Silas had a lot going against him in the last couple weeks and seemingly lost his passion; the losing of nine games in the last dozen, the fall from grace in the Central Division to No. 5 in the East, the nine successive road lack of successes; having to answer questions regarding strategy and substitutions to new owner Dan Gilbert, making him feel like he was back in New Orleans waging war against then minority owner Ray Woolridge; and conflict with several players, especially Jeff McInnis and Drew Gooden regarding their defensive defects.
Gooden was recently demoted but fought his way back into the lineup. For the most part, rather than confront McInnis, by all accounts, a tough customer to deal with, a guy who yells at everyone, Silas left him alone.
There came a time, of course, when there was no getting away from disciplining McInnis, a rising free agent whose stock was high the first 30 games of the season. Rather than sit him down last Sunday in favor of Eric Snow, say sources, Silas wanted to cut him; he felt his point guard would be too much a problem and wouldn't accept the new role.
When Gilbert and GM Jim Paxson refused to endorse such an extreme measure, preferring to wait to see if McInnis became a complete jerk sharing minutes, Silas decided not to play him a single second. Almost overnight he'd gone from integral to insignificant.
Meanwhile, Silas played James the full 48, Gooden saw 42, (chronically injured) Zydrunas Ilgauskas 41 and Snow 40 minutes, in which he accrued zero points (0-4) and six assists in the 105-98 defeat.
Silas appeared to be telling Gilbert, "Bleep you!"
Their arranged marriage evidently wasn't working very well. Owner of Quicken Loans, the largest mortgage on-line company in the United States, Gilbert simply foreclosed on Silas' contract with two years and 16 games remaining.
