蒙蒂·威廉姆斯采访
March 29, 2008
"[My health] is a miracle. I mean, that's the only way I can explain it." ~ Monty Williams
Prior to Saturday Night's tipoff between the Blazers and Bobcats, I had the opportunity to sit down with Blazers Assistant Coach Monty Williams. Coach Williams was kind enough to discuss his work developing the team's young talent, how he has learned from some of the best coaches in the league, and what is really going on when he holds Coach McMillan back during confrontations with the referees.
Mr. Williams also talks candidly in this interview about his Christian faith and how it sustained him through the trials and tribulations of dealing with a mysterious heart condition.
Here is the transcript of our conversation.
Blazersedge: I understand that Coach Nate McMillan breaks the roster down into groups for video sessions. Who is in your group?
Well, usually I have Travis [Outlaw] and Martell [Webster]. Sometimes I'll take [Jarret] Jack if I need to show him something or Brandon [Roy] every once in awhile when he's not getting treatment, James [Jones, on occasion]. More often than note, I'll have Travis and Martell.
Blazersedge: Both Martell and Travis have taken big steps forward this year. What is it that you're focusing on with them?
Well, we try to teach them how to play consistently. A lot of that has nothing to do with the court. A lot of that with them has been getting better at preparing to play. Making sure they get the consistent work in every day, not working on a crossover or a different dunk. We're talking about how to come off a certain screen, or how to prevent certain guys from coming off of screens defensively. A lot of it is [game] preparation more than anything, but we talk about a lot with those guys because for so long it was ground zero with them. A lot of the time we talk about elementary stuff and it's helped them with their games and helped them with their confidence.
Blazersedge: Next year, with Greg Oden being added to the roster, what do you see as your role in managing his development?
我认为我不会[做太多]。莫里斯·卢卡斯（Maurice Lucas）处理格雷格（Greg）。如果我能以任何方式帮助他，我会尽力而为。但是他有这么多人与他谈论他应该做什么，我只是试图避免。流行[教练格雷格·波波维奇（Gregg Popovich）教练在圣安东尼奥（San Antonio）教我不要弄乱它。这就是我尝试与我们的家伙做的事情；我不想弄乱他们已经拥有的东西。
Blazersedge：您能解释一下您是如何从圣安东尼奥组织到达波特兰的吗？
真是一种祝福。我在执教夏季联赛，正在考虑我的未来以及我是否要回到马刺。我接到了Pop的电话，讲述了他们有几个想法，让我继续在该组织中成长。我去了夏季联赛，内特打电话给我，还有其他几支球队打电话给我。我以前从未见过内特，与他打过比赛，但从未见过他，突然之间，我在这里得到了工作。我来到这里接受了这份工作，并签署了一份3年的合同，这是我在篮球生涯中做出的最好的决定。
Blazersedge: Was that a pretty easy decision to make?
它是。我对内特（Nate），他的努力程度，他的专业水平以及很多人对我们进行了比较，对我们有很多了解。他们说我是一个年轻的内特。我不知道我会来这里学到很多。Pop告诉我我需要来这里，以便我可以拓宽视野。去其他地方，在从底部开始并上升的组织中学习一些不同的东西。来这里是一种幸运。
Blazersedge: Of the other assistants on the staff, who have you learned the most from?
All of them. I can't say that I've learned more from one guy. I learned a lot about the zone from Dean [Demopoulos], I learned a lot about managing people from [Bill] Bayno. Luke [Maurice Lucas] is good at keeping people calm, he brings a lighter side to the basketball aspect that we don't necessarily think about all the time because he's been there, done that. I don't know whether I've learned more from a certain guy.
Nate has poured so much into me, he will sit me down some days and just explain something to me in a way I don't think I would have ever looked at, just because he's been in so many coaching situations in his 8 years as being a head coach. I think the thing that's helped him with me is that he trusts me. It's kind of like when you're growing up back around your neighborhood and the older kids pick you to play on their team. That's kind of how it is here.
Blazersedge: He's a mentor of sorts?
Yeah. You get confidence when the older guys trust you to do the things you probably wouldn't get the chance to do if they didn't pick you. I think I've learned a ton from all of our guys.
Blazersedge: I see you interact with Nate a lot especially when he goes after the refs. Are you guys playing good cop, bad cop during those confrontations with the officials or do you really have to hold him back sometimes?
No, I think a lot of times, sometimes I don't say anything. I just come up and squeeze his arm.
[Coach Williams demonstrates by squeezing my arm.]
这只是向他保证，重要的是……团队向他寻求领导。多次，如果内特（Nate）得到[技术犯规]或被踢出去，我认为我们的家伙觉得“好，我们现在要去哪里？”有时我只是说：“嘿，内特没事，放开那个。”有时我会想，“你是对的，你需要去告诉他。”我不需要去那里做到这一点，有时我只是去那里挤压他的手臂，这会使他稍微降低一点。他知道他在做什么。他不需要我一直到那里。
[注意：威廉姆斯先生被诊断出患有Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM), which is a rare condition of thickened muscle between the chambers of the heart. This diagnosis resulted in a doctor's order to stop playing basketball.]
Blazersedge: I understand you had a heart condition in college that sat you down for a couple of years. Who made the call to sit you down?
Well I went in for a physical and they said I had HCM and they just told me I couldn't play anymore. I was devastated. My wife and I had grown up Christian, in a Christian home, and believed that God can heal any disease, any sickness. My wife reminded me that God can heal my heart. We prayed, went to Church and prayed, and the elders laid hands on me but it didn't manifest until two years later. So that two year process was one of the hardest things I ever did in my life. Basketball was over; all the pats on the back were finished. And I really had to evaluate what I was going to do with my life because I had planned on playing basketball forever. I happened to be at a great institution at Notre Dame where I could get a good education.
当你打篮球因为你10ars old, and then all of a sudden you have to stop, you have to reassess how you look at life, how you look at your job, how you look at your relationships and you figure out what's more important: my life and being with my family, but, most importantly, my faith, which strengthens through that time. I wasn't the Christian that I should have been at the time. It was almost like a reality check for me. God was like, pull your chain a little bit. God didn't give me a disease but he allowed it and it was the best thing that happened to me and it helped me reevaluate what I was doing in my life.
[注意：威廉姆斯先生在症状消退后两年后回来了。在继续在NBA比赛10年之前，他在巴黎圣母院（Notre Dame）赢得了荣誉奖。]
Blazersedge: Was there any fear stepping back on the basketball court?
绝不。从来没有任何恐惧。
Blazersedge: Did you think about it at all?
绝不。Never had a symptom. Never had any of that. I just believe God healed my heart. Even today, the doctors can't explain why it reversed. I have doctors now say that you don't have any trace of any disease.
Blazersedge: Would you call it a miracle or...?
这是一个奇迹。我的意思是，这是我唯一可以解释它的方法。我知道人们不喜欢谈论运动中的宗教。但这没关系。经验将每天征服理论。人们可以谈论他们想谈论什么，但我“展览A”。我知道上帝在我一生中做了什么。如果那使我不流动或那使我很奇怪，那不会打扰我。
Blazersedge: It makes you alive, you know?
I have no problem talking about what God has done for me. We go to games and cheer for something that lasts for 2 hours and here's a guy that gives us life and we don't want to give him praise. I can't do that. It was devastating, the heart deal, but it ended up being one of the best things that ever happened to me.
Blazersedge：当您进入NBA时，团队是否问过您？它影响了您的选秀状况吗？如果您今天进入联盟，似乎这将在玩家进行的身体评估中发挥重要作用。
I was supposed to be a top 5 pick and I ended up going #24. It cost me a lot of money but the things I went through back then are helping me now. I ended up going to New York and play for Pat Riley and he taught me how to work. I ended up working every day with Jeff Van Gundy. Those situations are helping me now. I got traded to San Antonio, that situation helped me when I was done. Had I gone to a bad team, I probably wouldn't have learned how to play the game or I would not have understood the game the way I do now. The heart condition affected my draft status but it's helped me right now as a coach.
Blazersedge：您曾为Pat Riley效力，与Jeff Van Gundy一起在Gregg Popovich执教，现在您正在与Nate一起指导。我们还有其他导师忽略了吗？您已经执教了联盟中最好的教练。
Doc Rivers. He was the first person who told me I was going to be a coach when I played for him in Orlando. I thought he was nuts. I was like, "There's no way I'm going to deal with me." You know I didn't want to deal with me as a player let alone anyone else. He was like, "You're going to be a head coach some day." I just kind of blew it off. Maybe he had an understanding of what my IQ was on the court.
He's probably been the biggest mentor I've had since I've come out of college. He was the first person in New York to take me under his wing and say, "Hey man, you've got to stop dunking all the time and go work on your game." And his wife was the first person to invite me over for dinner, to make sure I was ok. He's been like a big brother to me since day one.
Then I had Avery Johnson when I was in San Antonio. He's always been in my ear about what I should be doing, how I should look at things. It puts a lot of pressure on me at times because I don't have any excuse for failure because I've had so many guys who are successful in this league take me under their wing and say "Hey Mont, this is what you need to be doing."
Blazersedge: Do you think there are aspects of your personality that draw these people to you in this big brother/mentor role?
I don't know. I've always felt like if I worked hard, everything would take care of itself. That's not always the case, but if I don't work, I'll always have to look back at what I didn't do. I don't want to leave any stone unturned when it comes to working hard. So maybe they saw that. Maybe it's just been a blessing that God has put these people in my life. I tend to believe it was that. I just felt like I was in these situations where I was around guys that were great at what they did. Sometimes they didn't sit me down and say this is what you do, sometimes just being in that atmosphere was enough.
Blazersedge：当您仍在比赛时，谁是前五名球员？
对我来说，第一名一直是迈克尔·乔丹（Michael Jordan）。在与魔术师约翰逊（Magic Johnson）的卡尔·马龙（Karl Malone）比赛后，蒂姆·邓肯（Tim Duncan）是我一直以来最喜欢的戴维·罗宾逊（David Robinson），他在后端。我一直在围绕的最有才华的人是特雷西·麦格雷迪（Tracy McGrady）。然后是艾伦·艾弗森（Allen Iverson）。
我走了进来,所有那些人越过帕特hs. There was the old school and then this new school coming in. I had the chance to play against both. Michael Jordan was hands down the best I've ever seen step on the court. His killer instinct, his talent, his work ethic, was by far the best I've ever seen.
Blazersedge: Michael Jordan went straight to management after his career. Do you see yourself taking that step in your career? Or do you see a head coaching role in your future?
如果我没有看到自己的职位，我会撒谎。我正在尽我所能的努力，因此，如果发生这种情况，我会做好准备。Pop告诉我他认为我可以同时进行管理或教练。
I'm just excited about the future. I'm looking forward to getting better as an assistant. I'm enjoying being an assistant coach right now. I'm being put in some situations that most guys my age don't get a chance to be in.
Blazersedge：随着休赛期的到来，您认为升级该名单的首要任务是什么？当然，[开拓者总经理]凯文·普里查德（Kevin Pritchard）是做出决定的人。
We fully trust Kevin. He's made some moves that a lot of us weren't thinking about. And he's been able to revamp this organization in a matter of two years. I give my input about certain things that I can see, what I think about a guy, his work ethic, some of the decisions he makes on the court, we fully trust Kevin and his staff, they've done a great job so far and I'm excited about what they're going to do this summer.
Blazersedge: Is there a formal process where Kevin solicits your opinion or is it more in passing, I'm going to come through and ask each coach?
他会同时做。他会几天带您带您到办公室，就像“嘿，蒙特，你对这个家伙有何看法？”或“您如何看待这一举动？”然后有几天我们将与所有教练坐下来，我们将交谈。
It's the same thing we did in San Antonio, everybody has to put something in the pot. Kevin has brought that here. If you're not adding to the pot, you need to go somewhere else, because we need all the input we can. In the end, Nate, Kevin and [Blazers Owner] Mr. Allen will make the decision.
Many thanks to Coach Williams for taking the time to speak with us.
--Ben (benjamin.golliver@gmail.com)
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