Paul Silas out as Cavs coach

[Reality]

Wow.  They've been in a skid but i would think finishing the year would be in order.
Not so say Cavs new owner and GM.  

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Paul Silas was fired as coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday with his team fighting for a playoff spot after being in first place earlier in the year.

Silas told The Associated Press he was called in Monday morning for a brief meeting with general manager Jim Paxson and new owner Dan Gilbert.

``They released me,'' Silas said. ``They didn't think the team was performing as well as it should be and they wanted to make a change.''

Despite having league superstar LeBron James, the Cavaliers have struggled since the All-Star break, losing nine of 12 and nine straight road games, including Sunday's 105-98 loss to Toronto when James scored a franchise-record 56.

Silas said he was not given a detailed explanation of why he was fired, but there have been issues over the last few weeks that have resulted in the Cavaliers' slide after they went into the All-Star break 30-21.

It all may have culminated Sunday when Silas benched starting guard Jeff McInnis and replaced him with Eric Snow. Snow did not score in Cleveland's loss at Toronto and McInnis, despite dressed and available, didn't play.

Earlier this season, Silas threw Snow off the bench after the two exchanged words during the first quarter of a game at Detroit.

Last week, Silas was fined $10,000 by the team for a derogatory comment he made about Utah forward Carlos Boozer.

Silas made the remark to reporters a day before Boozer was to return to Cleveland after leaving the Cavaliers as a free agent last summer. Boozer didn't travel with the Jazz because of a foot injury. Silas later apologized for the remark.

Silas joined Cleveland in June 2003 after being fired by the New Orleans Hornets.

The Cavaliers have called an afternoon news conference at Gund Arena.

 

[Guest_spursfan101]

This is because of the comment, which I thought was...unprofessional yet refreshing!   In case you didn't hear, the word he called Boozer rhymes with "BUNT."    

[jn]

Let's get the rumors going as fast as possible.  Flip is from Cleveland and still has family in the area.  

[Guest_Randy]

I'm not a big Silas fan but he is a decent (nothing better, nothing worse) coach -- but I am a little puzzled -- what does Cleveland expect from a coach?  James is a great player -- but while he is a great offensive player, he still needs to work on his defense -- which brings us to the entire Cleveland team -- a team that looks to outscore their opponents rather than shutting their opponents down.  With the exception of James, who does Cleveland have?  Ilgauskas is a top 5 center (mainly because he's a true center -- not a wanna be center power forward) but he isn't on the same level with Shaq or Miller -- and Ilgauskas isn't going to lead his team to glory -- but he could be a solid role player in a glory run.  This team lacks some big pieces still -- the Cavs NEED a great shooter (why they didn't try and grab up a Wesley Person, etc. for the rest of the year is still beyond me) in order to give more spacing.  

I don't think Silas should have been the fall guy -- the Cavs simply didn't have any pieces to make any trades and that's not Silas' fault!

[Joe Vancil]

Silas was at his best holding a team together in the face of adversity - namely, the Hornets in Charlotte.  But in Charlotte, he had real command power.  Why?  Because he had real leadership qualities, and that organization was starved for them.  Players had a choice - Silas's way, or the highway.  And George Shinn would be all to happy to send the whiners to cellar-dwellers in exchange for draft picks and cash.

Cleveland, however, is expecting more.  They're looking for a championship, and in short order!  Yes, it's unrealistic.  But that's the expectation.  I think the fans are going to be disappointed, because Silas is about all that kept Charlotte/New Orleans and Cleveland from turning into Portland.

Send Silas to the Blazers.  He'll get everyone on the same page and clean up the mess there.

As for Cleveland?  Saunders isn't a bad pick-up, if you can get him, and this is the kind of team he could help build.  But you're going to have to get him some more pieces, and they start with drop-dead shooters.  And he's going to need some more help on the boards.  Losing Silas just knocked 5 rebounds off of your per-game average.

 

[Reality]

Lebron seems okay with the decision.
from the snippets on ESPN..
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2018311

"You could kind of tell the way the air was, how things were going around here, there was going to have to be a change," said James, who scored a franchise-record 56 points Sunday. "I didn't know it was going to be this soon."