Monty Williams: Pistons' patience amid wife's diagnosis helped sway decision - ESPN

DETROIT — When Pistons general manager Troy Weaver initially reached out to Monty Williams last month about the team's coaching vacancy, Williams said he wasn't in the right place mentally to discuss the gig.

Not only was Williams still reeling from being fired as coach of the Phoenix Suns on May 13, but he was considering taking time off from coaching after his wife, Lisa, was diagnosed with breast cancer during the playoffs.

However, Williams, whose first wife, Ingrid, died in a car crash in 2016, received good news about Lisa's health sooner than the family anticipated. And once he connected with the Pistons again later in the month, a deal came together quickly to make him the team's coach.

«That was a huge part of my decision making,» Williams said Tuesday at his introductory news conference. «The patience the Pistons had with that told me a lot.»

Williams said he was discussing his wife's health on Tuesday in an attempt to help others and stress the importance of testing.

«The reason that I bring it up is to not talk about my family, but to make it more of an emphasis that women need early detection testing,» he said. «We had genetic testing done and then scan after scan after scan and then we found it early, and that may have saved my wife's life. It can save others.»

Another major factor in Williams ending up as the Pistons' coach: the six-year, $78.5 million contract they gave him, the largest coaching deal in NBA history.

While Williams was impressed by Weaver and Pistons owner Tom Gores and the three shared similar visions, Williams was not shy in acknowledging that the money was a big factor in persuading him to lead the team. Williams flew to Los Angeles to meet with Gores and Weaver at Gores' home, and by