RealGM

I started to follow the Suns back in 89" and I have seen a lot of coaches that have come and gone. From Paul Westphal, to Mike D'Antoni, to Lindsay Hunter the Suns have had all kinds of coaches. Some have been good and some have been bad but right now I believe that we may have the best coach in Suns history in Monty Williams. Westphal was a players coach who was able to get different stars to work together but in the end his teams got stagnate waiting for Barkley to do something. D'Antoni came up with a very good offensive plan that seems to be emulated by much of the NBA today but he couldnt be bothered to worry about his teams defensive for anything. However I used to remember watching the old Reggie Miller Pacer teams; they moved so well without the ball and played defense. For the first time I can remember we are seeing a Suns that plays with movement and play really good defense under Monty. So I ask you all where does Monty stand as the Suns best all-time coach? For me he is the best.

Well, coaching depends on the personnel. If Monty had Nash and Amare instead of Paul and Ayton does the team still play good defense, do they play as well on offense as under D'Antoni.

I don't know. That's tough. I would probaby rank Cotton #1. Monty may be #2 but I thought D'Antoni was good. I wasn't much of a fan in the McLeod days. Westphal and Monty both benefited from having a couple of the very best players and super depth. Monty basically has a coach and best leader in basketball on the floor.

sunsbg wrote:Well, coaching depends on the personnel. If Monty had Nash and Amare instead of Paul and Ayton does the team still play good defense, do they play as well on offense as under D'Antoni.

Yup. Case in point: the wildly unsuccesful and unpopular Kokoskov was preaching mostly the exact same things as Monty. Heck, he even ran some of the plays for DA that Monty does. 0,5 offense, defense, you name it. Same-same-same. Nothing "worked". Players did not listen to him, and/or couldn't execute things.

On the other hand, he won a major tournament with an underdog team, so there is proof he knows his stuff.

He's up there. The Suns have been to the Finals three times in its 50-odd years of existence and Monty was one of three coaches to take a Sun's team there so he has to be up there.

He is a super nice guy and players like him a lot. I love how he helped shape the culture we have, and for that, I am glad we have him. As far as coaching goes, there are a few coaches of ours I would have ahead of him. Cotton, McCloud, Westphal, and Hornacek. I mean, what Hornacek was able to do with that team he had when he first came was pretty amazing. It was just unfortunate that McD kept screwing with the roster. I am still a bit bitter with Monty blowing four games straight in the finals.

I rank Monty as #2 at least and depending on if we get back to the finals than for sure he will be #1 in my opinion.

He's high on the list purely from his institutional turnaround, he's changed the vibe around this team more than any coach I can remember.

Next 25 games could boost him even higher if this group keeps rolling on without CP.

Sent from my SM-G986U using RealGM mobile app

Just saw the Statefarm commercial again with Monty, and he just has such a great positive attitude, and seems very humble. I wish he had better in game adjustments, and clamped down on some players, while utilizing other players better. But overall, very happy we have him as a coach.