Detroit Pistons general manager Troy Weaver’s phone call to Monty Williams came at a vulnerable time for the former Phoenix Suns head coach. Williams’ Suns team, recently equipped with one of the greatest scorers to ever walk the earth, had just been eliminated in the second round of the NBA playoffs. It led to the 51-year-old being fired after turning an organization starting to be known for its stale popcorn, cold nachos and empty seats into an NBA title contender.
Williams doubted himself as a coach. He was pondering the future but couldn’t get unstuck from the present. While all of this was happening on a professional level, Williams’ wife, Lisa, learned she had breast cancer.
“For me, you marry yourself to the job,” Williams said. “There were many emotions that I was going through. To get that call from Troy, it kind of gave me a bit of confidence because you weren’t feeling great about getting fired.
“I had a situation, personally, in my family that needed attention. I talked to my wife today about whether or not we should talk about that publicly, but that was a huge part of my decision-making. The patience that Troy and Mr. Gores (Pistons owner Tom Gores) had with me as we navigated that told me a lot.”
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