Accountability is a word that was bandied about a lot this offseason when it comes to the Detroit Pistons.
They haven’t had much of it over the past four seasons, as they had a coach who didn’t need to win and young players who didn’t have to earn minutes and were allowed to play through their mistakes.
It was immediately clear last night that wouldn’t be the case again this season, as head coach Monty Williams was quick with the hook.
He’s put pressure on Jaden Ivey to play better defense to earn minutes, made him come off the bench and called two timeouts last night after Ivey defensive miscues, pulling him from the game both times.
Ausar Thompson sat late in the game after a couple of bad turnovers where he tried to drive into traffic, so coach Williams is not using youth as an excuse for mental errors.
But he also showed after the game that the accountability starts with him.
Monty Williams’ quote shows accountability starts at the top for the Pistons
The Pistons played good defense for most of the night, but their half court offense left a lot to be desired, which is not surprising considering they were missing three players, including Bojan Bogdanovic, their leading scorer from last season.
Without a secondary scoring option, the Pistons leaned heavily on Cade Cunningham and he was amazing, but he had little help and the half court offense often stagnated, especially early in the game.
Nevertheless, the Pistons still had a chance to win the game in the final 2.5 seconds, but a busted play led to a contested shot from Cade Cunningham that he may not have even gotten off in time.
After the game, Monty Williams took the blame for the stagnant offense instead of putting it on his young team:
Williams: "Offensively, I have to do things better."
— James L. Edwards III (@JLEdwardsIII) October 26, 2023
I loved this, as accountabilty starts at the top and Williams is right, he has to find a way to generate some offense while his team waits to get healthy, and the entire plan can’t just be “give it to Cade.”
There was plenty to like about last night’s game even though they lost and I saw a lot of what I needed to see to have hope for this season. I especially liked that coach Williams is holding his players, and himself, to a higher standard, which is the only way things are ever going to change in Detroit.