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articles : Funeral Homes and the Late James Silas
 Funeral Homes and the Late James Silas
He is probably the only pro basketball player in history who wants to get into the funeral home business, but what would you expect from a guy whose teammates call him The Late James Silas.
The nickname actually has nothing to do with his off court investments. It's just that Silas, on the court, always seems to be at his best late in the game when the outcome is on the line. So many times he has taken control of a contest in the final quarter, either pumping in a jump shot or driving and then passing oft to a teammate for a basket.
He is, as the Spirits' Don Chaney says, one of the best one-on-one players in the game.
"He's our late-game offense," explains San Antonio coach Bob Bass. "We don't call Si's play early in the game because we like to keep everyone involved. But when it gets down to the end he is almost certain to hit the basket or get it to someone else who is open for a good shot."
Silas, a 6-1 guard who blossomed into an All Star after being waived several years ago by Houston of the National Basketball Association, had to be practically badgered into calling his own play and taking the clutch shots.
"I really had to get after him to call his own play," Bass says. "He just didn't want his teammates to think he was trying to upstage them."
"Yes," agrees Silas, "most of the year I was hesitant about taking the shot. But now all I can think about is getting it up and off."
There are very few guards who can keep Silas from getting it "up and off" when he starts backing in from about 15 feet out and then turns for his quick jumper. Most of the time it takes double teaming. It is particularly difficult against great defensive guards such as Don Buse of Indiana and Brian Taylor of New York, who are helped out by quick forwards such as Darnell Hillman and Julius Erving.
"But even against them I'm looking for the shot," Silas says. "And if I can't get it off I'll look for the open man."
Finding the open man has made him one of the top assist men in the league - he averages about 5.6 a game, third in the ABA. That goes well along with his scoring and defense.
Recognized as one of the top three guards in the ABA after two straight All Star assignments, Silas ranked third in the league in scoring at 24 points a game entering this week. He also was sixth in two-point field goal accuracy, 52 per cent, and third in free throw shooting, 87 per cent, along with No. 6 in steals with two per game.
"I feel I've improved in departments other than scoring like assists and steals," says Silas, a 27-year-old native of Tallulah, La., who went to Stephen F. Austin College. "I've learned that I've got to do other things to help the team. Getting a lot of steals and assists sometimes is more important to the team than scoring."
He certainly has improved in every department since signing as a free agent in 1972. His assists have increased every season, his points have risen from 13.7 his rookie year, when he came within one vote of winning Rookie of the Year honors, to 15.7 his second season to 19.3 last year.
But lately, the Late Mr. Silas has been all but unstoppable in the closing moments of a game when he more often than not buries an opponent.
But that really isn't why Silas has funeral homes in mind. It seems the thought came from former teammate, former Spirit Goo Kennedy, who was always reminding fellow players that " the undertakers are going to be the last people to go out of business."
That must have sounded like a good investment to Silas, who has been on the look out for a funeral home to buy.
"Don't get me wrong," he emphasizes. "I just want to own a funeral home. I don't want to be an undertaker."
(This article appeared originally in a Spirits of St. Louis Official Program, March 14, 1976.)
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