Tyrus Thomas and Bobcats coach Paul Silas engaged in a post-game shouting match following Sunday's game that led to Silas shoving Thomas, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. No punches were thrown, as several players intervened immediately to separate the two. According to Wojnarowski, Silas was angry that Thomas chatted with some Celtics after the Bobcats lost their 16th straight game.
"Silas hates losing to the Celtics, and Paul was even angrier that he thought [Thomas] was acting buddy-buddy with some of their guys," a 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?"
GM Rod Higgins told Wojnarowski that he has met with Silas and Thomas about the incident and both have been fined.
Even before this confrontation, it was hard to imagine a scenario that involved both Silas and Thomas returning to Charlotte next season. Silas was identified today by Susan Bible of HoopsWorld as one of a handful of NBA coaches on the hot seat, which is hard to argue, given the Bobcats' awful 2011/12 record. Silas, who is in the last year of his contract, also reportedly clashed with Boris Diaw earlier this season, and has allowed his son Stephen to coach the occasional Bobcats game.
Thomas, meanwhile, still has about $26MM left on his contract after this season, and is a prime candidate to be amnestied. Besides Kemba Walker and Bismack Biyombo, Thomas is the only Bobcat under contract past 2012/13.