From Paul to Stephen Silas: A Coaching Philosophy Passed Through Generations

Stephen Silas was born August 6, 1973, in Boston, Massachusetts, his father, Paul Silas would later become a 3x NBA champion (2 with the Boston Celtics and 1 with the Seattle Supersonics) and 2x All-Star.

He attended John Jay High School in Cross River, New York, while Paul served as an assistant coach for the New York Knicks under Don Chaney. He played a postgraduate year of basketball at St. Thomas More School in Oakdale, Connecticut. Silas graduated from Brown University in 1996 with bachelor’s degrees in sociology and management.

While studying, he played four seasons for the university’s basketball team; the Bears where he averaged 5.5 points a game. After graduation and before joining the NBA, Silas spent three years as the assistant executive director of the National Basketball Retired Players Association (NBRPA).

Coaching Career

Silas joined the Charlotte Hornets in 1999 as an advance and college scout. In 2000, he became an assistant coach under his father and head coach Paul Silas. He also served as the head coach for the Hornets Summer League squad at the 2002 Orlando Summer Pro League. In 2003, the Hornets relocated to New Orleans.

Paul Silas became the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003, Stephen followed. He worked closely with LeBron James and was responsible for individual skill work, player development, game preparation, pre-game walkthroughs as well as the management and development of the technology and NBA scouting systems for the coaching staff. Silas also served as head coach for the Cavaliers 2003 Summer League teams in Boston and Orlando.

In 2004, he represented the NBA Coaches Association at the Dirk Nowitzki Basketball Academy in Berlin, Germany. The following year, Silas was hired by the Washington Wizards to be an advance scout under Eddie Jordan.

In 2006, Silas was named an assistant coach on Don Nelson’s coaching staff for the Golden State Warriors, that notably had Stephen Curry and Monte Ellis on the roster. In 4 seasons under Nelson, the team only made the playoffs once, reaching the conference semi-finals, but lost to the Utah Jazz in 5 games. He also served as the head coach for the Warriors’ Summer League entry in Las Vegas.

In 2008, he served as a coach at the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders camp in Africa, as well as in Beijing during the summer of 2005. In 2009, he served as coach at the Korea Development Camp in Seoul, working in conjunction with the NBA and Korean Basketball League.

Silas was retained under Keith Smart in 2010, but Silas would leave the Warriors in December to join Paul’s staff in Charlotte, who was hired after the Bobcats fired Larry Brown on December 22, 2010.

The Bobcats coaching staff included Charles Oakley, Ralph Lewis, and two retained assistant coaches from Brown’s staff; Jeff Capel II and Dave Hanners. After a season and a half, Paul Silas was fired and replaced by Mike Dunlap in 2012, Stephen was retained. After Dunlap was fired after a season, Steve Clifford was hired and also retained Silas.

Throughout the 5 seasons under Clifford, the Hornets only reached the playoffs once in 2016, taking the Miami Heat to 7 games, but were eliminated in the first round. At the end of the 2015–2016 season, Silas was a leading candidate to fill the head coaching vacancy for the Houston Rockets, but Mike D’Antoni ended up getting the job.

Notably, Silas coached Kemba Walker, who became a 4x NBA All-Star, one of them with Silas on the team, Al Jefferson, who was named on the All-NBA Third Team in 2014, and Michael Kidd‑Gilchrist, who was named on the NBA All-Rookie Second Team 2013.

In 2018, Silas joined the Dallas Mavericks as an assistant coach under Rick Carlisle for 2 seasons, reuniting with Dirk Nowitzki, who he worked with at the Dirk Nowitzki Basketball Academy. Silas also got to coach Luka Dončić, Kristaps Porziņģis, Harrison Barnes, and J.J. Barea. The Mavericks only made the playoffs during Silas’s tenure which was in 2020 against the Los Angeles Clippers but lost in 6 games.

In 2020, the Houston Rockets hired Stephen Silas as their head coach, succeeding Mike D’Antoni, who had been hired over Silas in 2016. James Harden and Russell Westbrook were on the roster, but in the off-season, Westbrook was traded to the Washington Wizards for John Wall. Harden only played 8 games before he was traded to the Brookyln Nets.

On December 10, 2022, his father and longtime mentor, Paul Silas passed away.

“I’m very proud to be my dad’s son,” Stephen said. “I’m very proud that people see him in me. Whenever it is my time comes, I want people to say the same things they said over the last couple of days about him, hopefully they’ll say that about me.”

– Silas on his father’s legacy

In his first season as the head coach, the Rockets went 17–55, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012. The Rockets would begin their rebuild and start a new season with Harden being on the roster since 2012. The Rockets would slowly identify their core under Silas in Jalen Green, Jabari Smith Jr, and Alperen Sengun.

After 3 losing seasons, Silas was informed his contract would not be renewed for a 4th year for the upcoming 2022-2023 season, he had a coaching record of 59-177. Shortly after being fired, Silas was hired by Monty Williams to be his lead assistant for the Detroit Pistons. Due to the multiple losing streaks and having a 14–68 record at the end of the season, their worst in franchise history, Pistons Owner Tom Gores fired Williams with 6 years left on his contract. Silas left the team shortly after his firing.

In October 2024, it was announced that Stephen Silas would serve as head coach of Team USA for the final two windows of FIBA AmeriCup Qualifiers. He was head coach of the 2025 USA Basketball Men’s AmeriCup Team, which won bronze at the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup in August with a 4-2 record.

“My nature is to prepare for everything that’s coming, right? But in order for the guys to play well, it’s important for me to keep it simple, as simple as I possibly can while also giving them the opportunity to play to their strengths. And then diving into the defensive part because for the most part, um, our guys can play offense. I can put a few things in.

They’ll be able to, you know, execute well. And I usually put, it’s not about me, right? It’s not about the things that I’m going to put in and the wrinkles and all that stuff. It’s about the players being comfortable with what we’re doing.

So, we keep it simple offensively and defense is like 75% of the things because uh defending some of the actions that these teams run and defending some of the different things that we’ll see that are different than they’ve ever seen before is important. So, we spend like 75% of our time on the defensive end and then keep it super simple”

Stephen Silas on his coaching philosophy while coaching Team USA

Coach Silas has been around hall of fame worthy players and coaches for almost his entire life even before he was coaching. There hasn’t been a lot of father-son coaching pairs in the NBA, let alone on the same team, but seeing Paul and Stephen together on the bench back then was amazing and seeing Stephen continue his coaching career today in great spirits is just as great to see.

We’re wishing the best of luck for Coach Silas with his current role with Team USA and rooting for him wherever he may coach in the future.