Well, that didn't take long.
Paul Silas is now 2-for-2 in getting the "interim" tag removed as an NBA coach in Charlotte, as the Bobcats just extended him through the 2011-12 season and now officially consider him their "head coach" instead of their "interim head coach."
Silas took over for Larry Brown this season, and at this point, interestingly enough, they have each coached this Bobcats team for exactly 28 games. Brown went 9-19. Silas went 15-13 and has directed Charlotte to victories over Boston, the L.A. Lakers and Atlanta in the past 10 days.
This one-year extension was the right move for the Bobcats, to give a bit of stability at a spot where the team desperately needs it. The Bobcats are already on their fourth head coach in seven years, which speaks to the franchise's lack of continuity.
This sort of thing has happened to Silas before. He took over the Charlotte Hornets in midseason once, replacing Dave Cowens, and then did well enough to get the head job there, too.
Silas is a tough coach and also not as good an "X and O" man as Brown, but he's better than Brown at instilling confidence in players. He smiles more. Under Silas, D.J. Augustin and Gerald Henderson in particular have looked like different players.
And while Charlotte (24-32) still wouldn't make the playoffs if the NBA season ended today, at least the Bobcats now have a chance to do so. While Brown got them there in 2009-10 with a superb coaching job, the team stopped listening to him this season.
They are listening to Silas, and this was a good move for owner Michael Jordan to make. The timing is a bit curious -- couldn't this just as easily have been done at the end of the season? -- but Silas is a good man and a good coach, and I'm happy for him.
We're moving!
9 years ago
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6 comments:
I don't think it's curious at all. The Bobcats will still fire him if they stink up the joint from here on out. Also, Silas knows he will be here next year if the team continues to improve. If the players continue to have confidence in him, they will continue to play hard this season or not if they feel he's not adequate. Free agents will hear about how great it is to play for Silas or how he is even worse than Brown. This is still an audition and the Bobcats have their butts covered if he fails from here on out.
Why wait until the end of the season? Waiting would only incite media members - yeah, that's you - to question Silas at every turn why he hasn't recieved an extension. It was very smart of management to make the move now and stop the speculation before it could get started. If they're extra smart, they'll now start grooming one of the assistants (Stephen Silas, I would assume) to take over as head coach in summer 2012.
This was a great move - not a reason in the world why they shouldn't give Silas what he deserves. I don't think there is a coach out there who could have gotten any more out of this team. I look forward to supporting coach Silas for years to come.
Well, I imagine other teams are starting to look at him hard since he turned the Bobcats around.
He beat the Lakers. I'm sure MJ had that as a litmus test.
Hey, I guess the Cavs wipping of Lakers last night kind of puts Bobcats win over Lakers in perspective, huh?
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