“Dear Monty Williams, it’s not you it’s me”-New Orleans Pelicans

Monty Williams has become a talking point among New Orleans Pelicans fans, local media, and national media as the team sits right in the middle of the playoff race. Many wonder if he’s the right coach for the job, one that can lead them to their ultimate goal of a championship. Well the fact of the matter is that Williams is good enough to help his team reach the playoffs, but that’s about all he’s good for, even if it’s not his fault.

Williams started off with a roster that was clearly not good enough to make the playoffs, or really contend for anything. The starting lineup wasn’t too bad, but the bench lacked any kind of depth outside of a couple players, and the youth the team possessed wasn’t worth developing. As a result, John Salmons and Luke Babbit were playing major minutes, the team couldn’t get any consistency together, and Williams took a lot of flack for it. Some of that was deserved, and a lot was undeserved, but the fact of the matter was that the roster couldn’t compete.

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However, despite all the criticism Williams has received, he’s actually done a pretty good job. The Pelicans are in playoff contention, there has been significant improvement throughout the season, and most importantly he’s adjusted to the constant change that has surrounded New Orleans this season. Trades, free agency signings, injuries, 10 day contracts, and the kitchen sink have all been thrown at Williams, and he’s still kept the Pelicans in a situation that, for all intensive purposes, they should not be in.

Most NBA teams do not have to deal with 21 players in a single season, but it’s just been that kind of season for Williams. Seven players are no longer with the team, three on 10 day contracts, the rest traded or waived, and he’s still been winning games. In fact, once the talent improved, the wins increased. That seems like it should be obvious for any NBA team, but chemistry, and familiarity are a huge factor that is often overlooked. Williams has dealt with constant changes to his personnel, and never once did the Pelicans take a step backwards. Yes, there were bumps, but they have never been in a situation that looked like they could not recover.

To go along with all of this mid-season roster arrangement has been a wave of injuries throughout the season. Omer Asik and Tyreke Evans are the only two players on the roster to play at least 70 games, with the next closest being Anthony Davis at 62. Admittedly, this information is a little inflated. Due to all the roster turnover, there’s quite a few players that haven’t even been with the team longer than 45 games, and then there’s low minutes players that have not played in every game this season. All of that said, how many teams lose their star player for more than 10 games, their starting point guard for over half the season, another key starter for 56 games, their best role player for just as long, and then have a handful of minor injuries sprinkled on top of that? That’s what Monty Williams has had to deal with this season, and he’s still kept his team in the playoff standings.

It’s been midst this season with constant turnover among his roster that Williams has been able to shine. He has kept his team in the playoff race, they’ve actually improved over the course of the year, and he’s managed to adjust on the fly, but that’s not all there is to coaching. Game management skills, rotations, X’s and O’s, and making the right decision are all important aspects of coaching as well. How is Williams in these areas?

Well, X’s and O’s, have been hit or miss in a lot of situations, but for the most part he’s done well at them. It’s rare to see the Pelicans come out of the timeout and not a run a set play, and for the most part they’re a successful team when they do. Give Williams time to to draw up a play and he will come up with something goodl. Well unless it’s near the end of the game, because all of that immediately goes out the window. For whatever reason Williams has many times this season opted to have his perimeter players take over at the end of games rather than giving the ball to Anthony Davis. Using Davis as a decoy is fine, but he doesn’t touch it nearly enough for being the player he is, and that’s just the tip of his head scratching decisions.

For someone that does so well at adjusting mid-season, it’s like pulling teeth when it comes to Williams making in game adjustments. Far too often he’ll just let things play out as his team currently implodes on itself, refusing to adjust to an obvious flaw in his team’s execution. Whether this be the Sacramento Kings destroying them in transition, or a roll man escaping off the same pick-and-roll over, and over, for whatever reason it will take Williams a millennium to adjust. By this point the Pelicans will either have blown a lead, or be in an even bigger hole than they previously were.

Of course, he might be letting things play out because he wants to see the result of a brand new lineup he’s trying out. This sounds like a good thing, but it’s in fact not a good thing. Teams need consistency in their rotations so they can get a feel for each other. Even with the constant roster turnover, at this point of the season Williams should have an idea of what lineups he’s using consistently. That’s not the case however, because his most used lineup with healthy players only plays 13 minutes a game while his next most used only averages 10. In fact, the Pelicans have no consistency in their lineups at all. The majority of his most used lineups feature players from early in the season when he had no bench, but at this point of the season he has enough depth to get some consistency. Instead, in lineups that have played 10 games or more only two lineups are averaging more than 10 minutes per game. The rest are sporadic and unpredictable.

Except, none of this should matter, at least this season it shouldn’t. Williams, despite all of the negative he’s done, has not earned losing his job. He’s put the Pelicans playoff contention, kept them alive with an atrocious bench to start the season, and then adjusted well to what he was given. New Orleans has actually looked like a playoff team since the trade deadline, rather than pretending to be one, and they really should have been dead in the water a long time ago. So why is it that Williams is on the hot seat? Why do so many say that he has to go?

It’s not Monty Williams fault that his future is bleak. It’s the Pelicans fault. This team wants to win a championship, and Williams just isn’t good enough to help them reach that point. The organization has to realize that, with the roster they’ve put together, the most Williams will ever be able to get out of them is a low playoff seed. Even if the Pelicans were healthy, is this roster any better than one of the five best teams in the West? Has he shown as a coach that he can take a roster like this and make them reach that point? Or has he made questionable decisions throughout the season and gotten himself on the hot seat as a result?

Monty Williams has done a solid job as a coach this year. An argument can even be made that he’s done a good job, but the negatives outweigh those goods when it comes to the future. It’s not Williams fault, but his future with the Pelicans looks bleak.