It was not immediately clear how long Stephen Silas would be away from the team.
The Rockets hosted the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday night, winning 97-92. John Lucas led the team on an interim basis.
“That’s for Coach,” Lucas said. “That one’s for him.”
Stephen Silas got into the NBA world when his father was coaching in Charlotte, starting as an advance scout and eventually serving as an assistant on his father’s staff with the Hornets in 2000. It took Stephen Silas two decades to get a chance to be a head coach, that coming when Houston hired him in 2020.
“My dad, obviously, he was my No. 1 mentor, someone who I could lean on, ask questions and he asked questions of me,” Stephen Silas said in a 2021 documentary produced by the Rockets about his coaching journey. “He really valued my opinion, which was kind of weird to me, me being so young and not having much experience.”
Stephen Silas persevered for a long time before getting his big chance. He saw his father wait a long time for the job he wanted as well. Paul Silas was fired by the San Diego Clippers in 1983 and wouldn’t have a head-coaching opportunity again until 1999 — coming when Dave Cowens, for whom he was an assistant, stepped down in Charlotte after a 4-11 start to the shortened 1998-99 season.
“I was known as not a hard, hard, hard worker, and it really hurt me when I was an assistant coach, for about 10 years, when I couldn’t get a head job,” Paul Silas told the Rotary Club of Charlotte while giving a speech there in 2013. “I really talked to teams about being a head coach, but I didn’t get one. What happened is I stayed positive. I had a positive attitude. Even though I couldn’t get the job, I said, ‘No, I’m not going to be negative. I’m going to be positive.'”
Eventually, Silas would take over in Cleveland. He got there in 2003, the same year the Cavaliers drafted LeBron James.
“I coached LeBron for two years, his first two years, and LeBron was unbelievable,” Silas said. “At 18 years old, he knew about Bill Russell, he knew about a lot of players who came through that most players his age don’t even know. And he understood the game.”
Lakers star LeBron James called Silas “one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever been around.”
“Every time I would go back to Charlotte, he would always come to the games, and I would always try to look for him in the crowd,” James said Sunday night. “To hear that news is very sad for myself and my teammates who played for Coach Silas throughout those years in Cleveland. And our well wishes and our hearts go out to the Silas family, that’s for sure.”
Silas was a five-time all-defensive team selection who averaged 9.4 points and 9.9 rebounds in 16 seasons with the St. Louis and Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix, Boston, Denver and Seattle. Silas won two titles with the Celtics — the first coming in his 10th season as a player — and claimed a third with the SuperSonics. At 36, he was then the NBA’s oldest player when he retired.
“Respected by all those who encountered him throughout the NBA, we are grateful for his contributions to the game across a lifetime in basketball,” the Suns said Sunday.
Paul Silas played his college basketball at Creighton, averaging 20.5 points and 21.6 rebounds in three seasons. He was voted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017.
“I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Creighton legend Paul Silas,” Bluejays coach Greg McDermott tweeted. “His illustrious career as a player and coach will be matched by few.”
Article Appeared @https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35232689/paul-silas-3-nba-champion-long-coach-dies-79