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
在阵亡将士纪念日的前一周 活塞老板Tom Gores跟总管Troy Weaver还有其他管理层
在洛杉矶开会讨论要怎么解决已经空了2个月的教练问题，在那个时候，活塞已经面试
了一堆的教练，根据球队的消息，2名没担任过总教练的助理教练Charles Lee跟Kevin
Ollie是新教练位子的领先者
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这位公鹿首席助教以及Ollie，这位前康乃狄克大学的顶级教练都以不同的
方式让活塞管理层感到惊艳，这里的消息都需要匿名的原因是球队管理层无法公开对招聘
过程做评论 但他们的共识是可能还需要继续找其他人选
That’s when Gores raised the question to the group:
“What if we go back to Monty?”
就在那个时候活塞老板Gores丢了一个建议给管理层
"如果我们再问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周以前，Williams，2022年度教练在二轮输球后被太阳开除，当时活塞马上找了Williams
问他对于总教练位子的兴趣，看看是不是能会面，但当时Willimas告诉活塞公鹿跟其他有
兴趣的球队他还没准备好做出是否下一年继续执教的保证，并且倾向休息一年，而当时活
塞并没有真的开出报价
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.
所以在这次Gores,Weaver以及其他活塞管理层决定不让Williams再说"不"，直接把合约
摊在他面前，还包含球队的规划，告诉他球队希望能帮他带领一个有前途的球队成长到下
一个层次，就像在他帮太阳做的一样，而不是休息一年
而在那次团体会面后的隔天，Gores派出了他的私人飞机去接Williams，那天晚上，
这位51岁的教练就在Gores位于加州的住家客厅中
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.
一周后 Willams同意了一张大约并让他成为联盟最高薪的总教练，Williams是2021年后
胜场数最多的教练，同时也帮助太阳闯进过总冠军赛
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.
活塞认为Williams是完美的接班人选，Weaver跟Williams这两位在雷霆有过交集，所以
当活塞有机会打动他的时候，Gores跟Weaver还有球队把所有的报价都放上了台面
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.
在会面中Williams告知球队，虽然他在下一个赛季考虑休息(太阳还欠他3年21M的合约)
，但如果他要回来职教，他确实提到活塞跟跟另外一支球队是让他考虑的选项，不过最终
在Weaver,Arn Tellem跟Gores的热烈追求，在优渥的条件以及对活塞年轻核心的喜爱下
，这条件让Williams无法拒绝
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.
在纪念日当天，Willimas在Gores的家中跟他会面后，Gores跟他的管理层提出了一份简单
的合约，包含激励奖金还有额外的选项，而双方对合约的基本条件达成了共识
Williams最后则花了几天跟家人商量后才做出接任的决定
https://reurl.cc/WG3AXe
看的出来是老板很想要Monty 第一次面试的时候没讲清楚
第二次直接钱砸上去+派私人飞机皆来自家会面 不给拒绝的机会了 用钱跟诚意打动
人心的老板 直白又干脆XD