Dang. Funny to see how many wanted to give Monty Williams a chance a year ago, and now he's tearing it up as the coach of the Hornets.
Monty was there from the start of McMillan's career in Portland and the slow and steady rise of the team from 21 wins to 54 and 50 (with tons of injuries) wins. Now that he's gone you see the Hornets team he's coaching at 13-5 (after just finishing a .451 season) and Nate's Blazers team at 8-10 (after just finishing a .500 season).
McMillan has only had one standout season as a coach when Monty wasn't around--the year he took a 37 win Sonics team (that he'd also coached) to 52.
I guess the jury's still out. A lot of guys on the national team seemed to like Nate's coaching, and that 52 win Sonics team was a real accomplishment. (Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis and a bunch of role players.)
But yeah, I'm kind of regretting we let Monty get away.