The Basketball Podcast: EP427 with Stephen Silas on Training Camp and Practice Preparation

USA Basketball and former NBA head coach Stephen Silas, where he discussed his experiences coaching in short international qualifying windows for FIBA competitions. Silas shared insights about preparing teams with limited time, explaining that USA Basketball teams typically have only six practices before playing two games against other national teams in challenging internationa l venues.

Silas detailed his approach to quickly building team culture through group activities, film sessions, and quiz competitions while emphasizing the importance of defense first and adapting to FIBA rules that differ significantly from NBA play. Silas also discussed his role clarity strategies with players, the challenges, and how these international experiences have helped him develop as a coach.

Stephen Silas is an accomplished NBA coach with more than two decades of experience across the league, most notably serving as head coach of the Houston Rockets from 2020 to 2023. He has also held coaching roles with the Charlotte Hornets, New Orleans Hornets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, and Dallas Mavericks.

Most recently, Silas has coached with USA Basketball, serving as head coach for the U.S. Men’s AmeriCup Qualifying Team and leading squads in FIBA competition windows beginning in 2024.  Under Silas, USA Basketball posted a 4–0 record in the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup Qualifiers, and he later guided Team USA to a bronze medal finish at the 2025 FIBA AmeriCup.

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Stephen Silas Quotes:

“We have about a month or so [to prepare] . . I reach out to all the guys, lay out the expectations, get their point of view as far as what their expectations may or may not be . . My nature is to prepare, prepare, prepare, but they also have to be comfortable with what they’re doing. So, I’ll send out a offensive playbook video and defensive playbook, to their phone so they can kind of get a feel for what we do.”

“The FIBA game is a little bit different. There’s a lot more movement. There’snot a lot of  the typical things that you’ll see in G league or NBA . . So, getting those guys comfortable with the style of play, but also the things that are important to us as far as limiting three point shots and maybe not helping quite as much . . And then, the rebounding part is so crucial because the bigs in FIBA are big and strong and they go get the basketball.”

“We do a lot of stuff together as a group, whether it’s most of our meals or doing a film session after practice in the evening, so the guys will kind of be able to wind down, but then in a less structured atmosphere, watch some film as a group.”

“I try to make the film sessions as two-way as possible, where I’m not standing up there talking the whole time but also letting them have a piece of it and giving them ownership of it. Another thing that I’ll do is break it down into small group films. Sometimes a guy won’t want to speak up in front of the whole group. But if there’s two or three guys watching film together with an assistant coach or with me, they’re more prone to speak up and more prone to get their questions answered.”

“In such a short window, it’s hard to get to be player-led early. I’m trying to explain so much to them in the first, second, and third practices about the FIBA game, what are the things that we’re going to be concentrating on, what our offense looks like, what our defense looks like,  and then the ‘whys.’  You have to give them the why behind a lot of it. So early, it’s more coach-led.”

“We’re going to send those guys a defensive edit with our defensive principles, things that they need to think about as they’re coming in and they should all be familiar with. Once we’re there, our first practice is usually at night and it’s a walk-through practice just so we can slow down and answer any questions, give them the bare bones of why we’re doing what we’re doing.”

“If we can make them play inside of the three-point line, which most teams don’t want to do, that’s usually to our advantage with our quickness, size, and strength.”

“There’s only been 280-some-odd guys who have worn USA on their chest. Getting those guys to understand what it means to the basketball world, what it means to the people who are watching,  it’s a really big deal . . This is bigger than us. USA Basketball has a lineage and you are part of it now. There’s responsibility that comes with that.”

“In the short period of time that we have, I make sure that we’re watching as much situational stuff as possible. So, they’ll know that if the free throw is missed and there’s 12 seconds and we have a timeout, we get the rebound, we can’t call time out, so we have to get to something. What are we going to do? And that covers the rule part, but it also covers the mental part.”

“The main thing when it comes to role clarity is the communication part. Coaches should not have any issue telling a player what you believe their role is . . As a coach, if I know there’s a player on my bench who isn’t happy with his role but I have had the conversation with him about the importance of the role that he has, what he needs to do to expand his role and that I’m cognizant of what he’s going through, then it’s much better. The problems lie when coaches aren’t comfortable having the difficult conversation with a player.”

Stephen Silas Breakdown: