Posts Tagged ‘Monty Williams’

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Williams: Don’t Crown These Bulls Yet!

February 29, 2012  ·  11:27AM





HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – You can count Hornets coach Monty Williams among those taking a wait-and-see approach before anointing the Derrick Rose-led, Tom Thibodeau-coached Chicago Bulls as anything more than just a good, solid contender.

And this notion, no doubt from some diehards in the Windy City and beyond, that the next great era of Bulls basketball is at hand … well, Williams is not ready to crown them just yet.

He suggested to the Chicago Tribune that everyone needs to step back before making comparisons between these current Bulls and the Michael Jordan-led, Phil Jackson-coached Bulls teams that Williams played against early in his NBA career:

“I don’t think it’s even close to that yet,” he said before his team took the United Center floor Tuesday. “They do a really good job and they are on their way, but I played against (Michael) Jordan and (Scottie) Pippen and (Dennis) Rodman, and that was a different beast. If you didn’t watch yourself, when they called out Jordan’s name, you’d get caught up in it.”

Williams, the former Notre Dame star who played for the Knicks, Spurs, Nuggets, Magic and 76ers from 1994-2003, said: “There’s a little bit of that (aura) with Derrick Rose, but it’s not the same. I think you have to win a title first. It’s a tough place to play anyway, but when you have a title, that separates you.”

Williams believes the Bulls are on their way, thanks to the hiring of coach Tom Thibodeau, who also was offered the Hornets job.

“When they signed Coach Thibs, they knew they’d be a defensive(-minded) team,” he said. “He’ll bench a guy for not playing defense, and I think that’s the identity you have to have to move toward a championship.

“They play a physical style. They foul a lot, and it’s not always called. … They play hard. That’s an identity you want to have.”

If our read-between-the-line skills are still intact after a long All-Star weekend, that would appear to be quite a bit of backhanded praise on the part of Williams.

He’s also spot on about one thing in particular, these Bulls (who face the Spurs tonight at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN)  are not close to matching the prowess of the Jordan-led Bulls just yet. And until they win a championship, there’s no need to even entertain the conversation.

The best part? Rose and Thibodeau would be the first people to insist on ending the comparison talk!

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Posted in HT News / Comments (127) /

Blogtable: Coach With Most Pressure?

December 14, 2011  ·  11:05AM

Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

Of the coaches starting the season with a new team, who has the hardest gig?

Steve Aschburner: Any coach new to his team this season has his hands full. Mike Brown, with the heat of the L.A. spotlight, the expectations, the egos and the end of the triangle offense will earn every penny. Others are near the end of their contracts. But Monty Williams won 46 games with New Orleans last season. If Chris Paul stays put with David West gone and limited help arriving, he and the Hornets will be hard-pressed to get 19 (half the pace of last season, based on 66 games).

Fran Blinebury: Mike Brown. He’s following perhaps the greatest coach in NBA history by taking over the helm of an aging ship that just had a gaping hole blown in its hull with the loss of Lamar Odom in a city where anything less than a championship is considered a failure.  Good luck with that.

Scott Howard-Cooper: Mike Brown. Rick Adelman will have to do a lot of heavy lifting in Minnesota and Kevin McHale steps into Houston at a particularly challenging time, but try being the guy who can get his team to a conference final and be part of a failed mission. That’s life as coach of the Lakers.

Shaun Powell: We don’t know the final makeup of the Lakers just yet, so we’ll put an asterisk next to Mike Brown‘s name. And assuming Paul Silas doesn’t count in this, his first full season with the talent-starved Bobcats (he took over for Larry Brown during last season), the guess would be Lawrence Frank in Detroit. Yes, he does have new ownership, which will refreshingly allow Joe Dumars to do what’s necessary. But the Pistons are coming off a poor season, attendance is lacking and there are odd-fitting pieces on the roster. Frank may need to take a few blows to the chin this season until the cap opens up and a lottery pick arrives next summer.

John Schuhmann: Dwane Casey, who’s taking over the team that has ranked last defensively for two straight seasons. The Raptors are young, but none of their young guys looks to be a franchise cornerstone, at least until they bring Jonas Valanciunas over next year. Casey’s patience will be tested and hopefully, the team’s new owners give him ample time (he only got a season and a half in Minnesota) to turn that team around.

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Posted in Blogtable, Free Agency 2011 / Comments (10) /

What Now For Chris Paul?

December 12, 2011  ·  3:19PM

HANG TIME NEW JERSEY BUREAU – Chris Paul is still a member of the New Orleans Hornets. And at this point, you have to start thinking about the possibility of Paul being in uniform when the Hornets play their first preseason game in Memphis on Friday night.

On Monday afternoon, multiple outlets reported that the Los Angeles Clippers were pulling out of the latest negotiations with the Hornets (and/or the NBA league office).

Here is ESPN’s report from Marc Stein and Chris Broussard…

Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com that the league-owned New Orleans Hornets and the Los Angeles Clippers could not complete their proposed Paul trade because the Clippers ultimately decided the NBA’s asking price for the All-Star guard was too high.

…

At the NBA’s direction, sources said, New Orleans was insisting upon the inclusion of both shooting guard Eric Gordon and Minnesota’s unprotected 2012 first-round draft choice in addition to former All-Star center Chris Kaman and prospects Al-Farouq Aminu and Eric Bledsoe.

The Clippers found the demands “too steep,” according to one source close to the process, even after Paul told the Clippers he would invoke the 2012-13 option in his contract as part of the trade, ensuring that L.A. would have him next to Blake Griffin for at least two seasons

Paul is a special player, but that’s a lot of assets to give up if you’re not sure he’ll be staying beyond next season. Now, we must wonder what it’s going to take for the Hornets/NBA to part with Paul and if a trade is even possible at all with the league owning the team.

Meanwhile, the only players that the Hornets have signed are training camp fodder. Their roster is basically Paul, Trevor Ariza, Jarrett Jack, Emeka Okafor, Quincy Pondexter, and nine guys you’ve never heard of. And Monty Williams has to get them ready to play a game in four days.

***

John Schuhmann is a staff writer for NBA.com. Send him an e-mail or follow him on twitter.

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Posted in Free Agency 2011, Uncategorized / Comments (126) /

Playoff Picture Taking Shape

April 7, 2011  ·  10:36AM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – The Spurs have the top spot in the Western Conference locked up.

The Hornets’ ticket to the postseason has been punched. The Pacers are in, too. Wednesday night’s action around the NBA cleared up a few outstanding issues in regards to the playoffs.

Things are finally taking shape.

There’s only one spot left, the eighth and final slot in the Western Conference. And the Hang Time Grizzlies have it within their grasp — they can lock up the spot with a win over Sacramento on Friday night.

We still don’t know exactly how the playoff matchups will play out, there is still plenty of jostling being done in the bottom halves of both the Eastern and Western Conference standings. But we could have all 16 playoff teams locked in before the final weekend of the regular season is 12 hours old.

A few notes, quotes and an opinion or two after eyeballing as much of Wednesday night’s action as we could …

Heat Limping Without Wade

All this LeBron James-for-MVP talk has overshadowed an equally impressive season by Dwyane Wade. Just how different are the Heat without Wade in the lineup? They found out last night when they lost to the Bucks while he sat our resting a bruised thigh. The Heat has a 5-8 record when James, Wade or Chris Bosh doesn’t play or doesn’t finish a game due to injury.

ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst offered up a rather pointed analysis of the Heat’s current state of affairs (you can cover your eyes now, Heat fans):

If the Heat win their last four games, their huge free-agent haul will have meant a grand total of 11 more regular-season wins than the expiring free-agent crew Wade carried around all of last season in overachieving purgatory.

Unless the Celtics lose twice and the Heat win out, adding James and Bosh will have earned the Heat a mere two higher seeds in the standings, unimpressively going from No. 5 to No. 3. Indeed, the playoffs are the time for salvation, but the data doesn’t add up to an inspiring projection.

“What does the 2 seed guarantee you?” asked James, who had 29 points and eight assists in the loss.

“It doesn’t guarantee you win the series. … I’m a prime example. The last two years, I have been the first overall seed of everybody, all 16 teams, and it didn’t pay off for us.”

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Posted in About Last Night / Comments (180) /

Blogtable: No. 8 in the West

April 6, 2011  ·  11:34AM

Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

Who’s your pick for No. 8 in the West? And give us a couple reasons why.

David Aldridge: I think Portland holds onto sixth (pretty easy last week for Blazers other than Lakers, but L.A. doesn’t have anything to play for now and Portland has owned the Lakers up at the Rose Garden). So I’ll take the Hornets for eighth, just on the basis of Sunday’s game with the Grizz being in Memphis, where the Grizzlies have been pretty good (19-6 since New Year’s).

Steve Aschburner: Memphis, and I’m not just picking the Grizzlies because they’re in the catbird’s seat mathematically. Well, OK, I am. But they have a feisty and lengthy front line, with Marc Gasol protecting the paint and Zach Randolph a load at the other end. Then there is Tony Allen, who has been crazy-active lately as a surrogate for injured Rudy Gay. The Celtics never leaned on or trusted him like this, but with Memphis, Allen is a veritable savvy playoff vet.

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Blogtable: Coach of the Year

March 2, 2011  ·  12:48PM

Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

Early coach of the year?

Steve Aschburner: Gregg Popovich, Tom Thibodeau and Erik Spoelstra have done the best coaching jobs, in my opinion. And in that order. Spoelstra was in a position to get steamrolled by the star power in Miami, yet was able to navigate the egos, recover from that LeBron James shoulder shiver and fend off the tabloid mentality waiting for his failure. Thibodeau, as a rookie head coach, has been one of those overnight sensations 21 years in the making. He has the Bulls believing in his defensive teachings and in his ability to make them better. But Popovich has been even more impressive, keeping San Antonio at the top as a title contender while remaking his roster and reinventing the Spurs’ style to push the pace. And while he has great mature players – adults – on his roster, he’s doing it without a Top 5 candidate for MVP.

Fran Blinebury: Gregg Popovich.  The annual flaw in the Coach of the Year voting is that it rarely goes to the guy whose teams finishes with the best record in the league.  It seems he’s expected to be a big winner. Well, virtually nobody that I saw in any preseason predictions expected the Spurs to finish with the No. 1 record in the league.  Pop has rejuvenated Richard Jefferson, remade his offense, still complains about his defense and he’s got the Spurs sailing along with the best record while the Heat, Lakers, Magic, Knicks, etc have drawn all the headlines. (more…)

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The Other Victory

January 27, 2011  ·  12:45PM

OAKLAND – They’re back to being the anchored Hornets, out of relocation limbo in New Orleans until further notice after drawing enough fans by a Jan. 31 deadline to avoid triggering an option that would have allowed the owners to break the arena lease and move after the season.

This passes for stability in their world. Yet, the NBA is still the caretaker owner until a permanent buyer can be found. No one can say for sure whether the Big Easy is still an interim home for the franchise that started in Charlotte. And, finally, the lockout is bearing down. Try getting customers excited to buy season tickets if it’s impossible to tell them when (if?) the season is going to start.

The other perspective: While reaching the statistical benchmark to keep the lease in place was an important victory for civic and government leaders who rallied locals for increased fan support, the Hornets were still No. 24 in the league in attendance entering Wednesday. Only the Hawks, Pacers, Grizzlies, Nets, 76ers and Kings had a worse showing at the turnstiles than the 14,487 in New Orleans.

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About Last Night: On A Roll Again

January 25, 2011  ·  8:09AM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – The New Orleans Hornets are at it again.

You remember the Hornets don’t you? They were the surprise team of the first few weeks of this season after an 8-0 start. They were also winners of 12 of their first 13 games and the Western Conference team no one figured would be a factor in the playoff race this season … until they actually started playing some games.

They’ve had their doubters this season, off the court and literally in the stands. But Chris Paul and company haven’t let any of that slow them down. They have not wavered in their dogged pursuit of not only a playoff spot but a top four spot.

They hit their attendance benchmark last night against the Thunder and battled back for their ninth straight win, courtesy of their stifling defense and David West‘s jumper with 0.5 seconds to play.

Clearly, Hornets coach Monty Williams is pushing all the right buttons with his team right now. We’re a bit embarrassed that no one has mentioned his name, in passing even, as a potential candidate for Coach of the (Half) Year. The Hornets have now moved into third place in the constantly changing Western Conference standings, a testament to their perseverance this season through tumultuous times.

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Blogtable: Hornets’ future

December 8, 2010  ·  1:46PM

Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

The league is taking over the Hornets. Good for the Hornets? Good for New Orleans? Good for the league?

Steve Aschburner: Good? I wouldn’t say good as in a better course of action than the traditional approach (stable ownership, billionaire boss man’s deep pockets and competitive drive). But this is good compared to the alternative: George Shinn was an embarrassment, New Orleans isn’t vibrant enough economically to support the NBA these days (if ever) and the league is better off serving as the guardian of a forlorn franchise vs. letting it flounder.

Art Garcia: As harsh as this may sound, it beats George Shinn owning the team. League ownership, at this point, provides the Hornets a measure of stability, especially on the financial end, until a new buyer is found. David Stern has long been committed to making it work in New Orleans, so considering the lack of alternatives, this is best solution right now.

Fran Blinebury: It’s good for the Hornets in that it should give them stability and it will be good for New Orleans if the league truly does have the city’s best interest at heart and is willing to be a steward for whatever length of time is necessary to find a local owner.  But the cynic in me has my doubts and I believe if the remaining league owners who are financing the deal could make enough of a windfall profit by selling to someone whose intention is to relocate to one of the rings of Saturn … well, laissez les bon temps roulez right out of the Big Easy.

Scott Howard-Cooper: Bad for the Hornets. The move screams instability, with the league a transitional owner and uncertainty ahead at every turn, and the last thing that franchise needs is more instability. It’s a push for New Orleans. No buyer was at the ready who would keep the team there anyway. With attendance lagging, the Hornets may have moved even without the league stepping in.

Shaun Powell: Whenever leagues take over teams, as Major League Baseball did with the Expos, doom is in the forecast. New Orleans, which lacks Fortune 500 companies and corporate dollars, is a tough town for pro sports if you’re not the Saints, who only need to fill the Dome for eight Sundays. As Thelma said to Louise once they were surrounded by cops, something’s about to go down.

John Schuhmann: I guess we’ll find out in a few years. Obviously, something needed to be done to keep the team stable for the time being, because it clearly couldn’t survive under George Shinn’s ownership. It would be great if New Orleans could keep the team in the long run, but if the fans aren’t showing up, there may be a better home for the team somewhere else. Ask me this question again in three years.

Sekou Smith: This is dangerous territory for all involved. When a league steps in and starts working both sides, you’re asking for trouble. (Anyone hoping to land Chris Paul in a trade should go ahead and tear up those plans.) I’m sure there are a million reasons this has to be done and everyone will try and reassure us that it’s for the greater good of the Hornets, New Orleans and the NBA. Too bad it doesn’t feel that way right now.

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All The Right Moves

November 22, 2010  ·  10:10AM

HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – For the longest time, going all the way back to middle of summer, we weren’t sure what it was Chris Paul was looking for.

We heard the rumors. Then we heard from him, dispelling the rumors. And then came the sit down meeting with the Hornets’ brass and word that everything was good.

But we still had no idea what it was CP3 wanted.

Then the season started and everything cleared up. The Hornets rolled to the best start in the league and went about their business like the summer and all the drama had never happened.

We see it now. Chris Paul wants his crown back, the one Deron Williams, Rajon Rondo, Steve Nash, Derrick Rose and several others have tried on in his absence from the throne as the NBA’s top point guard.

Even better, Paul is going about getting it back the ol’ fashioned way, he’s going to earn it back. It always helps when the organization has your back. And the Hornets are making all the right moves these days.

Their weekend trade — Toronto sent Jarrett Jack, David Andersen and Marcus Banks to New Orleans for Peja Stojakovic and Jerryd Bayless — is just the latest master stroke of new GM Dell Demps, who knows a thing or two about building a winner after working in San Antonio prior to taking over the Hornets in the summer.

(The Nuggets might want to take notes or at least call Demps for some pointers, what with Carmelo Anthony‘s name being mentioned more prominently than Paul’s in nearly every trade rumors since draft night.)

The message the Hornets are sending is as simple as it is impressive. If you want to keep your superstar happy and in the fold, don’t just talk about it, act like it!

The Hornets have not only reshaped the roster and shown Paul that they can put the winning pieces around him, they’ve also slid out from under the looming guillotine of the luxury tax, proving that you can be proactive and tax-minded at the same time (while retaining just enough usable assets to make more moves, if need be, in the coming months).

Think about all the work the Hornets have done since summer, all of the new faces that have been added and all of the dead weight tossed overboard. It’s a rather remarkable makeover on the go when you sit back and admire the changes. And they’ve used a splendid mix of old and new to run off this 11-1 start, which is a product of the approach of coach Monty Williams (the defensive-minded Hornets have allowed just one opponent to score 100 point so far).

David West and Emeka Okafor are playing fantastic basketball right now, as the top-flight recipients of Paul’s assists tend to do. But raise your hand if you knew where Marco Belinelli‘s played this time a year ago. Trevor Ariza, Willie Green and Jason Smith are all doing their part. And the additions of Jack and Andersen give the Hornets some much-needed depth.

With Jack in the backcourt rotation, he can play both spots, ensures that Paul’s minutes can be managed throughout the course of the season and the Hornets can continue their feel good story for the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, it might be time for someone to get Paul his crown back!

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