The relationship between current Rockets coach Stephen Silas and longtime Warriors star Stephen Curry is well chronicled, tracing back to Silas’ days as a Golden State assistant when Curry entered the league in 2009. But Curry is far from the only superstar that Silas successfully coached prior to becoming Houston’s head coach in late 2020.
In 2003, Paul Silas took over as Cleveland’s head coach, which gave his son another opportunity to be an assistant and develop helpful experience at a young age. That offseason was also when the Cavaliers drafted a teenage high-school product named LeBron James, who today is widely viewed as one of basketball’s two greatest all-time players.
In addition to being a regular-season assistant when James joined the Cavs, Stephen Silas was the head coach when LeBron played in the 2003 summer league — effectively his first-ever NBA action.
During his recently released personal documentary, here’s what Silas said about those days with early-career LeBron, including what James did to quickly impress him — both on and off the court.
He was bigger, faster, and stronger than everybody as a 19-year-old. He also had all of this other stuff surrounding him, whether it’s being on the cover of Sports Illustrated or his Nike deal, and all that. For him to be grounded enough to kind of power through that time was just really cool to be around.
All of the things that he had to deal with as a young kid, but also just watching how good he was… you gain so much respect for players who are just that great.
Ultimately, the Silas duo worked with James for the first two seasons (2003-04 and 2004-05) of his eventual Hall of Fame career. For Stephen, the experience clearly proved useful as he methodically progressed up the assistant ranks before landing Houston’s lead job in 2020.
The new Silas documentary, which was produced by the Rockets and titled “Ready to Lead,” can be viewed below in its entirety.
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