Posted on 03/21/2005 7:39:35 AM PST by gdani
Cavs Head Coach Fired
UPDATED: 10:28 am EST March 21, 2005
CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Paul Silas was fired Monday.
NewsChannel5's Chris Miller was told by Silas' son and assistant coach Steven Silas that Paul was let go before practice this morning. Steven Silas was also let go.
Assistant coach Brendan Malone has been named interim coach.
Silas had two years left on his contract.
The cavs have lost three straight games and are 34-30 now.
Silas, 59, had previously been fired by New Orleans after last season. He was chosen to coach the Cavs over former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy.
The former Boston Celtics star has had a very successful coaching career in the league. He took the Hornets to the playoffs four years in a row.
A big reason the Cavs hired Silas was because of his ability to develop young players.
Silas has earned a reputation for being a coach who can get the most from his players. He won praise for keeping the Hornets together following the tragic death of player Bobby Phills in 2000, and focusing his players when the franchise moved to New Orleans from Charlotte this year.
Silas was one of the league's lowest paid coaches last year, making $1.5 million. He was likely making twice that much with the Cavaliers, who have had four coaches since 1999 and owed John Lucas $3 million for the final year of his contract.
Lucas was fired in January after the Cavaliers started 8-34. He was replaced on an interim basis by Keith Smart, who interviewed with Paxson and Gund for the opening two weeks ago.
Before joining the Hornets, Silas was the top assistant with the Phoenix Suns from 1995-97. Silas also worked for the New Jersey Nets for four seasons and was the head coach of the San Diego Clippers for three seasons from 1980-83.
During his 16-year NBA playing career, the 6-foot-7 forward won three NBA titles -- two with Boston and one with Seattle -- and was a two-time All-Star.
NewsChannel5 and newsnet5.com will have more information as details become available.
I'm surprised. Yes, the Cavs have been in a bad slump. But Silas seemed like a solid father-figure type coach who was a very good influence on LeBron. I'd think that LeBron's development should be the #1 priority for the Cavs.
Telephone for Nellie...pick up line three
Note how the Pistons are making another run at an NBA title, notably because Head Coach Larry Brown got the entire team to play like one again now.
Nellie's done with coaching. He's burned out, he just wants to go back to Maui.
Past ownership screwed up when they let Boozer go during the off-season. They further screwed up by not getting a good-shooting off guard to complement LeBron & Z. Or any other players, for that matter.
New ownership has screwed up by treating the locker room like a party room, complete with entourages, video cameras, etc. And calling Silas to tell him who should play, who should sit, etc.
Silas is old-school. Everyone had to know that wouldn't sit right with him. His referring to Boozer as a c**t before the Utah Jazz game was Silas' way of punching his own ticket out of town.
Not disagreeing at all, it's just that Silas seemed like a good guy, and LeBron seemed to have been coming along well, both personally and professionally, under Silas' tutelage.
More like a back-up forward who could rebound a bit and play some pretty decent defense. No one who saw him play would call him a star.
Well, Phil Jackson enjoyed coaching the last Michael Jordan. Maybe he'll want to coach the next one.
If Jackson isn't the next Knicks head coach, I will be shocked. Phil loves those big market teams.
There's nobody there for Phil to coach. In Chicago he had Jordan and Pippen. In LA he had Shaq and Kobe. The Knicks are a complete mess.
True, but the Knicks have the bucks to go out and get whoever Phil needs to have.
How long is LeBron in Cleveland, you think he's going to stay there for his entire career?
He's no Hall-of-Famer but cut the guy a little break:
* Two-time All-Star
* Two-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection
* Selected to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team for three consecutive seasons
* Averaged 9.4 ppg and 9.9 rpg in 1,254 career games (almost double-double for 16 years)
* Won 3 NBA Championships
* 16th place all-time - rebounds
Too early to say. Working in the Cavs' advantage is the Larry Bird rule & the fact that not being in LA or NY hasn't hurt LeBron's ability to get zillions of endorsements.
However, if they don't start surrounding him with real talent he'll probably bolt.
Jackson is a master motivator and ego-massager, but he ain't great shakes as an x's and o's game coach. His best ability is to get stars to submimate their game in the team concept. NY doesn't have anyone, with the possible exception of Marbury, who has even an fraction of the talent he's used to leading.
The Knicks are in such a bad way, it will take until the end of the decade for them to dig out, and that's assuming they make good moves which is far from a given.
Like I said; he was not a star player. If he had not played for the Celtics, he would have never made an all-star team. he was a role player and not much more. 10 points and 10 rebouds in the years where practically every team averaged around 110 point per game and the top rebounders averaged around 20 per game is not star material.
Aw, c'mon. During Silas' peak years (early to mid-1970s), not a single player averaged 20 rebounds. And if it weren't for Wilt, I don't think anyone would have been close.
He only played for the Celtics for four seasons - 1/4 of his entire career. He also made the All-Star team with the Sonics.
That said, he was a good player. Not a great player. Not Hall-of Fame material obviously.
In any event, he's getting the blame for management's failures. It's not hard to criticize several of Silas' coaching decisions & methods but firing while in a playoff hunt is too much.
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