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James Silas: “Captain Late” Commanded Respect in the Clutch (Part I)

© David Friedman

Before Tim Duncan made bank shots with the regularity of a metronome, before David Robinson ran the floor like a gazelle and before George "Iceman" Gervin finger rolled his way to four scoring titles, the San Antonio Spurs were led by an amazingly skilled 6'2" dynamo who earned the nickname "Captain Late." His paycheck read "James Silas" but Spurs' broadcaster Terry Stembridge tagged him with a nickname worthy of a superhero after Silas produced several electrifying 20-point fourth quarter performances.

Bobby "Slick" Leonard coached the Indiana Pacers to three ABA titles. He also was the captain for the 1953 NCAA champion Indiana Hoosiers before enjoying a seven year NBA career during which he competed with and against legends such as Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Jerry West. He does not mince words when speaking about Silas' exploits: "Jimmy Silas really should be in the Hall of Fame. I liken Jimmy Silas a lot to Sam Jones in Boston. We had to double team Jimmy Silas between the three point line and the top of the key, trying to get it (the ball) away from him. I mean this guy was a monster. He had the stop and pop jumpers. He was strong, could play defense, pass-I mean, this guy was a great, great basketball player. All you ever hear people talk about are the great players in the NBA. Well, I would put this guy up against any of them."

In the 1974 ABA playoffs, Silas and the Spurs extended the defending champion Pacers to seven games. The teams met again in the 1975 playoffs, with the Pacers advancing after a hard fought six game series. The Pacers double teamed Silas even though he was playing alongside future Hall of Famer and Top 50 selection Gervin. Leonard says, "He was that dangerous. If you go down there (to San Antonio), when they left Hemisfair and went into the Alamodome, you see the two players up there in great big pictures across that backdrop-George Gervin and Jimmy Silas." Despite the extra defensive attention, in the 1975 playoffs Silas averaged 18.8 ppg and led the ABA in postseason assists (10.0 apg).

Told that Leonard considers him the most underrated guard in ABA history, Silas offers a direct reply: "I feel like that, too." He adds, "I always respected Indiana because Indiana was the team to beat in the ABA at that time. They had some supreme players-Roger Brown, Mel Daniels, George McGinnis, Freddie Lewis, Don Buse and on and on. That was a great team, a team that you had to get up for. It was just something that I loved--I loved the game so much and I really valued my play against teams that I thought were good. Indiana was a team that you had to play well against to beat them."

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