Paul Silas Named Charlotte Bobcats’ Interim Head Coach, Replacing Larry Brown

Paul Silas has been named the interim head coach of the Charlotte Bobcats, the team announced Wednesday. The announcement came just hours after news broke that Larry Brown had resigned from his position and that his entire staff had been fired.

Silas coached the Charlotte Hornets through the team’s relocation to New Orleans in 2002. He later coached the Cleveland Cavaliers, and was LeBron James’ first NBA head coach. He has a lifetime 355-400 record in the NBA, with many of those losses coming as the coach of the San Diego Clippers in the early 1980s. SIlas was also a great player in 1960s and ‘70s, making two All-Star teams and five All-Defense teams.

Brown resigned in what the Bobcats termed a mutual decision with owner Michael Jordan. Brown took over the Bobcats in 2008, and last season led the franchise to its first and only playoff berth. Under Brown, the team became a defensive juggernaut, finishing tops in the league in defensive efficiency last year. But the trade of Tyson Chandler, the free agent loss of Raymond Felton helped contribute to a massive slide for the team this season. After Tuesday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Bobcats sit at just 9-19, 2-1/2 games out of the East’s No. 8 seed.

SIlas will need to add 2-3 assistant coaches quickly. His son Stephen is an assistant with the Golden State Warriors, but it would be unorthodox for the younger Silas to leave midseason for another assistant position. Stephen Silas coached under his father in Cleveland; both were fired in March 2005 as the Cavaliers chased a playoff spot in LeBron’s second season. Brendan Malone, a current Orlando Magic assistant coach, and Kenny Natt, most recently an interim head coach of the Sacramento Kings in 2009, were also on Silas’ Cavs staff. Natt is not currently working in the NBA.