Commentary: Paul Silas Extension

Late tip tonight, so I have a bit of time to discuss a couple things that have come up today.  First and foremost, Adrian Wojnarowski just tweeted:  WojYahooNBA‎ Y! Sources: Charlotte Bobcats, Paul Silas finalizing a one-year contract extension for the coach.  You have to love that if you’re a Bobcats fan.  Second, and somewhat secondary is the coverage of the Bobcats drubbing of the Lakers.  It’s getting to me that it’s a “Lakers Loss” rather than a Bobcats win.  It was a great win and the Bobcats should be given more credit on the national level.

Coach Silas has had the word “Interim” in front of “Head Coach” since he took over for the fired (yes, fired) Larry Brown.  I think any time that hangs out there it hurts the team, there are questions and usually it’s one of those “yeah-but’s” that leads to underlying instability.  Although it’s only a one year deal, it adds certain stability and definite peace and quiet for the off-season.  Do it now, don’t discuss it, don’t let it sully a possible playoff run.

This is certainly a reward for his exceptional reworking of this team.  He’s been a breath of fresh air to me personally.  I don’t have to worry about a coach bad mouthing individual players, undercutting their confidence and being more concerned with his legacy and “playing the right way” than winning.  His postgame pressers are a thing of beauty compared to LB’s mopefests.  He’s opened up the offense, sped things up, lifted the confidence of young players and brought wins against Boston, Atlanta and LA in a week.  He is a good coach with a great history in Charlotte and if it weren’t for Lebron James having issues, he might have had a great run in Cleveland.  He watched the games like a fan and came in seeing the things we all saw.  Immediate impact.

Coach Silas is 67 years old.  He didn’t look great getting back to the locker room when I was at the game.  He’s not going to be signed to some long term deal.  A year with him, development of the assistants, who knows what could happen past next season.  I just think it’s a great move and possibly Coach Silas should have been the guy all along.  Michael Jordan got dared into hiring him by every Carolina fan, former coach, booster and alum.  Larry Brown looked like a savior for the franchise after the Sam Vincent experiment and I’ve said before I appreciate what he did in his two years here.  It was just that third year, or what he was around for that got him in my doghouse.  I think the best summation of Larry Brown’s stint was what my friend Nic said:  “Larry comes in, runs a 2 year basketball camp, shakes up the roster and then gets pissed and stomps home with his ball when he doesn’t get his way.”  Paul Silas wanted the job 3 years ago, hell, maybe 4 years ago.  It was discussed and he has said he wanted it.  Think of the consistency and stability if he’d been around here for 3 years?

Maybe Larry Brown is what this franchise needed but I can make an argument that Paul would have been better in the long haul.  Look at the roster moves that Larry either demanded or begged for:  Traded a conditional first round pick to Denver for the 20th pick, drafted DJ Augustin over Brook Lopez and Alexis Ajinca with that pick they aquired; Extended Adam Morrison and signed Shannon Brown to a minimum deal; Traded J-Rich, Dudley and a second round pick for Boris Diaw, Raja Bell and Sean Singletary; Traded Matt Carroll and Ryan Hollins for Diop’s huge contract;  Traded Adam Morrison and Shannon Brown to the Lakers for Vlad Radmonovic; drafted Gerald Henderson and Derrick Brown; Traded Okafor for Tyson Chandler; Traded Vlad and Raja for Jackson and Acie Law; Traded Flip Murray, Law and a first round pick for Tyrus Thomas; added Theo Ratliff for a conditional 2nd rounder; signed Larry Hughes.

That’s all before this season.  This season’s movements were all pretty good, unless you believe the Tyson Chandler re-birth in Dallas to be legit, that move might have been questionable in some folks eyes.  There is one guy left from Larry’s first day on the job and that’s Gerald Wallace.  The trade for Diop is bad enough.  Adding Boris Diaw’s contract, somewhat questionable, but it worked well in that first year and then in the playoff run.  The team was built to win last year and the future be damned.  Larry wasn’t here for anything but to get this team to compete and make the playoffs, mission acomplished but where do you leave us?  He wasted the first year of DJ Augustin’s career, killed it last year and buried it this year.  Paul Silas brought it back.  He buried Gerald Henderson and Derrick Brown and their neglected abilities have been a detriment to trying to trade them or get production out of their rookie scale deals.  Would Brook Lopez have worked out better than DJ Augustin?  Who knows?  We had Okafor at the time and didn’t need the big man, but on the other hand we had Raymond Felton too and didn’t need another point.

Woulda, couldas and shouldas aside, Larry Brown got us to the playoffs and got us in all kind of roster trouble.  Paul Silas came in and saved the season and he’s being rewarded for it and so are all the fans because he’s a great guy and a great coach.

Onto my other issue today, respect.  I realize the Bobcats are going to continue to be called the Hornets by accident by people who don’t cover them regularly.  I realize that the Bobcats don’t have an All-Star participant this year.  I realize the Bobcats haven’t been on national TV in the regular season in 2 years.  They’ve only made the playoffs once.  The Bobcats don’t have anyone dating any reality stars and other than our owner, no one makes waves nationally.  I get it.  But when the Lakers get beat by 20, it’s no fluke.  Yeah, it’s weird that the Bobcats are 8-2 over the last 10 against the Lakers, who have won 2 championships over the same span and got beat in the finals once.  But come on national media, get serious.

Colin Cowherd was convinced that Kobe was on his deathbed and was roused last night to play the lowly Bobcats.  I heard at least 3 ESPN personalities say “Well, the Lakers aren’t going to get up for a weekday game against the Bobcats.”  Dismissive.  I’m looking at your Tony Kornheiser, and at least one panelist on Around the Horn.  It’s not a question of “How good are the Bobcats?”  It’s “Should this cause concern amongst Lakers fans and the organization?”

It’s not that it’s dismissive, it’s fine, we don’t have a national presence and I understand that.  It’s the fact that they so question how the mighty Lakers could have possibly fallen to the lowly Bobcats.  It can’t be that they got beat straight up on all fronts.  It can’t be that Kobe gets damn frustrated by the wing defenders the Bobcats continually throw at him.  It would be fine if they had the “How bad is this for LA?” discussion if they threw the Bobcats the tiniest of bones and say something like “fell to the Bobcats, who have been playing well, beating Boston and Atlanta as well,” or anything semi-positive about the team I love and write about.

Maybe a win streak will do something.  So let’s hope for a win tonight against the Bulls and a good All-Star break.