Former NBA All-Star and coach Paul Silas dies at age 79

Paul Silas (Twitter)

Former National Basketball Association player and coach Paul Silas of Prescott, Arkansas passed away on Sunday at the age of 79 according to Homero De la Fuente of CNN. He played 16 seasons in the NBA from 1964 to 1980, and then was a NBA coach for another 23 seasons.

Silas played as a power forward for the St. Louis Hawks (1964-1968), the Atlanta Hawks (1968-69), the Phoenix Suns (1969-1972), the Boston Celtics (1972-76), the Denver Nuggets (1976-77), and the Seattle Supersonics (1977-80). Silas was an All-Star twice. He was first honoured while with the Suns in 1971-72 (averaged 17.5 points per game, 11.9 rebounds per game), and then while with the Celtics in 1974-75 (averaged 10.6 points per game and 12.5 rebounds per game). Also while with the Celtics, he was on the NBA All-Defensive Team twice (1975, 1976), and won  three NBA Finals (1974 and 1976 with Boston and 1979 with Seattle).

As a coach, Silas was the head coach of the San Diego Clippers (1980 to 1983), the Charlotte Hornets (1999 to 2002), the New Orleans Hornets (2002 to 2003), the Cleveland Cavaliers (2003 to 2005), and the Charlotte Bobcats (2010 to 2012). In that time, Silas had a regular season record of 387 wins and 488 losses with a winning percentage of .442. He also helped the Hornets organization make the postseason four straight seasons from 2000 to 2003. In 2001, the Hornets swept the Miami Heat in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, and in 2002, the Horners beat the Orlando Magic in four games in the first round. At the time when Silas won his two playoff series as a head coach, the first round was a best of five.

In addition to being a head coach, Silas was an assistant coach with the New Jersey Nets (1985 to 1986, 1992 to 1995), the New York Knicks (1989-1992), the Suns (1995 to 1997), and the Hornets (1997 to 1999). Paul Silas’s son Stephen is the current head coach of the Houston Rockets.

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