“Chris and I kind of knew early on, he was competitive, I was competitive” - Monty Williams on special relationship with Chris Paul
The Phoenix Suns are one of the best teams in the NBA, and a lot of that can be attributed to the special relationship between Chris Paul and head coach Monty Williams.
Last season the Suns made the NBA Finals, which came as a massive surprise to many. but perhaps not to the ultra=competitive pair of Paul and Williams. The two have been a coach and player duo for only three seasons, including this current campaign. Williams first coached a Paul-led team in 2010-11 with the New Orleans Hornets, for what was Williams's debut season as an NBA head coach.
Their time together began well as the Hornets went 46-36, proving to be a good fit for one another. The pair upped the ante in recent times, and have now gone 81-29 over the last two seasons in Phoenix. In a recent ESPN profile by reporter Dave McMenamin on Williams, the latter shed some light on his special relationship with Paul.
"We don't even talk about it. We just kind of go. You know what I mean? I play off of him, he plays off of me. Just speaking about that partnership, Chris and I kind of knew early on, he was competitive, I was competitive; there was going to have to be some give and take. Now I'm more apt to just get out of the way."
New feature for ESPN: The way last year’s Finals ended haunts Suns coach Monty Williams, but doesn’t define him. Now coaching one of the best teams in basketball, Williams won’t let his team get ahead of itself. “You understand how hard it is,” he said es.pn/3JMnP9F
The pair are on their way to possibly making another NBA Finals appearance, with the Suns once again looking strong. Paul and WIlliams look to be bringing the best out of each other, in a season that
Can Chris Paul be an MVP this season?
Chris Paul has been one of the best point guards in the NBA for a better part of the last decade. Since entering the league in 2005, he has led the NBA in assists on five occasions and the veteran could well be on his way to number six.
Chris Paul is coming up big down the stretch for the @suns, he has 14 PTS, 9 AST, and a career high 13 REB on TNT! https://t.co/lJgLFgvbS1
He is currently averaging 9.4 assists per game. Should he up his production slightly, this could potentially be the seventh season of his career, averaging 10 or more assists a game. Although he is averaging a career-low in points per game, with 14.1 this season, his value to the Suns organization cannot be understated, even if he does not receive any MVP recognition.
Both Paul and Williams have fundamentally changed the Suns' mentality, turning them into a winning organization. In 2019-20 under Williams, Phoenix were 34-39. however, over the last two seasons, they have been perennial contenders for the number one seed in the West.
Chris Paul's on-court leadership has seen him help mold a young and talented team into an NBA Finals team, seemingly turning the franchise around. Even though Paul isn’t having an elite-level season, he is once again at the focal point of the Suns' transformation into one of the Western Conference's best teams.