A Few Minutes With Paul Silas
- Post By: Greg Crumpton
- Date:
- Category: Blog
I was honored recently to have the opportunity to hear Paul Silas speak during lunch at the Rotary of Charlotte Club. Coach Silas spoke for 20 minutes, and specifically talked about the things that he felt like were a huge part of his success, both as a coach and as a player in the NBA.
Coach Silas was a player in the NBA for 16 years. He was notorious for rebounding and shot for 10,000 points over his career. In Paul’s own words, “I was never much for hard work on the floor during practice, but during the game it was a totally different story.”
The stories that the coach told involved many players that we had all heard of from his tenure as the Hornets coach in Charlotte and New Orleans, as well as his return to Charlotte under the Bobcats umbrella. Through those stories he told a whole new story about how his philosophy on hard work during practice had change with his maturity.
One person in particular that the coach brought attention to was his own son Stephen, the youngest of the three Silas children. Over the last dozen years or so Stephen has really made a name for himself within the NBA as a hard worker, the guy willing to go the extra mile, and that is a point of personal pride for Coach Silas.
Another topic that he touched on was confidence, and in particular how much confidence can help young men coming into the league with their performance on the court and their ability to navigate the world off the court. He went on to talk about how these young men many times grow up without a father figure and therefore lack all those things that present and involved fathers help build in their sons.
Coach Silas told the story about a young player, whose name I recognized from watching the Bobcats over the previous years, that struggled with shooting the ball confidently upon his arrival in Charlotte. As Coach Silas had the opportunity to watch they young player practice and play he asked him why he was hesitant to shoot the ball. He responded by saying that his previous coaches never wanted him to shoot, only to pass and set up other people for scoring. Paul quickly told him the key to developing confidence was to work on a shot and start shooting the ball whenever he was open.
As the season progressed the young man became quite the shooting guard and is now one of the premier shooters in the league. The coach reiterated that it was all about his confidence.
Hearing what the coach said really made me analyze my competence and how I go about my daily tasks. He’s right, the confidence you feel in yourself the better product you deliver.
