In today’s article, Ryan did a paragraph about Coach Monty that really focused on the strategy difference between himself and his two predecessors. However, I want to talk about something else – his general attitude. Watching these three guys on the court is very different – Scott looking calm but annoyed with his arms crossed, Bower yelling and scowling. The thing I like about Monty – he’s usually sitting down, just watching the game. He stands up when his team is on the other end of the court, probably to see what’s going on. He’s not yelling, he’s not looking like a 4 year old in time-out with his arms crossed and looking sad. He looks professional and like a man who’s watching his team, not concerned with yelling at the officials or his players.

I like this quote from Ryan’s piece – “The second unit struggling to start the fourth?  Bower or Scott would have inserted Paul and West immediately.  Monty calls a time out, talks it over, and sends out the second unit to execute – showing his trust – and execute they did.” The big part of this is the word “trust”. He trusts his guys to execute, call plays, and run his game plan. He doesn’t have to yell defensive assignments, or call out a player while he’s on the court.

I know this is some small observation, but watching all the shots of Williams sitting in his seat hunched over like a fan at home is good to see. He’s watching his men, and talks to them when they need to be talked to -during time outs and in between quarters. When I played, I hated having to listen to a coach yelling while running down court to set up, while trying to drown out the cheers of the crowd. Let the players play – that’s exactly what Monty’s doing.