Monty Williams was officially hired as the Detroit Pistons’ head coach Friday.
He has now begun fleshing out his staff.
Former Houston Rockets head coach Stephen Silas is joining the Pistons as Williams’ lead assistant, a team source confirmed to the Free Press on Monday.
Silas, 49, will bring experience to a bench that will work to help the Pistons move on from a 17-65 season and ascend up the Eastern Conference ranks.
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Silas was a longtime assistant before the Rockets hired him as head coach in 2020. Initially tasked with leading a James Harden-led team coming off eight-straight playoff appearances, Silas ended up navigating a rebuild after Houston traded Harden to the Brooklyn Nets eight games into the 2020-21 season. After three seasons with 22 wins or fewer and a 59-177 record, the Rockets declined to pick up Silas’ fourth-year option in April. They since hired Ime Udoka as head coach.
Prior to Houston, Silas was an assistant for 20 years. He’s the son of two-time All-Star and former longtime NBA head coach Paul Silas, and was the youngest assistant in the league at age 27 when the Charlotte Hornets hired him in 2000. He also had stops with the Cleveland Cavaliers (2003-05), Golden State Warriors (2006-10), Bobcats/Hornets (2010-18) and Dallas Mavericks (2018-20), where he was the lead assistant under former Pistons head coach Rick Carlisle.
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The Pistons signed Monty Williams to a blockbuster six-year, $78.5 million contract with seventh and eighth-year options that could bring the total value to more than $100 million.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski was first to report Silas’ hiring.