Silas disagrees with the approach that many current players take on offense: "I always felt-and what guys need to understand today-you don't take the shot that people give you. You take the shot that you want. I was good at being able to go where I wanted to go on the floor and take the shot that I wanted, not the shot that the defensive player expected me to take. Today a defender could give a guy a shot and if the person thinks it's a good shot, he'll take it, but I didn't like that. If you give me a shot, even if I'm comfortable with it, I'm still going to go where I want to go to take the shot." When it is suggested to Silas that the 2004 U.S. Olympic Team, which fired a torrent of errant jump shots in Athens, could profit by viewing the game in that fashion, he laughs and replies, "You got that right."
The Spurs built a lot of their offense around Silas' ability to break down opposing defenses, particularly in late game situations: "I was real fortunate to have coaches like Bob Bass and Doug Moe who really saw the ability that I had. I don't know if Bob Bass was the first guy to come up with this play, but it was called a 1-4 play. The other four guys lined up on the baseline in the positions that they were good at and I went to work out front. I went to work from the top of the circle to wherever I wanted to go to get whatever shot was best for me. If I was double teamed I could always find the open guy. It was an almost unstoppable play that Bob and Doug let me run when the game was on the line or for the last second shot at the end of a quarter."
