Charlotte Bobcats assistant coach Stephen Silas, son of head coach Paul Silas, has been taking a more active role on the bench of late, taking over head coaching duties from his dad for several Bobcats games. With Paul Silas, 68, reportedly "leaning toward" spending one more year on the sidelines (if the Bobcats will have him, as his contract expires at year's end), Stephen's acting-coach stints are being viewed as on-the-job training, whether for becoming his dad's successor in Charlotte or to ramp up his resume as a candidate for the next vacancy that opens elsewhere. The arrangement appears to be above-board, and the Bobcats' front office is down with Stephen coaching about one game a week for the remainder of the season. But according to Rick Bonnell at the Charlotte Observer , the NBA wants to know which games exactly those are going to be. Coach Paul Silas told me at shoot-around this morning that the league has asked the Bobcats for a heads-up whenever lead assistant Stephen Silas is taking over the team for a game. [...] It makes sense that the league office wants to inform that night's officiating crew in advance that Stephen Silas is in charge. Referees give head coaches more latitude — to stand throughout the game, to argue calls, to ask for interpretations — than they do assistants. So it makes sense for refs to know how to delineate between Paul's and Stephen's roles. I, for one, wish the league wouldn't have made this request. The prospect of two Silases standing and yelling at Bill Spooner for calling a foul on Bismack Biyombo, followed by Spooner issuing a technical foul that leads to father and son pulling a "Who's on First?" routine over who should get the T is exactly the kind of thing that might make me watch a 7-41 team that just became the first team of this NBA season officially eliminated from postseason contention. Why do you have to ruin our fun, NBA? Bits like these don't come around all that often.
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