Race and the NBA Coaching Carousel

March 25, 2005
By: Dave Zirin

Something stinks in Cleveland, and it ain't the Richie Sambora wing of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Something stinks in Cleveland, and it ain't the Richie Sambora wing of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Cleveland Cavaliers coach Paul Silas was fired with a mere 19 games left in the season and the upstart Cavs in control of the fifth playoff spot in the east, on pace for a respectable 43 wins. The official word from GM Jim Paxson was, “We believe in our players, and that progress just wasn't being made." It is certainly true that the Cavs were on a min-skid, having lost 9 of their last 12.games. But it was still a shock to see Silas, one of the most respected coaches in the game, unceremoniously dumped after only a year and a half at the helm. He had pushed the team forward toward playoff contention for the first time in almost a decade, despite having to simultaneously mentor 20-year-old phenom LeBron James along with a roster with more flotsam than the Cuyahoga River. When Silas was fired many tongues wagged that this was just the modern NBA, where coaches are as disposable as a used diaper on a summer day. As Steve Kerr put it, “The message to NBA coaches is simple: