Good for Monty, bad for us

Many are pointing to Monty Williams as the reason for the improved play of Martell Webster and Travis Outlaw and I'm certainly not going to argue with that sentiment. As a fan of the team and the coaches, you want to see them do well. So while it's great that Coach Williams is getting the praise he deserves, it's not-so-great, at least from a purely selfish perspective, that other teams might try to steal him away. According to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, that may indeed happen in the not-to-distant future.

League executives are forever keeping tabs on the crop of assistant coaches that’ll someday be head coaches. Here are few names that keep coming up when you talk to general managers and coaches.

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Monty Williams (Portland): Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford rave over Williams, who was with them as a player and staffer. Williams works for one of the best minds in the game now, Nate McMillan, and the Blazers’ success could have this 10-year NBA veteran on the fast track to a head job.

His work developing high school prospects, Travis Outlaw and Martell Webster, into solid Blazers contributors has been noticed. “He’s been fantastic for us,” Portland GM Kevin Pritchard said.