How Monty fixed the Suns
Head Coach Monty Williams leads the young Phoenix Suns as both are looking to recover.
The Phoenix Suns are 5–2 after defeating the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night behind an amazing 40 point performance from young phenom Devin Booker which saw the young guard shoot 15–19 from the field. The embattled franchise that has somehow just won 77 of a possible 328 games over the past four seasons now has something to hope for in the future. The reason for the Suns success can be attributed to the new Head Coach Monty Williams who has managed to give this young team the identity they so desperately need.
Williams was previously the head coach for the New Orleans Pelicans were he was unceremoniously fired after leading the team to the playoffs in 2015, meanwhile the Pelicans have only made the playoffs once since that season. Williams later became the assistant coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2016 where he was met with tragedy when he lost his wife Ingrid Williams in a car accident. Williams took the rest of that season off, and only returned to coaching in 2018 as an assistant for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Williams is undoubtedly one of the most beloved people around the league, with the whole NBA coming out in support of Williams during his difficult loss and journey back to the game that he loves so dearly.
The Suns are the youngest team in the NBA and despite having promising players such as Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton on their roster they only won 19 games last season. Before Williams the Suns last three head coaching hires have been first year coaches, and they have all produced terrible results. The development of their young stars has also been called into question as they have not been able to establish a system that allows their players to flourish.
Booker particularly has struggled despite clearly being one of the top scorers in the league. His career 44% shooting percentage is largely attributed to his poor decision making shooting the ball, so far this year he has taken less 3’s per game and has shot a career high 53%. Williams has done wonders to implement a system that not only takes some of the burden off of Booker’s shoulders but also make sure that Booker gets better shots closer to the rim.
Also, Williams has dealt with the shocking 25 game suspension of second year center Deandre Ayton, and given room to allow backup, Aron Baynes, to put up career highs in points, rebounds, assists, and field goal percentage. The development of Kelly Oubre Jr. under Williams system has also been remarkable as the young swingman is averaging 17.4 points on 48% shooting, after being a player that averages less than 10 for his career. The young guys are not the only ones benefiting as Ricky Rubio is giving the team solid contributions from the point guard position averaging 12.7 points 6.5 rebounds and 8.5 assists.
The Suns have also improved defensively as they now rank seventh in the league in defensive rating after ranking 29th in the league last season.Williams has been able to establish a culture that this team needed so desperately. The man has made the Sun’s one of the hottest young teams in the league.
The Suns incredible turnaround hasn’t even been about just playing bad teams as they have managed to pick up wins against three playoff teams last season. Regardless of whether or not this hot streak continues for the rest of the season this team has proven that they are no longer a laughing stock in the NBA and they have the ability to compete with any team on any given night. There is no one more willing and capable of pulling off this comeback than Williams and the league is rooting for him on this journey.
Parker Owens is a Journalist from Morehouse College that covers Sports, Social Issues, and entertainment.
