Without Monty Williams, There Is No Fairytale Run For The Phoenix Suns

At preseason media day, with TV cameras rolling and Phoenix Suns fans anxious to hear from their new head coach, Monty Williams said something few would expect from a head coach seen as a more serious leader after years of ineptitude in the position. Rather than proclaim to have a new system that would improve the Suns’ fortunes or a coaching style that would heal all the wounds of the team’s culture, Williams simply explained how he would go about earning players’ trust.

That relationship was especially important with Devin Booker, who somehow despite being in the first year of his rookie contract is the longest-tenured Sun and has already seen five head coaches take over the team. 

“I can’t change what happened here,” Williams said last October “He doesn’t have to trust me right now. That’s something that you build over time.”

After a magical 8-0 run in the Orlando Bubble and a superstar performance from the young star, it’s clear Booker trusts his coach now. Their partnership is the biggest reason Phoenix pulled off a 13-game improvement over last season, even with a shortened schedule, and came within a narrow Portland victory on Thursday night of making the playoffs. 

Their trust was exemplified in Williams’ viral postgame speech after the Suns finished off their seeding games perfect with a blowout victory over Dallas, when Williams turned to someone out of frame and offered an impassioned thank you: “You’ve been through a lot.”

Booker confirmed the message was directed toward him when asked postgame. 

“There’s steps to getting to success and you can’t shortcut any of it,” Booker said. “This trip, this Bubble was a product of that for us.”

Both Booker and his coach are coming at the same thing from different angles. Hiring Williams gave Booker a partner who could match his veracity for learning and competing and improving.

The hire was far from a guarantee, though. Last April, former coach Igor Kokoskov went several weeks after the season with his employment in Phoenix intact. Despite a woeful 21-61 season, there was a belief that if the Suns finally got another play-maker, Kokoskov’s successful offensive system would take. Meanwhile, Williams interviewed with the Lakers, where his connection to star big man Anthony Davis and respect as a leader around the league was thought to make him a front-runner. 

Whether for financial reasons or failing to click with the Lakers’ braintrust, Williams chose Phoenix, and Kokoskov was let go. The move immediately became one of the most prominent successes of the Suns rebuild — a well-liked NBA lifer choosing this franchise when so many had eschewed it in the past, and over the rival Lakers, too.

Williams’ connection to the Valley, with its Midwestern sentimentality, was clear right away. In his introductory press conference, Williams told the story of his conversation with his daughters about returning to head coaching, a gig he’d taken a break from since the passing of his late wife, Ingrid, in 2016. He flashed his credentials and thoughtfulness when he told fans about discussions with Spurs executive RC Buford, who he worked for in a front office role during his break from coaching, and how Buford gave him the green light to try coaching again if he believed it was the right time.

Then, Williams went to work building a culture. If the ability to mold a tone and a mentality around an organization is why Williams ultimately chose the Suns, he succeeded on every count. The team that had for years rolled over whenever adversity hit on the basketball court suddenly played hard every moment of the game, turning unwanted role players like Jevon Carter into scrappy pieces integral to the team’s success. The culture Williams instilled brought discipline and diligence out of the inexperienced but immensely gifted centerpiece Deandre Ayton. 

Williams changed the franchise, and the team’s performance in Orlando solidified the progress.

“The Bubble definitely grew us up,” Ayton said before tossing his own name around among the leaders of the team when in the past he’d nod to Aron Baynes, Ricky Rubio, or even Kelly Oubre Jr. Everyone was feeling more confident after the undefeated streak.

Of course, it would be easy to point to Ayton’s defensive highlights, the front office’s shrewd bench acquisitions such as Cameron Payne, or especially Booker’s consistent excellence as the reasons the Suns were great in Orlando. But it’s hard to imagine any of that happening without Williams.

The Suns weren’t just great in the Bubble — they were perfect. They saw every type of game and won. Early deficits, comebacks, blowouts, responses, all of it. The Suns parried every blow and never lost. That’s not basketball, it’s something else. It’s a standard of excellence embedded deep within culture.

“We became much closer and have been through a lot together,” Booker said. “We know we’re the two leaders in trying to build this culture, this franchise.”

Williams has his players’ trust. Like he said he would, he earned it. Without that, the words “playoffs” and “Suns” are as unrelated as they’ve been the past decade. Alongside Booker, the franchise star who’s been through so much, Williams transformed a team and gave hope to a franchise.