Charlotte Bobcats fire coach Paul Silas - NBA Update
Such is the nature of basketball that the best and the worst are always remembered. And when talking about the worst, the first team that come into mind are the Charlotte Bobcats, the side which went down into
annals of history with a 7-59 record this season, the worst team in NBA history. The Bobcats ended the season with a winning percentage of 0.106, the worst ever surpassing 0.110 set by the Philadelphia 76ers of 1972-73.
After such an ignominious record, someone in the Bobcats hierarchy had to take a hike and that one person turned out to be Coach Paul Silas. Rod Higgins, Bobcats president of basketball operations made the announcement
in a news conference on Monday.
''We have been talking internally about what is best for us going forward,'' Rod Higgins said. ''The record kind of speaks for itself. When you look at the youthfulness of this roster ... we just all felt collectively
that the change was something we wanted to do at this time.''
The 68 years old coach joined the franchise back in 2010 as an interim head coach, when the Bobcats had just fired legendary coach Larry Brown. Silas’ up-tempo style of play was well taken by the team and the
Bobcats started to prosper under his regime. He was soon given the permanent nod.
But, then Michael Jordan and his penchant for trading whatever valuable assets were left in his team struck. First Gerald Wallace, the only All-Star in franchise history, left and was soon followed by Stephen
Jackson.
Silas had to train and formulate his scheme around the rookies and whatever experienced players there were left. As the season progresses, Boris Diaw and Corey Maggette also left and Silas was practically left
with nothing.
Corey missed most of the season due to injuries and Boris bailed out. Such was the plight of Silas that Bobcats concluded the season with a 23 game losing streak.
After all this the coach was not surprised by the decision.
"I’m ok with that," he said. "I have had a very successful career coaching and playing and it’s time to move on."
His tenure as a head coach was not even near to the word successful while as interim coach he was 25-29. Overall, he finished with 32 wins and 88 losses.
According to some reports MJ promised him a job within the franchise but the position is not clear.
It is also not cleared that who will replace Silas but Rod Higgins made it clear that they want a person who can invoke the wining spirit in the team.
''We want someone who wants to win,'' Higgins said. ''That's the main quality”.
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