Report: Monty Williams joins Billy Donovan’s staff

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Per Marc Stein of ESPN.com, Billy Donovan has locked up a big offseason addition to his coaching staff adding former Pelicans head coach Monty Williams as his top assistant.

Williams joins OKC’s staff after spending the last four seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans, leading them to a playoff berth this season. Under Williams, the rebuilding Pelicans went from 21 wins to 27 to 34 to 45 this season.

Adding Williams is a significant win for Donovan, who is clearly looking to add high quality NBA experience to his bench. Williams not only has spent the last 10 years as a coach in the NBA (five years in Portland under Nate McMillan) but also was a player for for nine years, spending time with the Knicks, Spurs, Nuggets, Magic and 76ers.

Williams was hired in New Orleans known for his defensive chops, but his teams never really produced to the level of his reputation. Last season the Pelicans finished 22nd in the league in defensive efficiency.

Still: Williams is excellent with player relationships and obviously has some very strong coaching qualities.

Just because a coach wasn’t necessarily regarded as a high level head coach doesn’t mean they won’t be an excellent assistant. Take the recent example of Alvin Gentry, who was fired in Phoenix (and other places before that), and then re-established himself as one of the top assistants in the league in Los Angeles and Golden State, then becoming one of the hottest coaching candidates out there. You can be sure a good year in OKC and Williams will be interviewing for head positions next summer.

Williams will join Mark Bryant and Darko Rajakovic (and Adam Harrington), who all will be retained from Scott Brooks’ staff. Anthony Grant is also expected to follow Donovan to OKC. The Thunder have one more position to fill.