Cavaliers Fire Silas

Last week, on Monday, March 21st, Paul Silas was fired as the Cleveland Cavaliers head coach. Prior to the move, the young Cavs had lost nine of their last 12 games. After a great start, when Cleveland was in first place in the Central division, the team has taken a rapid slide in the standings and is now fighting for a playoff position.

General manager Jim Paxson and owner Dan Gilbert cited the team's poor performance and recent slide as the reason for making the change. The team also released Paul Silas'son, Stephen, who served as an assistant coach under his father. Paxson introduced Brendan Malone as the interim head coach.

In addition to the Caveliers underperforming under Coach Silas, there have been several distractions throughout the season due to the coach's behavior. The first of these distractions this season came early in the season when Silas threw point guard Eric Snow, a well-respected veteran and team leader, off of the bench and sent him to the locker room, after the two exchanged words over the coach's philosophy. The act was seen across the nation as being unnecessary and immature, and it set a horrible example from a coach who is supposed to lead a young team. The next problem came the week before the coach was fired, when he made a derogatory remark about Utah forward and former Cavalier, Carlos Boozer. Silas made the remark to the media the day prior to Boozer's first return to Cleveland after leaving the team as a free agent last summer. Silas was fined $10,000 by the team for his remark and he later apologized for the embarassing episode. Then, in his last game coaching the team before being fired, Silas benched starting guard Jeff McInnis without giving a reason, even though the veteran was dressed and available to play. His substitute, Eric Snow, was held scoreless in the loss to Toronto.

Silas took over the Cleveland Cavaliers head coaching position before the 2003-2004 season, when he was given the responsibility to develop young superstar Lebron James to reach his potential. Silas led the Cavs to an 18-game improvement in the team's record from the prior season. However, the coach appeared to lose control in his team and showed a lack of respect for his players after jumping out to a 30-21 record this season. The team's inconsistent play and distaste for Silas sealed the coaches fate in Cleveland.