A bad season just keeps getting worse for the Charlotte Bobcats.
After a loss to the Celtics on Sunday, Bobcats coach Paul Silas was upset with Tyrus Thomas for chatting with Celtics players on the court, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. When Thomas snapped back at Silas for calling him out in the locker room, Silas pushed Thomas back toward his locker and the two needed to be separated.
A source told Wojnarowski that the two were fined and had a meeting with general manager Rod Higgins. The whole thing seems to have been handled internally.
This has been an extremely rough year for the Bobcats. They are currently 7-53 and are two wins shy of the NBA record for fewest wins in a season and need to get one more win to avoid having the worst win percentage in league history.
What might have been more embarrassing though is the constant chatter about whether Kentucky, the NCAA national champion, could defeat the Bobcats — don’t worry one of the Wildcats will be in Charlotte soon. There is a sense of pride that has to come in for Charlotte in these last six games.
Maybe that is what got Silas’ lather up in the loss.
Silas was a bruising power forward in the 1970s for the Hawks, Celtics, Suns and Sonics. He won two titles with Boston and one in Seattle. This is not a guy anybody wanted to mess with on the court.
Apparently now you don’t want to mess with him in the locker room either.
“Silas hates losing to the Celtics, and Paul was even angrier that he thought [Thomas] was acting buddy-buddy with some of their guys,” one source told Wojnarowski. “That’s what got it going. But Paul was yelling at him over his salary, over what they have left to pay him. But it started with him saying, hey, he could live with the losing, but you’re going to be buddy-buddy as they’re beating your ass too?”
This is the moment when their resolve as a professional is really tested. Charlotte has been bad from the beginning of the year and has had to deal with a lot of beatings this year. It seems the team is finally cracking.
Thomas, for his part, has been a disappointment. He is due $7.3 million and is averaging 5.6 points per game and 3.9 rebounds per game. Charlotte cannot get him off its books fast enough.
Silas had had enough with Thomas and his attitude. The season is, thankfully, nearing an end for Charlotte. Hopefully the lottery returns hope to that franchise in some measure.
