Xavier Silas will stop at nothing to play in the NBA, reflects on his basketball roots in Boulder

 

As the final buzzer sounded in Rose Hill Gym on the campus of Fordham University, Xavier Silas wondered what was next. The City of Gods, a team made up of players mostly from the DMV area and stationed on the East Coast including Silas, former No. 6 overall pick DerMarr Johnson and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, had just lost 84-71 to team Overseas Elite, led by the backcourt duo of Errick McCollum and Myck Kabongo. One day later Overseas Elite would go on to win “The Basketball Tournament” (TBT) and the $1 million cash prize, while Silas and his teammates were faced with a four-hour train ride from the Bronx, New York, back to their home base.

It was a premature ending, but one that wasn’t going to discourage the resilient Silas. The 6-5 guard, who played last season for Nea Kifisia of the Greek League, has dealt with disappointment before but managed to bounce back every time. His father, two-time ABA All-Star James Silas, instilled that type of character in him at an early age and it’s a trait that’s accompanied him along his NBA journey.

“My father always used to say there’s no secret formula to being successful. Work hard and be persistent. Always work on your game and get better at something every year. Improvement is important. Focus on being the best you can be,” Silas said in an exclusive BSN Denver interview after The City of Gods lost in the semifinal of TBT. “He always said: You chose this life, now live it. Your time will come and when it does you have to be ready. But most importantly have fun because people would kill to be in your shoes, so enjoy it.”

Although the road to the NBA is not the smoothest nor easiest, it’s a path that Silas has no regrets about following. He relishes the struggle and vows to take every experience good or bad as a lesson and something to grow from.

After a high school career in Texas and a post-graduate stop at the renowned Brewster Academy in New Hampshire, Silas earned a scholarship to the University of Colorado. Although the 6-5 guard only spent two years in Boulder, you can tell from his words the excitement and love Silas still has for the school.

“Boulder has the best campus in the nation hands down. There’s so much about Colorado that I love. It’s really a hidden gem,” said Silas. “Everyone thinks it’s cold and crappy weather and I just let them think that.”

Silas is the definition of a competitor. He’s someone who always wants to go against the best and he was able to do that in a conference like the Big-12, which at that time was stocked with NBA-level talent.

“Playing at CU was amazing back when the Big 12 was packed top to bottom with elite players. Kansas won a championship, Curtis Jerrells and the Baylor Bears, Kevin Durant and DJ Augustine at Texas, 40 minutes of hell at Missouri and Michael Beasley and his crew at Kansas State,” Silas explains. “Let’s not forget Wesley Johnson at Iowa State and that’s only half of the league. I mean Bobby Knight was at Texas Tech for God’s sake. It was such a fun place to play.”

After a coaching change following his first year Silas was dismissed from the school without warning following his sophomore campaign. The grounds of his dismissal are still unclear to Silas, who in his statement said it was “purely a coach’s decision and not a disciplinary reaction.”

Silas took his talents to Northern Illinois where he blossomed to a tune of 22 points per game (the eighth highest average in the country) under Ricardo Patton, the coach who originally brought him to CU. He gained a reputation as a pure scorer and a knockdown shooter, but most of all Silas still carried the humility and determination that he’s had his entire life.

“I really put my head down and got a lot of work done at Northern Illinois. I really evolved as a player and person there. I turned into someone else,” Silas said. “I went on 11 NBA predraft workouts and I shot 46 percent from the field that year. There was a lot of interest in me.”

After going undrafted, Silas signed to play in France with BCM Gravelines of LNB Pro A. His first stint abroad only lasted a little over four months and on Dec. 9, 2011, he signed his first NBA deal, a 10-day contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. He spent most of that season with the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League but was back in Philadelphia for the end of 2012 and even got some run in the playoffs that year.

Building off his rookie campaign, Silas found himself back in Philadelphia for the 2012 NBA Summer League. In the 76ers final Summer League game Silas was elbowed in the head by teammate Solomon Jones and after initially fearing a skull fracture was instead diagnosed with a sinus fracture. His career was suddenly in jeopardy.

It was another instance where the Texas native could have packed his bags, kissed that NBA dream goodbye and gone on to better things, but that’s not who Silas is.

“That injury was a big turning point in my career. Literally a few days from signing back on with Philadelphia after a good showing in Summer League I fracture my skull. It was during the last game, in the last quarter. There were rumors that I wouldn’t play that year or maybe never play again,” Silas said. “Granted my forehead was smashed in but it was only a sinus fracture in the grand scheme of things. My brain never was bleeding or anything like that so as soon as my bone heeled up around the plates and screws I was good to go. I went to training camp with the Sixers a few months later but they had already signed someone at my position. That injury just made me grateful to be alive and to be able to play basketball.”

Silas wasn’t about to let his story stop there.

“When something like that happens, when anything in life happens, you have to push through with positivity,” Silas said. “If you don’t have faith in yourself, who will?”

Fastforward a year later and Silas was back at Summer League, this time with the Milwaukee Bucks. A strong showing there was parlayed into a contract with the Washington Wizards in September 2013. Once again Silas was waived and spent the year overseas but was back in training camp with Washington a year later for what was his best opportunity yet.

“With the Wizards the second time around I really felt like the stars were aligning,” Silas said. “I know I have all of the tools to be in the league, I just haven’t gotten that real opportunity to be in there for various reasons. The feedback I get is never that I’m not good enough, it’s always roster spots, the salary cap, wanting more experience, etc.”

League personnel took notice of his time with Philadelphia and Washington. He gained the respect of his teammates throughout both stops and built long-lasting relationships with them, some of whom he’s close with to this day.

“I thought he had a great camp,” Wizards guard John Wall told the Washington Post following last year’s training camp. “To come to the same camp two years in a row means you’re doing something well and the team’s looking at you.”

“The thing is, he has great confidence in himself,” head coach Randy Wittman said to the Post. “He goes out there, make or miss, he’s not threatened and I like that in a guy in that position. But as I keep telling him, he’s got to show me that he can solidly do the things that we want to get done from a defensive standpoint, too.”

Silas took Wittman’s comments to heart and has made improving his defense his No. 1 priority since he left Wizards training camp in 2014.

He sought the advice and instruction of Joe Connelly III, a player development coach with the Wizards, and the two formed a bond and relationship that’s still strong today.

Connelly, the older brother of Denver Nuggets’ general manager Tim Connelly, put Silas through a gauntlet this past summer. The two routinely engaged in two-a-day workouts to help mold Silas into the player he is this very today: a two-way bulldog, a knockdown shooter and an all out competitor.

“Xavier’s ball handling is vastly improved and he is just now starting to use his athleticism to explode to the basket,” Connelly told BSN Denver over text. “Xavier has a legitimate NBA-ready skill in his jumper. Add his defensive prowess, his work ethic and just the type of person he is and you have someone who’s an ideal candidate for a team in need of a knockdown shooter.”

It’s extremely high praise coming from Connelly III who has worked with one of the brightest backcourts in the league in Washington with Wall and Bradley Beal.

“Xavier is a gym rat, and I don’t use that term lightly, but he literally lives in the gym. He has challenged himself to take his game to another level and the results are becoming apparent,” Connelly III said. “He’s become an even deadlier shooter with a quicker release and has NBA range and beyond. He’s made a conscious decision to become a lockdown and conscious defender on every possession, both on and off the ball.”

Silas credits Connelly and their summer workouts for making him the player he is today.

“I can’t thank Joe enough. He’s just such a great guy. He helps me with my game and not only puts in the work to help me build the skill but will also hit me late at night with a text building my confidence,” Silas said. “He’s always positive, super knowledgeable and personally he’s responsible for so much of how my game has been evolving lately.”

In fact, it was Connelly who put The City of Gods team together and who first approached Silas about signing up for TBT.

“Joe hit me with the opportunity. He was like ‘man we have a really good team but we need a sniper!’ Of course I had no idea what I would be doing in that part of the summer but I committed and I’m glad I did,” Silas said. “Honestly, I didn’t know the exposure would be what it was and I didn’t know the competition would be as good as it was.”

Throughout TBT Silas was his consummate self: a knockdown shooter from the perimeter, athletic enough to penetrate into the teeth of the defense and someone who’s going to get up and into you on the defensive end. Silas averaged a team-high 15 points per game and shot 52 percent from 3-point range throughout the tournament. His impressive four weeks concluded with a game-high 22 points in their semifinal loss, including four threes.

TBT’s semifinal game was broadcast on national TV where ESPN’s Fran Fraschilla singled out Silas as “still one of those guys on the fringe of making an NBA team.”

Silas has the size and skillset to be a two-way guard in today’s NBA, which is predicated on the ability to shoot and defend your position at a high level. He could find a place on any team with a need for a shooter as a classic 3-and-D guy – but simply having the talent to play in the league doesn’t always get you an opportunity, it takes the perfect situation and flawless timing.

The now 27-year-old, Austin, TX, native has paid his dues and is ready to reap the rewards. Silas is on the radar of NBA teams after his stints in Philadelphia and Washington and the success he’s showed in the D-League. He’s endured the physicality of overseas basketball after stops in France, Israel, Argentina and finally in Greece where he averaged 12 points on 50 percent shooting in just under 25 minutes per game last season. The coverage he got in TBT this past month shouldn’t hurt either.

After TBT ended and Silas had a chance to reflect on his year he decided he knows exactly what’s next.

“My goal is to be one of the best players in the world. That’s possible in the NBA and that’s also possible abroad. Whatever opportunity is the best one for me and makes the most sense for my future, I’m going to attack it.”