Flexibilty, Not Playoffs Should be Key to Monty Williams Future

The whispers and rumblings have been around since the Pelicans acquired Omer Asik this offseason. The time is now for Monty Williams. Either make the playoffs this season, or face the prospect of losing what could eventually become one of the best jobs in the NBA because of it. That shouldn’t be the case though.
In a brutal Western Conference things are going to be very hard on the Pelicans. At the end of the day this is still a young roster. Five of the team’s six best players are still 26 or under, including the two best players who are just 21 and 24. Add in the fact that the roster is still in need of time to jell after playing basically all of last season with at least one of Anthony Davis, Eric Gordon, Jrue Holiday, Ryan Anderson and Tyreke Evans out at all times and then acquiring Omer Asik this offseason.

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That isn’t to say that Williams shouldn’t have some pressure on him this season. There definitely needs to be some type of visible improvement from both the Pelicans and Williams himself, for the coach to return next season. Luckily for Monty both of those things can probably be covered if he just does one simple thing—be more flexible.

There are signs that Monty is willing to do this already.
When he returned from his time in Spain at the FIBA World Cup, Williams mentioned in a press conference that one of the things he learned during his time with the star studded coaching staff was to trust his players more and loosen the reigns.
“I thought I did it a little last year in letting Tyreke play more of his game but that was the thing I pulled away from this situation,” Williams said. “The whole experience was giving guys a little more freedom to play their game and not hamstring guys. I think I did it a little bit but it is something I am still working on.”
At the end of the day Tyreke Evans is going to play best as Tyreke Evans, not as what Monty may have in his head as the perfect shooting guard. The same goes for Anthony Davis at power forward and Jrue Holiday at point guard. If those players aren’t worried about being pulled when the mistakes come, the Pelicans will be better off for it.
Really though the biggest key for Williams will be his willingness to start moving away from the traditional idea of positions. As the NBA continues to evolve on a game-to-game and year-to-year basis, the traditional size and skills expected of certain positions are continuously changing so teams are able to get their best players on the floor as much as possible.
For Williams positional flexibility will be a big key to doing just that. Of his best six players two play power forward, (Anthony Davis and Ryan Anderson) and two play shooting guard or point guard, depending on how you classify Tyreke Evans.

Meanwhile, the team has a massive hole at small forward where the answers being tried right now are John Salmons, Darius Miller and Luke Babbitt. Williams has already spoken about playing both big with Anderson, Davis and Asik, and small with Evans at small forward showing he is finally relenting a bit.
Not everything that Monty Williams does this season will be a success. Some things, like Anderson at the three, will probably fail. Some are going to not make much of a difference. But for a team in need of continuity moving on from Williams could hurt things more than it seems possible. So the playoffs shouldn’t necessarily be the key for Monty Williams keeping his job. Growing as a coach should be, no matter where that ends up putting the Pelicans this year.