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Pistons look at Trajan Langdon and moving on from Monty Williams as a ‘fresh start’

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6 months ago

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Pistons look at Trajan Langdon and moving on from Monty Williams as a ‘fresh start’

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The Detroit Pistons‘ latest summer of change tipped off with the introduction of president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon on Friday afternoon at the team’s practice facility in Midtown. Here’s what Langdon and team owner Tom Gores had to say about the franchise:

Moving on from coach Monty Williams a ‘fresh start’

“After assessing everything, I really felt the best choice for the organization is a fresh start,” Gores said. “Our mistakes in the past has nothing to do with just one person. There’s a lot that I think accumulated. And I do think (we) just needed a fresh start. We have a great core of young players, by the way — high character, young players, really tremendous young players, and I’ve seen a few of them over the past few months and you know, Cade (Cunningham) included, you know, so we’ve got a lot to offer, I think. … But at the end of the day, I thought that, you know, we needed a fresh start and we need Trajan to lead with a fresh start. And sometimes you can get held back as an organization, your history or your past. I believe in Trajan so much as (an) executive. I didn’t really think that we should be held back.”

FROM THE FRONT OFFICE: Detroit Pistons introduce Trajan Langdon: What he said about Cade Cunningham, cap and more

Langdon not deterred by record losses

The Pistons finished with the worst record in the NBA for the second straight season, while setting a franchise low for wins (14) in 2023-24. But that didn’t deter Langdon from arriving in the Motor City after five years as general manager of the New Orleans Pelicans.

“There’s only 30 of these and it’s been my dream to run one of these one day,” Langdon said. “I knew the time would come at some point, and hopefully things would match up between myself and an owner that had trust and faith in me and a situation that I thought I could really help. I think that’s has to be the match for somebody to really succeed. I thought the time was great, the situation I thought Tom and I really connected over again, some late-night meetings and some good phone calls. But I think the connection was there, and just understanding kind of where this franchise was and what this franchise needed at this given time. I think some of those things this organization needed I’m able to provide. I’m pretty humble. I’m a pretty modest guy, but I think I stand for some things. I’m pretty good at some things that this organization needs. So I think the fit and the timing at this present time for the Detroit Pistons organization myself, really aligned and that’s what attracted me to this to this opportunity.”

Gores on the previous administration

Gores and Langdon’s “fresh start” led to the firing of general manager Troy Weaver, after four seasons, and head coach Monty Williams, after one season.

“I do appreciate Troy Weaver. Troy had the courage to, you know, want to restructure our front office and so on, and we have capital because of that,” Gores said. “I want to thank Monty and his family for coming to Detroit, and taking a chance on us, and I think there’s a lot of good work in there that we might not see today. And, you know, the decision was to try to really get a fresh start a move forward, given we had a lot of pain.”

What the future looks like for the Pistons, according to Langdon

The Pistons have a former No. 1 overall pick in Cade Cunningham and some roster potential with roughly $64 million in cap space (tops in the NBA), as well as the No. 5 pick in Wednesday’s NBA draft. Still, Langdon noted that reviving the franchise is not an overnight fix.

“I think for us it is. I don’t think there’s a timeframe of when we get to the playoffs, I think for us it’s a foundation for our young players, a foundation of winning, which means creating an environment of winning, and you have to do that first before you can actually win between the lines. You got to practice and compete at a certain level with a certain fiber of human beings in this facility every day. And that means not only the players, it means the coaching staff, it means front office, it means performance staff. We all have to help out in the development of our young players. So I think creating that foundation is paramount that we do that first.

What about the coaching search?

As for replacing Williams, Langdon said he feels a sense of urgency. With the NBA draft set for Wednesday and Thursday, and Las Vegas Summer League play coming in mid-July, he wants a head coach that displays certain characteristics to lead this young squad.

“Tom has talked about leadership that’s incredibly important,” Langdon said. “Finding a man that can lead this team going forward and is aligned with us, is aligned with Tom, and is aligned with myself and my front office on how we want to execute going forward and how we want to build this organization. I think somebody who is a really good communicator is important. Somebody who is a good collaborator is important. And I don’t mean just with the front office, I mean with (the) performance team, I mean with our nutritionist, with our mental skills coach, I mean there has to be collaboration throughout this organization at all times. So we’re aligned. When I think somebody who is really good into development and is passionate about it, we talked about our young players, our young core, and they are good young men, but they’re talented. So we have to have somebody who has the patience but also has the desire to the players and not skip steps. So those are some of the qualities that we’re looking for a new head coach.”

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