Monty Williams Fits the Bill as the 'Culture' Coach the Raptors Are Looking For

The Toronto Raptors don't need an Xs-and-Os guru to be their next coach, what they need is someone like Monty Williams who can reset the organization's culture

Aaron Rose | May 15, 2023

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

In this story:

Oh, how quickly things change.

It was nearly eight months ago that the NBA seemed to think Monty Williams was among the league’s best coaches. No, he was never considered an Xs-and-Os genius, but when it came to respectability and culture, there were few thought to be better. Fast forward to the end of a disappointing playoff run for the Phoenix Suns and suddenly Williams, the 2022 NBA Coach of the Year, is out of a job and supposedly a prime head coaching target of the Toronto Raptors, according to ESPN and The Athletic.

Success aside, Williams is the polar opposite of former Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse. He’s the culture coach who trusts his players rather than the kind of non-stop schemer that made Nurse so successful in Toronto.

When Williams took over the Suns in 2019, Phoenix was coming off a 19-63 season. In his first season with the organization, he turned the ship around, leading the Suns back to respectability. He the team on track throughout the Robert Sarver debacle, the eventual sale of the organization, and led the Suns to a 194-115 record over four seasons that included three straight playoff appearances and an NBA Finals berth.

“Williams is somebody who can take over any team and immediately improve not only the basketball side of things but the culture as well,” said Inside the Suns' reporter Donnie Druin.

That’s what Toronto is looking for from its next head coach, Raptors president and vice chairman Masai Ujiri said last month. Toronto’s once proud culture of hard work seemed to vanish last season, replaced with an aura of selfishness.

Williams is the type of coach who can fix that.

“It’s hard to find somebody more respected than Williams,” Druin said. “When you have that sort of figure running your team, it feels like your players play that much harder for a coach. He also has a massive amount of trust in his guys when they're on the court.

“He understands that sometimes coaches get in their own way by making too many decisions as opposed to simply letting his guys play basketball.”

There is a cost to that type of coaching, though. At times Williams was too trusting of his players and stuck with bench units for longer than he should have, Druin noted. His lack of adjustments also cost Phoenix in the playoffs as Williams’ teams twice blew 2-0 series leads, once in the NBA Finals to the Milwaukee Bucks and later in the conference semifinals to the Dallas Mavericks. On both occasions Williams appeared to be outcoached, Druin said.

Then there’s the 7-foot, 250-pound elephant in the room Deandre Ayton whose relationship with Williams and lack of development over the last few years certainly played a part in the Suns falling short of their ultimate goal. Williams demanded a lot from the former No. 1 pick and Jordan never quite delivered.

“I’m not pinning anything significant on Williams for that,” Druin said of Jordan’s lack of development under Williams. “It was quite obvious Williams wasn't in love with Ayton, and that was displayed on numerous occasions. The energy was just odd between them, which isn't supposed to happen between a starting player and a coach.”

Williams might not be the type of coach that can get a team over the hump the way Nurse did for Toronto in 2019. The Raptors, though, aren’t at that point in their winning cycle. Where they are is a team in desperate need of a culture reset.

For all the talk about unconventional coaching choices and coaches with little-to-no NBA experience, Williams is simply a man who has done it before. He may not be the home run coaching choice, but he’ll be stable, and right now that may be exactly what Toronto is looking for.

Further Reading