3 Pistons who should be benched or fired after disastrous start to the season

2. Monty Williams has not lived up to his reputation

The Pistons were supposed to take the next step under Monty Williams. He was brought in to establish a winning culture in the locker room, in practices, in games. Instead, the Pistons are on the worst losing streak in franchise history with no end in sight. Even the return of Bojan Bogdanovic has done little to elevate the Pistons' collective execution.

Williams signed a historic six-year, $78.5 million contract in the offseason. The Pistons moved heaven and earth to convince him to sign in Detroit. He's not getting fired any time soon, and he probably deserves more than 21 games to gain his footing. But, a lot of Detroit's struggles can be tied directly to Williams' often maddening decisions, both schematically and in terms of rotations.

The Pistons began the season starting Jalen Duren, Isaiah Stewart, and Killian Hayes around Cade Cunningham and Ausar Thompson. Spacing has been a chronic problem for the Pistons, often for self-inflicted reasons. Cunningham's inefficient shooting has been a major topic of debate, but it's hard to blame the Oklahoma State product when Detroit has actively surrounded him with ill-fitting pieces who don't shoot a high volume of 3s or make quick decisions on offense.

Bogdanovic has returned, which should lead to more balanced lineups. But, Williams continues to toy with the confidence of key players, moving Thompson — probably the Pistons' second-best player, all things considered — to the bench and not bringing Jaden Ivey into games until the second quarter. Ivey flashed exceptional upside as a rookie, but Williams has buried the 21-year-old on the depth chart and punished him for natural mistakes of youth. Marcus Sasser has been one of Detroit's few bright spots, but the rookie's role continues to fluctuate.

There is no excuse for Detroit continuing to hammer the two-big starting lineups. Duren has been extremely inconsistent on defense. Stewart has been trending in the wrong direction as a shooter. Williams has to commit to one, move the other to the bench, and field a more balanced, skilled offensive lineup around Cunningham.

Williams can only do so much with such an inexperienced group, but the Pistons weren't this bad even last season. Maybe there's a reason the Phoenix Suns felt Williams couldn't get them to the mountaintop. Williams is a good human, and a guy teams love to have in the locker room. He hasn't exactly handled the adversity of his new job well, however, publicly throwing players under the bus. He hasn't been around such an harsh rebuild in a while, and his history of getting out-coached in important games can't be overlooked. The Pistons aren't executing, the lineups are a mess, and it's exceedingly difficult to peg down what exactly Williams' priorities are.

If Detroit goes an entire season like this... how long can Monty stick around, truly?