On May 10, Beijing time, the NBA officially announced that Suns coach Monty Williams was elected the best head coach for the 2021-22 season. The news seemed like a boost to the Suns, who were currently leading 2-0 in the Western Conference semifinals but were tied by the Lone Rangers, but the news put the Suns under a spell, with the exception of one person in nearly 25 years of NBA history.
In the regular season of this season, Monty Williams led the Suns to the league's first regular season record of 64 wins and 18 losses, 8 wins ahead of the second place, breaking the record for the best single-season regular season record in the history of the Suns who joined the NBA in 1968, leading the Suns to the longest 18 consecutive wins in team history, leading the Suns to lead all 47 regular season games at the end of the third quarter, becoming the third manager in the history of the Suns to win the best coach.
However, the Suns may not be happy for too long, not only because the Suns were dragged into the Battle of Tenno Mountain by the Lone Rangers in the 2-0 lead of the Western Conference Semifinals, leaving the Suns under the spell of never advancing in a similar situation in the playoff series for nearly 28 years, But Also Monty's election also put the Suns under a spell.
Since the 1996-97 season, only one person has led the team to a championship in the season when he was elected best coach, and even Steve Kerr, who led the Warriors to a record that broke the best single-season regular season record in NBA history, was not spared. The only exception is Greg Popovich, who led the team to victories in both 2003 and the season when he was elected Best Coach in 2014. But even Popovich fell to the Western Conference Finals after leading the Spurs to a league-first regular season record in 2011-12 and being named best coach.
In addition, the two previous coaches in the history of the Suns who won the best coach did not lead the team to the stage of the Finals that season, let alone win the championship. Cotton Fitzsimmons became the first suns to be named best coach in 1989, but his Suns were swept out by the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals; Mike D'Antoni led the Suns to the league's first regular season record in 2004-05 and was named best manager, but the Suns were eliminated by the Spurs in the Western Conference Finals by a 1-4 score.
Monti's election as the best coach is indeed gratifying, and the man who was once depressed because of his wife's problems and had no confidence in life has finally come out of the shadows. However, his election has put the Sun under a spell, which is not good news for the Suns and Paul, who are eager for a championship. Of course, the spell is used to break, hoping that Monty will lead the sun out of the haze and let both Paul and the sun achieve a championship zero breakthrough!