Hoops Habit
Fansided

Monty Williams Fired After 5 Years With Pelicans

By Phil Watson

Apr 23, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans head coach Monty Williams reacts against the Golden State Warriors during the second half in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 23, 2015; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Pelicans head coach Monty Williams reacts against the Golden State Warriors during the second half in game three of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at the Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The New Orleans Pelicans had a decision to make this offseason—extend coach Monty Williams, who had one year remaining on his contract, or cut bait and being in someone else.

More from New Orleans Pelicans

That choice appears to be the latter. The Pelicans announced Tuesday they have fired Williams after five years on the job, per ESPN.com.

“Making a decision like this is never easy and is never done hastily, especially when you are dealing with a person of Monty Williams’ character,” Pelicans executive vice president Mickey Loomis said in a statement. “We thanked Monty for the tremendous work and commitment he made to our organization and the development of our young players, specifically Anthony Davis.”

New Orleans captured the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference this season with a 45-37 record, edging out the Oklahoma City Thunder on the basis of a 3-1 advantage in the season series.

But the Pelicans were swept out of the first round in four games by the Golden State Warriors and Williams was strongly criticized in some circles after the Pelicans blew a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter before losing Game 3 of the series in overtime at Smoothie King Arena.

New Orleans’ collapse over the final 12 minutes of regulation was utter and complete—the Pelicans were outscored 39-19, turned the ball over five times and surrendered 16 second-chance points while allowing 10 offensive rebounds to Golden State.

He also stirred up some controversy in the series by insinuating the noise levels at Oakland’s Oracle Arena were illegal.

The Pelicans returned to the playoffs in 2014-15 for the first time in three years, when they were 46-36 in Williams’ first season at the held in 2010-11 when the team was still known as the Hornets.

The franchise’s fortunes changed when All-Star point guard Chris Paul forced his way out of town, first in a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers and later, when then-commissioner David Stern nullified the trade, to the Los Angeles Clippers.

New Orleans collapsed to a 21-45 record in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 campaign, but did capture the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, which they used on Davis, who had just led Kentucky to a national championship.

Armed with a new franchise player and a new owner in Tom Benson heading into 2012-13, the cupboard was still quite bare and the Hornets—in their final season with that moniker—finished 27-55.

In 2013-14, their first with the Pelicans branding, the team improved to 34-48 in an injury-wracked campaign that saw Davis miss 15 games, shooting guard Eric Gordon sidelined for 18, newly acquired point guard Jrue Holiday out for the final 48 with a leg fracture and sharpshooting stretch 4 Ryan Anderson wiped out for the final 60 games after injuring his neck in a frightening collision at Boston.

This season, buoyed by the emergence of Davis and the resurgence of Tyreke Evans, as well as helped defensively with the acquisition of center Omer Asik from the Houston Rockets, the Pelicans were able to squeeze out the final playoff berth with a 6-3 finish in April while the Thunder were struggling to a 3-5 finish.

The key to beating Oklahoma City was Davis tossing in a 30-footer at the buzzer to knock off the Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Feb. 6, capping off a remarkable 41-point, 10-rebound effort for the third-year star.

But in the end, not even a return to the playoffs proved enough to save Williams’ job. He was 173-221 in the regular season, with his victory total second only to Byron Scott’s 203 in the revised history of the franchise.

But his .439 winning percentage is the lowest of the five coaches who have run the club since it moved to The Big Easy in 2002.

Live Feed

Pelicans getting the fans involved with their upcoming festival
Pelicans getting the fans involved with their upcoming festival /

Pelican Debrief

  • The New Orleans Pelicans poor injury luck has already begunPelican Debrief
  • Dyson Daniels and Team Australia got a major reality checkPelican Debrief
  • New Orleans Pelicans David Griffin gets dissed in latest executive rankingsPelican Debrief
  • How many games can the Pelicans afford Williamson and Ingram to miss?Pelican Debrief
  • Jonas Valanciunas shocks his New Orleans Pelicans teammatePelican Debrief

    • Williams’ teams were 2-8 in the playoffs. In addition to this year’s sweep, they were taken out in the first round in six games by the Lakers in 2011.

    Williams was a two-year starter at Notre Dame, averaging 16.1 points, seven rebounds and 1.6 assists in his three-year career with the Fighting Irish from 1989-94. He sat out two full seasons while in college because of a heart condition.

    Despite that, the New York Knicks took Williams 24th overall in the 1994 NBA Draft and he spent nine seasons as an NBA player with the Knicks, San Antonio Spurs, Denver Nuggets, Orlando Magic and Philadelphia 76ers, averaging 6.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 16.7 minutes per game over 456 career appearances.

    After spending the 2004-05 season as a coaching intern on Gregg Popovich’s staff with the Spurs, Williams landed a full-time assistant coaching job with the Portland Trail Blazers in 2005 and was there for five seasons before landing the head coaching job in New Orleans.

    He was also an assistant coach for USA Basketball’s gold-medal winning squad—which included Davis—in Spain last August and September and accepted a position to be on the coaching staff for the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Next: The 30 Best Shooting Guards of All-Time

    More from Hoops Habit

    Home/New Orleans Pelicans