HOUSTON (SportsRadio 610)- Stephen Silas stood near half court following his team’s 113-87 loss to the Golden State Warriors. He waited for Stephen Curry, whose 23-point barrage in the third quarter flipped Saturday’s game. The two eventually embraced, chatted, and embraced again before Curry walked a handful of steps with Silas, with his arm around his neck, towards the Rockets locker room.
“He was just saying how happy he is for me and he's looking forward to seeing the turnaround when it happens here in Houston under my leadership,” Silas said of the conversation.
Silas was an assistant coach with the Warriors when Curry was a rookie 11 years ago, and the two remain close despite Silas’ departure from the organization a decade ago.
“He's always good in my book,” Curry said. “We watched so much film my rookie year. He helped me understand what it meant to be a pro and see the game as a point guard and deal with some of the uncertainty that was going around the Warriors back then in 2009.”
The Warriors finished Curry’s first NBA season 26-56 and Curry averaged just 11.8 points per game in his first 31 games until the calendar flipped to January. He scored more than 21 points per game during the season’s final four months, finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting and he credits Silas for that improvement.
“He's such a good solid dude. He seems to tell you straight, very approachable, and he made me feel very comfortable asking questions and learning and pushing me, too. Things kind of clicked my rookie year about halfway through, and a lot of that was because of the constant work that we put in behind the scenes.”
Silas’ stature around the league has grown since leaving Golden State, but Curry says he remains the same guy.
“I know he's got a lot of experience since then, but he hasn't changed in terms of his personality, and that should hopefully get him into a place where they can turn the tide a little bit knowing that (the Rockets) are in a little bit of a transition this year.”
Saturday’s loss to Curry and the Warriors dropped Silas’ Rockets to 16-48 on the season, 5-38 since February 4, but the two-time NBA MVP knows the Rockets rookie head coach earned his opportunity and believes he will eventually excel in that role.
“I'm excited that he's in that head seat. It's been a long time coming. Very uncertain circumstances this year with what he probably thought he was signing up for, but he has an opportunity to change that, and that story is gonna be awesome to watch unfold and I'm rooting for him.”