The weekend before Memorial Day, back in Los Angeles, Pistons owner Tom
Gores, general manager Troy Weaver and others in Detroit’s front office held
a meeting to figure out what to do about a coaching vacancy that had been
unsettled for nearly two months. Up to this point, the Pistons’
intentionally slow-played process had led them to close to a dozen
interviewed candidates, according to team sources, with Charles Lee and Kevin
Ollie, both of whom had never been an NBA head coach before, leading the pack
在陣亡將士紀念日的前一周 活塞老闆Tom Gores跟總管Troy Weaver還有其他管理層
在洛杉磯開會討論要怎麼解決已經空了2個月的教練問題，在那個時候，活塞已經面試
了一堆的教練，根據球隊的消息，2名沒擔任過總教練的助理教練Charles Lee跟Kevin
Ollie是新教練位子的領先者
Both Lee, the Milwaukee Bucks’ lead assistant and Ollie, the former UConn
and Overtime Elite coach, had impressed in different ways, per team sources
granted anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the
hiring process. But there was a gut feeling among the collective that the
search needed to continue.
包含Lee這位公鹿首席助教以及Ollie，這位前康乃狄克大學的頂級教練都以不同的
方式讓活塞管理層感到驚艷，這裡的消息都需要匿名的原因是球隊管理層無法公開對招聘
過程做評論 但他們的共識是可能還需要繼續找其他人選
That’s when Gores raised the question to the group:
“What if we go back to Monty?”
就在那個時候活塞老闆Gores丟了一個建議給管理層
"如果我們再問Monty一次呢?"
Two weeks prior, Williams, the 2022 NBA Coach of the Year, was fired by the
Phoenix Suns after a Western Conference semifinals exit. Detroit, according
to league sources, immediately checked in with Williams and his
representatives to gauge his interest in its coaching vacancy and, to put it
simply, see if he’d like to meet. Williams, though, had informed the
Pistons, Bucks and other NBA teams interested in hiring him that he was not
ready to commit to coaching next season and was leaning toward taking a year
off, per league sources. The Pistons didn’t make a formal offer to Williams
at that time, multiple sources said.
2週以前，Williams，2022年度教練在二輪輸球後被太陽開除，當時活塞馬上找了Williams
問他對於總教練位子的興趣，看看是不是能會面，但當時Willimas告訴活塞公鹿跟其他有
興趣的球隊他還沒準備好做出是否下一年繼續執教的保證，並且傾向休息一年，而當時活
塞並沒有真的開出報價
This time around, Gores, Weaver and the rest of the Pistons’ front office
decided to not take “no” for an answer and put numbers in front of
Williams, as well as a plan to court and entice him to come help an
up-and-coming squad get to the next level, as he had done with the Suns,
rather than sit out a season. The next day after that collective meeting,
Gores sent a private plane to Phoenix to pick up Williams, per league source
s. The 51-year-old coach was in Gores’ California living room that night.
所以在這次Gores,Weaver以及其他活塞管理層決定不讓Williams再說"不"，直接把合約
攤在他面前，還包含球隊的規劃，告訴他球隊希望能幫他帶領一個有前途的球隊成長到下
一個層次，就像在他幫太陽做的一樣，而不是休息一年
而在那次團體會面後的隔天，Gores派出了他的私人飛機去接Williams，那天晚上，
這位51歲的教練就在Gores位於加州的住家客廳中
A week later, Williams has agreed to a lucrative deal making him the
highest-paid coach in the NBA. Williams is the winningest coach in the league
since 2021, when he helped lead the Suns to the NBA Finals.
一周後 Willams同意了一張大約並讓他成為聯盟最高薪的總教練，Williams是2021年後
勝場數最多的教練，同時也幫助太陽闖進過總冠軍賽
Detroit saw Williams as the perfect fit for its team at this point in time.
Weaver and Williams overlapped in Oklahoma City, and when the door opened for
the Pistons to make a move, Gores, Weaver and company put all of their chips
into the middle of the table.
活塞認為Williams是完美的接班人選，Weaver跟Williams這兩位在雷霆有過交集，所以
當活塞有機會打動他的時候，Gores跟Weaver還有球隊把所有的報價都放上了檯面
During the initial conversations in which Williams told teams, including
Detroit, that he was leaning toward taking next season off — Phoenix owes
him roughly $21 million over the next three years — he did mention that the
Pistons, along with another team, would be a job he’d consider taking if he
were to come back to the sideline next season, per league sources. The heavy
pursuit from Weaver, Arn Tellem and Gores, along with a lucrative commitment
and fondness for Detroit’s young core, ultimately, was too good for Williams
to pass up.
在會面中Williams告知球隊，雖然他在下一個賽季考慮休息(太陽還欠他3年21M的合約)
，但如果他要回來職教，他確實提到活塞跟跟另外一支球隊是讓他考慮的選項，不過最終
在Weaver,Arn Tellem跟Gores的熱烈追求，在優渥的條件以及對活塞年輕核心的喜愛下
，這條件讓Williams無法拒絕
On Memorial Day, the day after Williams met Gores at his home, Gores and his
team put a memorandum in front of Williams that laid out loose terms and
other incentives and extras. The two sides agreed to the fundamentals of the
terms, but Williams took a few days to ponder the decision with his family
before making it official, team sources said.
在紀念日當天，Willimas在Gores的家中跟他會面後，Gores跟他的管理層提出了一份簡單
的合約，包含激勵獎金還有額外的選項，而雙方對合約的基本條件達成了共識
Williams最後則花了幾天跟家人商量後才做出接任的決定
https://reurl.cc/WG3AXe
看的出來是老闆很想要Monty 第一次面試的時候沒講清楚
第二次直接錢砸上去+派私人飛機皆來自家會面 不給拒絕的機會了 用錢跟誠意打動
人心的老闆 直白又乾脆XD