Detroit Pistons Beat Writer Joins To Discuss Monty Williams Questionable Decision Making And Future

Detroit Pistons Beat Writer Joins To Discuss Monty Williams Questionable Decision Making And Future

Yesterday’s ending to the Pistons game might be the most insane ending I’ve ever seen watching the Detroit Pistons we saw SAR Thomson get speared on the basketball court and the Pistons lose at the end of the game because of it we’ll talk about that and a bunch of other

Things in today’s episode of the lock on Pistons podcast you are locked on Pistons your daily Detroit Pistons podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day Johnson with one second what’s the deal welcome back to another episode of the lock on Pistons podcast per usual I’m your host ker Hill you can find me over on Twitter at cah Hill I want to thank you guys Mak lock on Pistons your first listen of every

Single day fre available on all your podcast platforms if you haven’t already head to the YouTube channel at laon Pistons hit that subscribe button or leave us a five star revieww or whatever podcast platform you’re listening to us on that’s another great way to support the podcast and today’s episode is

Brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $150 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 150 bucks if your bet wins visit fanduel.com lockon to get started today and as you guys can see we are joined by Omari s kov thei of the

Detroit Free Press thank you Omari for joining us on today’s episode we’ll talk about the insane loss yesterday to the New York Knicks what happened at the end of this game some good stuff maybe we saw throughout the game but just the the crazy ending and then we’ll talk with

Omari about Monty Williams and the coaching job this season and then also talk about of the core guys getting more minutes together and how they’ve looked together um butar again I want to thank you for coming on the podcast man I know you’re a busy guy um want to let

Everybody know we are recording this right before the Chicago game so you guys will not be getting any thoughts on the Chicago game until tomorrow so stay in tuned for that but um without further Ado let’s go ahead and get into yesterday’s loss um before we hear from

Omari I want to just play Monty Williams press conference where he lost it he he lost it on everybody he was done he done with the refs U I just want to play it for you guys and then we’ll get into it and talk about it all where’s the New York media

Now the absolute worst call of the Season no call and enough’s enough we’ve we’ve done it the right way we’ve called The League we’ve sent in Clips we’re sick of hearing the same stuff over and over again we had a chance to win the game and the guy dove into aar’s legs

And there was a no call that that’s an Abomination you cannot miss that in an NBA game period and I’m tired of talking about it I’m tired of our guys asking me what more can we do coach that situation is exhibit a to what we’ve been dealing

With all season long and enough’s enough you cannot dive into a guy’s legs in a big time game like that and there be a no call it’s ridiculous and we’re tired of it we just want a fair game called period And I got nothing else to

Say we want a fair game and that was not fair I’m done so um that was probably the most animated we have seen Monty All Season Mari what’s your takeaway from the press conference the ending what’s your takeaway yeah I mean thanks for having me as always cou and like surprising I

Guess that’s the the the best word for it I wasn’t in New York for the game uh but just watching again on TV uh like you’re watching it all play out live and it like the lack of cause were a bit surprising before it even got to the

Point to where um he was speared the way he was a s speared the way he was and then when that happens I know I tweeted I think I said he got bumped because I like I had to go back and watch I’m like

There’s no way he got hit as hard as it looked like something had to have happened that I couldn’t see uh from my camera view for why that wasn’t called and then they replayed it and he straight up got tackled I mean there was like I can’t like that is a a extremely

Bad Miss car um so to see Monty go out and sort of take the bullet the way he did I know that that had been sort of a talking point with pistons fans just with the lack of cause perceived lack of cause that have sort of happened off

Season and that’s of course the the boiling point that’s probably the worst Miss called one of the worst ones of the Season although I know a lot of coaches have had Monte moments where they’ also uh chewed the refs out after game so it’s been an ongoing issues so uh with

Sort of as where injury to insult is the fact that that was a dis Pistons home game that got taken from them because of some weird inseason tournament scheduling in the NBA basically just said okay we’ll just take a game from the Pistons and we’ll give it to you

Guys so you lose a home game and then you lose a game that you probably should have won because of a really bad call at the end and it’s just it’s just tough you know it seems like this team uh even in games where they are competitive like stuff like that’s happened that

Led to them losing games and you could definitely feel Monty’s frustration at the end there but that was just a bizarre game overall that was that was for sure one of the most bizarre endings I’ve seen since I’ve covered the NBA no yeah it it seriously it was one of the

Most insane endings I’ve witnessed like all of it going from the assar getting speared over on the sideline and the ref literally being like he’s the ref is on top of the play like he’s he’s standing right next to the play sees it happen doesn’t call out anything I know some

Pistons fans feel like fon was even fouled on on the Strip they didn’t call that and then the foul that did get called was probably Jaylen Duran’s best vertical play of the night like out of all the like plays at The Rim he’s had was probably his most vertical one of

The night that’s the one that gets called um and the Pistons eventually lose the game now they they could have had a chance to claim the lead back if they could have secured a defensive rebound on on Josh Harts misses which is a problem in of itself but you don’t

Even get to that point if you know you call foul on an obvious call um and it’s not one of those ones either I completely understand why Monty’s Furious and this was it that that made him lose it um obviously Kade had gotten teed up that night um and lost his cool

A few times I I thought for a second Kade might have getting gotten ejected from the game because over on the bench he even still was like still going at the ref um so I thought he was risking getting ejected but you can see these guys are really getting sick of it and

Again if it was like one of those calls it’s like oh it’s you know so objective maybe it is maybe it isn’t I don’t know if it’s this bad of a reaction but like a very clear like football move um happening is what you know really sets

Everybody off and then I think you kind of mentioned it what makes it worse is that this was a game the Pistons probably should have won like definitely probably should have won they played well Cade played spectacular um he he didn’t miss at all in the entire first

Half played a tremendous game Quin Grimes had a fantastic fourth quarter I mean you got good contribution from a lot of players the players played really well in this game um and it to have it to to lose a game like that to a playoff team on their home court Manson

Square Garden the lights are on you and you lose like that I think that’s probably what really took him over the top with you know the the press conference and how Kade reacted as well no no doubt yeah Kade did get the tech earlier in the game and I know people

Sort of theorize about the clip of of him I think passionately explaining to Monty what happened or maybe some people perceived some tension there I think the bottom line is that uh the team is just I don’t want to say a breaking point but the frustration is definitely beginning

To mount especially with cage last week they asked them what the word of the the the the the team is and he said living so yeah you combine that with kad’s own lack of cause so he had zero in two games last week and It’s just tough I

Mean they’re a young team so there’s always going to be a respect aspect but when you sort of grind out a win the way you did last night and then it’s essentially taken from you I mean they you know you you get the the ball back

If that loose ball fouls called and you know then it’s a completely different game um you know It’s just tough You Know It’s just tough uh they competed they were down 13 in the third quarter uh they overcame a lot I mean they Trail by double digits multiple times uh they

Had what 17 turnovers for something like 20 what 30 points it was something like that and then 11 offensive rebounds for like 23 additional ones they overcame a lot to get back there so that’s why I’m still not at quite the point to where I say they played good enough to win

Because in a lot of ways they didn’t but the Knicks also didn’t play a great game so you really do get robbed at the end there yeah just just a really tough loss and I saw ESPN talking about I saw Brian whorse and um a few other guys talking

About and and they brought up you know every win every game is the Pistons really trying and just clawing to get a win so they can avoid setting history um and I know that there’s like 26 games left or something but this is a team who

Did lose 28 in a row so I mean you you would think that they’re definitely going to win two games at by the end of the year but like it’s not you know it’s not a conclusion it’s not forone that they’re going to get two more wins so

Having chances like this taken from you um it definitely hurts uh the team it hurts the players the coaching staff the fans it’s it’s rough um especially again just like on an obvious like just just an obvious like tackle it’s just that was just that probably one of the most

Insane no calls I’ve I’ve ever seen Monty called it the the worst one of the season I I can’t you want to know where my my mind went my mind went to literally no no joke the New Orleans Saints playoff game where like he uh Drew bre threw that pass and they hit

Sick them before the ball even got to them against the Rams they went to the Super Bowl everyone’s you had the whole city of New Orleans protesting for like weeks and weeks to R Goodell to get them put in the Super Bowl like that was that’s how insane that no call was for

Me so um tough loss they got another game after we’re done recording this against the Bulls I’ll talk about that in the next episode hopefully they can get a win I’m against Chicago is the backend of a back toback Kade is probable right now Ivy’s probable so by

The time you guys listen listen to this you guys will know whether they played or not but um if they do play I think I like their chances they’ve been playing better since the allstar break with their new pieces um so hopefully they can get back in the wi column and put

This behind them but yeah just the lack of calls in the referee referee stuff going on across the NBA I think is is is becoming a little bit of a a little bit of a problem but anyways when we come back Monty Williams and the rest of the

Coaching staff I want to talk with Omari and and really get his thoughts on how Monty’s done this year is false maybe some of his uh some of the things he’s done really well I want to talk about it all because I think Monty is is a bit of

A Hot Topic right now in the Pistons Community I want see what ourari thinks about that we’ll see about that when we come back this episode is sponsored by betterhelp give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com loock NBA and get on your way to being your best self sometimes

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Great way to support the podcast so Monty Williams is the head coach of the Detroit Pistons a team that is eight and 49 has been a just I think it’s fair to say a terrible season for the franchise I think a lot of people have been criticized throughout the year from

Ownership ship to the front office to the coaching staff and heck even to the players they changed eight players at the trade deadline so it’s not just the coaching staff that’s really getting heat not just the front office is really getting heat the players have been

Getting heat all season long too um but I think the most I think the most recent person or recent I guess part of the Pistons that’s really starting to come under Fire I think at first it was Weaver Weaver really started to get it at first from the fans then it was the

Players and now I’d say over like the last month it’s really turned to Monty Williams and for what’s worth I haven’t just seen fans talk about that I’ve been seeing National coverage talk about Monty Williams he’s been getting talked about a lot as of late um and there’s

Been some curious and you know questionable Decisions by Monty so Omar I just want to ask you just we’re gonna dive further into it um but just give your your you know surface level take on how Monty has done for the Pistons this year I mean when a team has eight wins

This obviously some something went wrong somewhere right uh you know I was will start off with the things that I think I’ve worked out this season because obviously there are things that I’ve not worked out which we’ll dig into um you know I’ll say one I think Kate just

Really settling into the row he’s in now where the assists are up turnovers are down uh you pretty much cut the first his first 15 games off and he’s been performing at the level you would want to see for a first overall pick and I know it’s where you can’t just cut off

The first 15 games but the point there is that he’s improved as the year is going on where now in the season he’s like averaging 23 points eight assists uh 46 overall 36 from three 86 at the line and that’s just a really healthy stat line for a guy who’s really in his

Second year given that he missed all the last year and even when he did play he had the shin injury obviously so you know K’s been good you know I think that they have figured out how to play toward his strengths a bit more as the year is

Going on and save him from some of his weak decision they talked about not playing in crowds and just getting the proper spacing around them and of course the front office has sort of made Monty’s job easier as far as that by getting actual Shooters uh I think dur

As long way to go on defense but I think his utilization on offense has been uh cool to watch too just him being more of a hub at the top of the key um I think his passing has been a lot more involved this season and his finishing has gotten

A lot better too and mon talked a lot about the work Mark Bryant’s done with him where um just overall I think JD is a much more well-rounded offensive player than he was a year ago uh you know so the bad I would say probably the

Top of that is just you know maybe the way that certain guys have stagnated and they haven’t been played you know to their best positions we’ve seen sort of ji uh yanked in a few different directions this season where you know he’s coming off the bench then he’s

Starting but he’s still largely playing off ball then he had the ball in his hands a bit more with k out and now we’re starting to see him back where he was before where you know you see him in the corner a lot he’s not um initiating

As many sets uh which is pretty different from last season and you know I think maybe when the tide really began to turn against Monty maybe from a fan stamp point or a national discussion standpoint was when he acknowledged that uh he had not thought to play Ivy in

That role you know which is what he pretty much primarily did as a rookie with Kate being out you know then you have assar Thompson his utilization has been you know a bit up and down where they talk about getting him more involved in P&R and he’s done that but

You still see him in the corner a lot like last night where it actually worked out because he had a clut three but you know generally teams they sag so hard off of the star that it does become an issue and some of that’s roster related

But you know also you know I think some of the um you know maybe process of figuring out how to use certain guys has languished and then there’s the rotations which you know could probably be a whole segment in and of itself the way that some guys have gotten uh

Preferential treatment over others so overall I mean it’s been a mixed bag you know I think there’s probably been a bit more good than some I’ve seen But along with that I think we have eight wins you look at the coach and the players first and you know I don’t think Mon’s

Maximized this group yet so you named you said a lot of things I did say a lot of things there I did I did I did you said a lot of a lot of things in the mixed bag so it’s like it’s hard to pick which way to go with

It so I’m let me go ahead and apologize I’m gonna take this time to apologize to Nick my channel manager because this segment is gonna be longer than than maybe it’s supposed to be so I apologize let’s go ahead and apologize to get it

Out the way um so I guess we’ll go in the in the route of I think the ji stuff was kind of talked about at the beginning of the year and now that he’s become a starter I think it’s it’s mostly washed away a little bit but

There is a lot of fans like you mentioned that want to see ivy on ball a little more naturally that’s just not going to happen as much when kade’s in the lineup like like you kade’s not Kade wasn’t here last year so obviously with him returning you’re just gonna have to

You’re gonna sacrifice those reps Now you kind I mean I guess we could go to the rotations we could go that route first um I i’ I’ve come out I don’t know if you know amario but I was very critical of of Dwayne Casey over the last few

Years um but my brothers they work at a gas station up in I believe Bloomfield and Dwayne lives somewhere around there and he goes and visits their gas station often he has a lot of conversations with them he talks to them all the time he

Said that hey I know who your brother is which I don’t know if that’s good or bad at all but um my point I’m saying this is I it got to a point last week that I I had to message them and be like look next time you see Dwayne tell him that

Your brother say he is so sorry for everything he said about him and that it’s it’s how critical I was I completely take all of it back because like where I’m going with this is the rotation there is a game I don’t know why it slipped my mind I was like two

Games ago you maybe know which one I’m talking about but like two games ago the Pistons Cade played great the starters played great together and literally just an hour before this game I don’t know if it was at home game you guys asked him or if it was a I I

Don’t know which one it was but literally there’s an hour before this game he Monty’s talked about how you know I don’t know if I can go 10 Deep I I you might have to go nine and a half which I don’t know what nine and a half

Is but I can’t go 10 Deep and you know we have we don’t really want to go fiveman lineups Off the Bench you know we gotta try to find ways to St so he says that and then in that game the starters I believe were like a plus 10

Against the other team starters and then he would play an all five bench lineup in the second and the back end of the third quarter and they were like a minus 18 and they just got like Kade was like a plus six and like a 11o loss or

Something like it it was rough and everyone was just like what’s going on you just said before the game this wasn’t what you’re going to do and then you go out and do it has that been a reoccurring theme with Monte you’ve been around the team a lot more than me

Obviously has that been a reoccurring theme where Monty will tell you guys one thing and then it seems like he does the exact opposite on the court I would say it has been like there have been moments where you mentioned one and then you also look at it um like

The OB units for example uh you know I would say probably toward the middle of the Season he talked about staggering Kad and Ivy more just acknowledging that things really would fall apart when the second unit would come in and the second unit has had good stretches this season

But by and large I think that unit has probably lost more games for the pistes than one more gam there was an acknowledgement that it needs more more juice more Firepower something um than around the trade deadline of course they have some injuries like k out and you

Can’t necessarily do that to the extent you want but uh you know I think it was surprising after the trade deadline when you had a roster of you know almost entirely new guys and you were still doing the all bench lineups you know the guys who had just got there and uh you

Know which he did immediately after the deadline which okay you’re getting guys feet wet but then after you start to see those units again and they’re also you know still struggling in different ways and I think that’s when some of the rotation decisions become s surprising

When it’s just maybe the lack of trust he has a certain guys where ji um you know he’s often subing out before where Kate is and a lot of his minutes have overlapped with Kate really since the middle of the Year even though you look at Ivy’s numbers and he was thriving

More so as that primary guy uh running pick and Rose with the second unit uh so I guess when you see maybe recurring instances where the Pistons are struggling and uh the coaching staff have really slow to adapt to kind of plug those hes I would say that that’s

Been a reoccurring issue this season um you know I think what excavates that too is just the fact that K uh they’re limiting him around 31 minutes a night you know seems like so when you see Kade come out a bit early and then Ivy is also coming out and then you’re seeing

Lineups have sassin uh you know or Flynn essentially doing everything and Flynn has been better than I expected you know to be honest as far as just his ability to knock down shots but even so we’ve seen those second units really struggle for shot creation and it just

Seems like that hasn’t been something he’s been able to figure out you know even though you have guys on the roster who could probably at least in my mind assist with that yeah and I I said on the podcast at the trade deadline that before that time I said I thought Monty

Was de a really bad hand and and then I thought he also did probably about as worst as you could with that bad hand so I thought it was it was a bit of front office and coaching after the deadline his hand isn’t the greatest but it’s a

Lot better so he has to do something with that hand and they’ve been they’ve played better as a team but I think one could argue that some of the decisions he’s made has lost them games we talked about the rotation a little bit the game I was talking about was the one

When he said I don’t know if we can go 10 Deep and then they went 11 deep within the first 13 minutes of the game like I I couldn’t I couldn’t believe it um but it is what it is um I I to stay on the rotation a little bit what do you

Think is the reasoning behind playing Wiseman over muscala because I know Monty says it’s for defensive reasons however if you look at the defensive what the defense looks like with wisman on the floor versus muscala uh I believe as last time I checked muscala has like a 109 defensive rating and plus 11.4

Onoff whereas wisman has a 121 defensive rating it’s like a minus 4.5 onoff or something like that um do do you understand why muscala is not playing anymore they were playing some of their B basketball with him on the floor en a him to play five out and now he’s just

Ceased to be in the rotation do you understand why why that’s happened yeah I mean we talked to mati about it at practice um want to say it was either Sunday or sometime last week and then he mentioned uh as you referred to James wisan his defense just making an an

Impact which he’s had good moments but you look at the numbers overall they haven’t really been in favor of James wisman being that type of uh impactful Defender and then you couple that with just some of the the spacing crunches you have in those lineups as well

Especially when shik Milton was in the rotation that he’s been uh replaced by with Quinton Grimes but um you know I like my best interpretation of it my best guess is just with wisan being a restricted free agent this summer and the pist has kept them through the the the deadline you

Get to look at them and just see if there’s anything you can do uh before you make a a decision on them this Summer and I think that’s probably the most uh logical I guess interpretation if you look at it from that standpoint because otherwise you could see just how

Visible of a difference Scala made visibility distress the floor uh we even talked about you know with miti but you know also just writing social media whatever about how it seemed to help a star where now that’s not as um it doesn’t hurt the offense as bad when you

Have a non shooter and AAR out there because he can rebound because he can do some of the weak side uh shot blocking and push the pace and that pairs really well with a floor spacing five like muscala so that’s the best interpretation of it uh you know I would

Say muscala did anything to lose his spot he’s just become less of a priority all right so this is what we’re going to do we’re going to go into the third segment we’re just going to keep talking about this we’re going to completely cut out the core guys talk because I there’s

A lot of different directions that I want to go with the Monty Williams talk and I don’t want to run out of time um so we’re just going to cut out for everyone I’m sorry if you were looking forward to us talking about the core guys we’ve talked a lot about them I

Think that’s fine I think you guys really want to hear from what you guys have told me you guys really want to hear about Monty and I have a few questions I want to Askari so um stay tuned for that when we come back we’ll get even more into Monty Williams time

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To get back into the Monty Williams talks um so there’s a question I want to ask you Omar if there’s anything that you can’t answer you don’t feel comfortable answering obviously you don’t have to answer but this is something that I’ve had a lot of people

Ask me and it was something that was a little bit of a talking point in the off season um and I didn’t pay too much attention to it but with how this season’s played out and some of the decisions Monty’s made I I have wondered a little bit about it as well

And I don’t know if you even really if you’ve heard anything about it or if they’ve talked about it all at all but I I gotta ask do you get the idea or do you get the gist or have you been told or have you’ve heard does Monty does

Monty and his coaching staff look at analytical data like lineup data like is that something they really do they is that something that they rely on or really focus on or or is that maybe not a a priority for them or maybe not high on their focal point they do have an

Analytics Department Mon’s reference um sometimes they’ll share stats with him and he does factor that in to his coaching um I don’t think he’s a Antics disciple to the extent that some coaches are where that’s sort of the Forefront of everything they they do but that is that is element of their decision-

Making it’s not just pure old school uh we’re just going off of Vibes and practice effort and whatnot right like they do have data where they’re able to break down some of those numbers on the court and apply that to what they’re doing whether it’s lineup or anything

Else so okay fair enough that that’s why I feel like I feel like this is where and this has been a complaint from Pistons fans I’ve seen for the last few years it just feels like there’s a disconnect between what maybe the front office says or maybe the ownership says

Or coaching staff says versus maybe what they’re really feeling or maybe what they’re really thinking about some things so like for example like you mentioned maybe the reason why they’re playing James wisman because like you said he’s a restricted free agent you gotta play him you know you want to see

Hey is there anything there before you make this decision on him um but the reasoning that Monty then gives is well you know he’s providing defense that maybe we won’t have and then you have people you know like myself that maybe will go look and be like well that

Doesn’t make much sense because the defense is like 13 points better with Mike muscala on the floor how’s that the case um which that then brings up the question of okay well do they really factor in lineup data is that something that they is that something that they

Really rely on or do they you know go off with other things so that’s why I wanted to ask that question I know it’s been something that the Pistons Community has been kicking around a little bit so thought to ask you that here um the next question I have for you

Is with do you do you feel like there’s a sense do you get any kind of sense at all um is there any and obviously on a team that’s won eight games there going to be a level of this but do you get a sense of like frustration building

Within the within the the the franchise right now or maybe the roster the locker room or maybe even within the coaching staff itself that this season obviously the season has not gone very well but basically does every does it seem like everyone still trusts in each other and and and the coaching

Staff does does everyone still seem to be pushing for that same goal or do you feel like it may be fractured a bit I think anytime you have a season like this where you fall so far from expectations where you essentially regressed the year you expected to take a step forward there

There’s going to be some tension you know I don’t think that you know everybody’s in there holding hands and seeing and Kumbaya you know I think there’s been some tough discussions this season as far as the extent you need to go uh to turn this thing around uh you

Know I will say just by sense Dow and things could always changeed for the end of the year um it had hadn’t pushed ownership to the point to where they’re like okay we just have to clean house and you know clearly try a new approach to this which my belief is still that’s

Some that’s just related to the fact that the Pistons have been bit in the past for making decisions too hastily right so you know obviously you fall short this season but uh they were very active during the trade deadline I think they had a clearer sense of what the

Roster needs to succeed and you know I guess we’ll see the extent that that holds up throughout the off season but there’s been frustration AB absolutely you know I don’t think you have a season like like this and you know everything’s still still Rosy uh you know I think

There’s been a lot of frustration as far as just you know seeing this be year four of something that you’ve been building for a while and that you’ve been pretty upfront about you know promising that this will turn around sooner rather than later right uh you know I think they

Made a lot of bad bets that brought them to that point but I think some of that too was just also the recognition that you can’t really pin this on one person right uh you know Troy you know of course Troy at the Forefront as a

Decision maker but you know Tom’s had a hand in a lot of this too you know I think that there’s maybe a collective sense of you know we all have a part to get out of this and you know to the extent that Tom gor’s you know patience

Ask you know as far as that process and how long he’s will to wait you know I think only he knows the question to that but I mean I would absolutely say that there’s been frustration uh you know you have a season like this where you’ve been humiliated there’s there’s

Absolutely going to be some negative emotion in there so I I I I don’t know if you know this you probably don’t but I shouted you out in the podcast like three podcasts ago because you can’t you’re not gonna be able to say it so I’ll say it um and maybe some others

Won’t be able to say it but Pistons fans and you know this though Pistons fans fans have been really critical of the beat riders for not being I think you put out of thread really really good job of like highlighting that you know a beat Rider’s job is not the same as a

Columnist job where you just it’s all just opinions with the colonist and then beat Riders that’s not their job so I think that was a really good thread by you to really try to explain to Pistons fans that’s not the job of yours um but overall I think Pistons fans for you

Guys have heard it that they feel like oh you guys don’t ever say anything critical don’t ever say anything negative you guys like you got you here which is false which is false yeah so earlier in the earlier in the season we had you on the podcast it was like a

Week after you wrote that um you wrote that article about I think it was like towards the end of the losing streak but it was pretty critical in that article yeah um but I shouted you out because you had been tweeting out some things and look you’re not gonna come maybe I’m

A little bit more you know I don’t I’m I’m a little bit more vocal I’m I’m G just say straight up you know because I ain’t got as much writing on it you feel me but but I shouted you out because there some of your tweets have been a

Little bit I’d say LeBron James like a little bit a little passive a little passive aggressive with your with your with your tweets so I want I take that I want to go this Direction with it I said on the podcast probably like four days ago whatever podcast that was that I

Shouted you out that I thought that um Troy was really auditioning for his job the rest of the year from like the losing streak with the trades and the rest of the year and I thought that despite the fact that he was given a fiveyear contract with the amount of

Money he was given that Monty Williams should also be fighting for his job for the rest of the year when when you have this bad of a season I don’t think anybody should be safe and then I mean you combine I mean like I said we’d

Spent we’d be on the pockets for like an hour and a half dude if we talked about like all the different directions you brought up with with some of the things that have been questionable by Monty but there rotation decision some of the the ways he handled Jay and Ivy um the

Offense how he plays assar assar starting beginning of the year playing well then going back out of the rotation for a team that was losing or not out of the rotation but the back of the rotation for a team that’s losing a lot comes there’s a lot of things that he’s

Done that’s been pretty questionable I’ll just say that a lot of things that I think were pretty bad decisions but questionable at the least um do you get the sense at all or do you think it’s fair to believe that when it’s a season like this even even with a first year of

A five-year contract that he could be you know maybe not F in is the right word but maybe like coaching for his job the rest of like he needs to show for the rest of the year with these new pieces that they’re not uh the worst

Team in the NBA kind of thing like do you think that’s something that could be factored in or do you think at this point he has a five-year contract largest contract at the time of Ever of a head coach ever it would take something pretty incredible for him to

Be on the hot seat whatever what’s what’s your sense on that yeah I don’t know about pretty incredible you know I think if it comes down to it and it’s just clear that the situation is not table at all that it’s just not going to

Work um you know if it came down to it I do think Tom would just bite the bullet and just eat the contract which is six years by the way you know so oh God six years my fault you know and and it could be as many as eight so oh yeah that’s

Right yes you know so that’s what you’re looking at uh but if it gets to that point you know I I do think Tom will would bite that Billet I mean again you can have a season where you have eight wins with you know what 25 games left

And um you know act like everything’s peachy right you know clearly clearly something in the chain of command is not working out and you know we’ve talked about the lineups and Ro rotations and they had the meeting back in December about you know Ivy’s usage and this and

That if it gets to that point you know like I don’t I don’t think it’s a guarantee that Monte Williams lives out that entire contract you know at some point you have to win games and you have to show that um this thing could be turned around you know so I think the

Only question is you know not only can the Pistons do that but just how long is Tom gures willing to be patient as far as that because so far the operating thought is that things can still get better and they have gotten better but not to the extent that it’s like well

This thing is on the right track right like you need to see more than what they’ve had so far um you know I think to really have full confidence that this thing can change you have cap space this summer you have more Avenues to change the the team so realistically you could

Probably give it one more year or at least a half season to see if this thing can find subtraction but no at some point you know you know if it’s not working out it’s not working out and the money just is what it is at that point

Right so final question and then we’ll we we’ll let you go we’re at 38 minutes I always run a little bit too long but final question we’ll let you go do you do you get the sense or feel like that the coaching staff is on the same

Page as the front office do you do you feel like they’re on the same wavelength here because based on certain things I’m I’m I’m asking for your for your in opinion and insight on it based on certain things you think that with you know with the moves Troy made at the

Deadline and some of the things he said that signals that that would signal that he knows that there needs to be some kind of immediate results for him to keep his job not you know playing like that stuff’s dead it was de a long time ago but like I mentioned like after the

Trade downline maybe play close to 500 basketball win a lot more games the deadline to where you can go into the offseason and say hey the season start off poorly but with this new roster we got it looks it looks like it was heading in the right direction they and

It looks like that was what the motivation behind Weaver’s moves were also from Tom’s letter to the fans that just seems like that was the motivation there there’s been some talk that maybe Monty Williams is not on that same wavelength from some of the decisions he makes like like that we’ve

Mentioned on the podcast and you know with the rotations some of the lineups the guys he shoes to play um the minutes certain guys are playing like does do you do you think Monty Williams in the front office are on the same page with that or do you think maybe the front

Office is feeling a little bit more heat and whereas Monty is more so looking at it like you know he doesn’t feel as much heat maybe as they are or he’s not looking at it as much of a it’s when now I have to win these games right now um

For example like to just to back this up and I’ll let you go is you know he said that hey our job is to win games now Monty that is he’s might our job is to win games now we can’t be playing this deep of rotation blah blah blah and then

He goes out and plays 11 guys then he goes out and plays 10 guys then he goes out and you know he’s doing the exact opposite of what he’s exactly saying about winning games right now so do do you think they they’re on the same

Page I think so I think they’re more on the same page now maybe than they were before the trade deadline you know I think it was apparent early in the season after a certain point that the roster just wasn’t built to succeed you had so much overlap with durren and

Wisman and back ly really no spacing in that group it forces Isaiah to play at the four which you know I think organizationally the they they saw him doing that but I think the reality is that at this stage he’s probably more of a hybrid four five than a four time four

Uh but he can’t play five you know the way the roster was constructed you didn’t have enough shooting um I think there’s an awareness that maybe they taken too many dark throws over the years which just hoped for development that did not happen and you know I think

The organization realized we need to bring guys in can play you know whatever we were pin like hoping the season would be you know clearly we pinned our hopes on the wrong things so now we have to to Pivot uh to me I think the pressure is

Higher on the front office than it is on Monty simply because this has been a four-year thing for the front office and Monty just got here you know that doesn’t mean Monty is Without Blame or without flaw or anything like that but you know we’ve heard it from time you

Know pretty much straight up he said we talked to him in in December that uh um you know miti just got here so it wouldn’t be fair to say that this is his fault and then when TR talked to the media a couple weeks ago day after the

Trail deadline he says that uh Mon’s not had the same pain you know simply because he just got here and this is something we’ve been building for four years so to me that that puts a lot more pressure on the front office you know they’ve been here uh you know they

Expected to turn things around this offseason they went um with the approach they went before last offseason with the belief that the core of the team was enough to compete um and and they missed that bet horribly so uh the main thing saving M I say is really just the fact

That he hasn’t been here a full year yet and you have people have been in the Cog a lot longer so um yeah to me it’s a front office issue first and a mon issue second and I think the extent that that flips depends what the front office is

Able to do this offseason to really give mon the tools all the tools needed to succeed and that succeed not just in winning some games right but actually they able to compete every single night uh which is this is year three of that goal and they haven’t gotten there yet

So uh you know again that that predates my te and that’s why I feel like it’s a more of a front office issue at this point fair enough all right we’ll end it off there we could go on for another hour but know it is what it is but thank

You Amari for coming on man I appreciate you um thank you guys for listening thank you guys for making lock on Pistons it’s your first listen of every single day follow Omari over Omari sofa on Twitter ask him any questions you want um but until next time man I’ll see

You guys later stay safe out there till next time peace out

Omari Sankofa II of the Detroit Free Press joins the show to discuss the Detroit Pistons’ heart-wrenching loss to the New York Knicks and the final possession of the game. Also, spend more than half the episode discussing Monty Williams’s decisions as head coach of the Pistons and his future with Detroit.

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