on my board. That's the type of player that would fit great on a team with Lebron or Giannis, but not on a team that already has a defensive ceiling cap unless you're drafting him to just be a bench scorer. I've also decided to move Hendricks above Whitmore on my draft board (and Del rejoices!). I still love the explosive potential of Cam Whitmore, but his defensive ceiling isn't on the same level as Hendricks who can be that perfect player next to Duren in the starting lineup while also being one of the best shooters in the top 10.