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FOX 17 News West Michigan
Pistons fans react to team firing head coach Monty Williams after one season
By Peter Maxwell,
2024-06-21
It's the sports story everyone is talking about in Metro Detroit. The Pistons continuing their off-season shake-up, firing head coach Monty Williams after just one season , which was record-wise the worst in franchise history.
VIDEO: Pistons fire Monty Williams after one season
Pistons fire Monty Williams after just one season, as Tom Gores aims to hire 6th coach
I hit the streets to find out what Pistons fans think of the team's direction.
And yes, I made a sign.
Screenshot from WXYZ video
Admittedly it's not my best work, but it did get people's attention.
While making the sign, Pistons fan Anthony Bazel stopped to ask what I was doing, and I couldn't help but notice he was decked out in Pistons gear. So I had to get his reaction to the news.
Screenshot from WXYZ video Anthony Bazel, Pistons fan
"He ain't with us, he against us if he ain't winning," Bazel said. "We're on that Lions winning streak so we definitely need a winning coach."
What do the Pistons, and the Bad Boys era, mean to Bazel?
"Bad Boys was aggress," Bazel said. "We didn't play games, we did what we had to do to win."
I then stood out at East Jefferson and Rivard to see if people liked or approved of the decision to fire Pistons head coach Monty Williams.
Then I caught up wth others in and around Metro Detroit, like lifelong Detroit resident Moncel Dickerson, who was just loading up his truck on this sweltering hot day.
Screenshot from WXYZ video Moncel Dickerson, Detroit resident
"We always played with some toughness, this team don't have the toughness," Dickerson said. "I think they should've got rid of him. He was overpaid in the beginning anyway, the team wasn't ready, the team's not ready to do anything so they might as well bring in another coach, young, who can deal with the young talent that we have and hopefully with the draft pick we get this year, it will work."
Screenshot from WXYZ video Jennifer Charity, Shopper
"I am hoping the shift in management, this team will be headed in a different direction and we can return to the Bad Boys Era," said Detroiter Jennifer Charity. "(Monty), We wish you well, we wish you well."
I caught up with Markquel when he was hooping at Erma Henderson Park.
Screenshot from WXYZ video Markquel, Detroit resident
"There hasn't been anything really since like honestly 2005, I would say, when Ben Wallace and them was on there," Markquel said. "But other than that, the Pistons have been no-no, it's been a minute."
But he still has faith.
"I still got hope for them though," Markquel said.
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