Monty Williams

This is a story that Coach Bob Knight told in his autobiography.  I am paraphrasing it, not quoting it, because it's been so long since I've read the book, and it was destroyed in Hurricane Gustav, and I don't feel like paying money for another one.  But anyway, Coach Knight spoke very fondly of Coach Clair Bee, and saw him as a mentor, and this story that he told is one of the biggest reasons why.

Coach Bee was a basketball coach back when players shot the ball with two hands, and it was common knowledge that the two-handed shot was the best way to make a basket. 

One day, coach Bee's team played a team where the players used a new and strange method to shoot the ball.  They shot the ball with one hand, with a motion that stressed using their wrists.   

The game was an absolute annihilation.  Coach Bee's team was completely outclassed. He immediately noticed how easy it was for the opposing players to make a bucket using the one-handed method, and suddenly, the two-handed method that he taught his players seemed inferior. 

That night, coach Bee held a practice, where he taught his players the one-handed shot, and from that moment on his team would never shoot with two hands again.  His team continued to consistently win. 

The difference between great coaches, and those who merely wish they were great, or those who pretend to be great is stubbornness.  

The NBA is becoming a different game.  The three-point shot is becoming increasingly more relevant, and the center position is becoming increasingly less important, and great centers who dominate the paint are becoming more rare.  The fact that a record number of three pointers were attempted last season, and that in this current season, that record is on pace to be broken, proves that.  

Monty's teams are in the bottom of the NBA in terms of defending the three point line, and in terms of attempting three-pointers.  They were the same last year when the then Hornets had inferior talent.  Now that the talent is significantly upgraded, the team continues to fail to defend the three point line, and continues to take a large amount of mid-range shots, the least efficient shot in the NBA. 

So now that the team has better players, and those players are making the same mistakes that the inferior players of last year were making, what does that say?  It either says that the players are not properly executing the coach's system, or that the coach's system is inferior.  Both problems are problems with the head coach.  

The first is a problem with the coach, because at the NBA level,  a coach's ability to properly communicate with the players in order to enable them to properly execute his system is the most important skill a coach can have, where in other levels, teaching a player to play is more important.  If Monty is not getting through to his players in order to properly execute his system, it's his fault, not the players.  Is it a coincidence that all winning teams are able to properly execute a coach's system?  Is it a coincidence that players on good teams are able to trust a coach enough to listen to what he says?  It isn't.

If that isn't the case with the Pelicans, and the players are able to properly execute his system, and the team is continuing to allow obscure players to have career nights from the three-point line against them, something is wrong with Monty's system, and that's where that stubbornness comes to play. 

It can be argued that Monty Williams places an extremely high priority on defending the paint, at the expense of defending the three-point line.  This was a sound strategy back when players like Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Alonzo Mourning were playing, and back when the best players in the NBA were post players.  This was a sound strategy when the best shooters in the league were Mark Price, Tim Legler, and John Paxson.  This was a great strategy when a player like Glen Rice were exceptions, and are in hindsight seen as "before his time."  That was a sound strategy when perimeter players were predominantly driving the ball to the rim, feeding the big man, and taking mid range shots. 

In today's NBA, the best players are on the perimeter.  The best players are point guards.  The best players are small forwards who do most of their work on the perimeter.  The pace is faster.  A lot more players are able to make buckets from behind the three-point line.  A lot more three-pointers are attempted.  A lot more three-pointers are made.  The best big men are no longer post players.  The big men in todays NBA are able to make things happen from the perimeter.

Although he would have been a great coach in the 90's, Monty seems to be unable to account for the style of play in today's NBA. 

Coach Clair Bee was able to see that the one-handed shot was superior to the two handed shot, and teaching it to his players was the only way his team would continue to win consistently.  Coach Bee did that, because, obviously, winning was more important to him than stubbornly sticking to his preferred style of play.

Winners acknowledge that sometimes, their way isn't the best way, and when they are able to see that, they discard their old way of doing things, and implement the best way of doing things.       

So far, in this young season, I don't see that particular quality in Monty Williams.  I am hoping that changes.