Silas touts icon’s ‘GOAT’ status
Rockets coach shares star’s impact with players thanks to dad’s stories
For as long as Rockets coach Stephen Silas can remember, his father taught him about the great Bill Russell.
Memories don’t often survive for so long. Silas estimates he was 3 or 4 years old when he first learned of Russell, who died Sunday at 88. But his recollection of his father, longtime NBA star Paul Silas, teaching him about Russell remains vivid and fresh, reinforced by all he has learned in the years since about the greatest champion in team sports history and his father’s idol since long before his only child was born.
“My dad and Bill Russell both went to the same high school, McClymonds (in Oakland, Calif.),” Silas said. “They used to play in the same park, de Fremery Park in downtown Oakland, and try to run the court. He was the one my dad grew up idolizing and wanted to be like, because they went to the same high school and grew up in the same city.
“I used to hear the stories about Bill Russell and McClymonds High forever. I remember him and my dad getting together and having conversations. That was a part of my dad’s life since I could remember.”
Tributes and acknowledgement for Russell’s achievements and impact poured in Sunday after the news of his passing. Rockets players had already been taught about Russell’s importance in basketball history.
More than four decades after Silas was given those lessons, he has made a point to teach his players about the greats of the game and how they helped build it for the generations that followed. Those lessons during Black History Month last season covered “a bunch of guys and their importance to growing the game.”
“We were having the GOAT conversation,” Silas said. “Don’t forget about these guys. Bill Russell was one of those guys.”
Russell twice won the California state championship (10 years before the elder Silas would also lead McClymonds High School to the state championship) before winning two national championships at the University of San Francisco, an Olympic gold medal and 11 NBA championships, the final two as a player-coach, in 13 seasons.
Yet when Silas spoke to his players about Russell’s accomplishments, he told of “who he was on the court and the championships he won and his selflessness as a player, but also the social justice work he did.”
“At that time, it took so much strength for those guys to step up and stand up and let it be known how they are feeling, what they think is fair, what they think is right and to be unashamedly honest with an audience who didn’t necessarily want to hear that from athletes,” Silas said. “For him to be in the same kind of realm as Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown at that time was so admirable. He had gone through so much to get to that point, all the things he went through as a Celtic and the stories you hear. He could have just shut it all down and shut it all out and been a basketball player. But he found it was so much more important to be more than a basketball player. It was definitely admirable for him to stand up and do it.”
Silas’ father never played for his idol. He started his three seasons with the SuperSonics the season after Russell departed as coach, 1977-78. But the younger Silas and Russell did talk about that connection when the Rockets coach was assistant executive director of the National Basketball Retired Players Association and charged with helping put together the NBA at 50 celebration in Cleveland in 1997.
“We had a good conversation about my dad and McClymonds and de Fremery Park and my dad and Seattle,” Silas said.
Silas cherishes those conversations. But he also has another memory of visiting with Russell that will last as long as his memory of his father’s storytelling.
“He always did the laugh,” Silas said of Russell’s distinctive, highpitched cackle. “At least he did with me.”
Silas also laughed in the retelling. That laugh was unforgettable.
As Silas has known through most of his life, so was much more.
“He could be a role model to anybody,” Silas said. “Not just in his era but in any era.”
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“Bill stood for something much bigger than sports: the values of equality, respect and inclusion that he stamped into the DNA of our league … I often called him basketball’s Babe Ruth for how he transcended time.” NBA commissioner Adam Silver
“His dedication to civil rights, human rights and the sport of basketball puts him beyond legendary status. That smile will be missed.” Former Rocket Robert Horry
“He paved the way and set an example for every Black player who came into the league after him, including me. The world has lost a legend.” Six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan
“He was one of the first athletes on the front line fighting for social justice, equity, equality and civil rights. Over the course of our friendship, he always reminded me about making things better in the Black community.” Five-time NBA champion Magic Johnson
“Russell goes down as the best winner ever in American team sports. That’s pretty significant, and that’s never going to change. He fought the good fight, obviously, on the floor, but he fought the good fight off the floor, fighting racism all his life. Sticking his tongue out at the opponent. That’s not easy to do.” Hall of Famer and former teammate Bob Cousy
“Today, we lost a giant. As tall as Bill Russell stood, his legacy rises far higher — both as a player and as a person.” Ex-president Barack Obama
“To be the greatest champion in your sport, to revolutionize the way the game is played, and to be a societal leader all at once seems unthinkable, but that is who Bill Russell was.” Boston Celtics
“You were everything we all aspired to be, your winning spirit will live forever my friend. Thank you for your words of wisdom.” Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas
“If everyone could take a little bit of what Bill Russell did for his entire life, we’d be a better world.” Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi
“Bill Russell was a once-in-a-generation activist athlete . ... I admired him my entire life and he had a huge influence on my career. He was the ultimate leader, ultimate team player and ultimate champion.” Tennis icon Billie Jean King
“Bill Russell was the most powerful ambassador of the NBA. I held him in the highest regard and tried to build on the groundwork laid by him and his generation of players.” Hall of Fame center David Robinson