One of the annual rites each NBA season start is predicting which coaches are likely to get the Marie Antoinette treatment. We've already seen Sidney Lowe replaced in Memphis and Lon Kruger asked to leave Atlanta this season. Both of those guys were on everyone's endangered species list.

Here's another name you might think about adding to the list -- Paul Silas.

Silas is in that nether world for coaches -- the final year of his contract. He and his agent, Lonnie Cooper, tried to get an extension before this season and nothing came of it. So Silas will coach out this season and, unless owner George Shinn reverses course, there will be a new man in New Orleans next fall.

	Paul Silas may have to move again if owner George Shinn doesn't give him a new deal.

One of the articles in faith in coaching is that you try not to go into the last year of a contract without an extension. It makes sense for the coach to have the security and for ownership to recognize that the players don't have the option of tanking the season for a lame duck. Bill Fitch once threatened to leave the Clippers with a year left on his deal unless owner Donald Sterling gave him an extension. Sterling didn't want to and later said he felt betrayed by Fitch. But he gave him a three-year extension, and then later fired Fitch with still two years left on it.

The situation in Hornetland has been strained between Silas and his bosses ever since the messy Derrick Coleman affair of two years ago. You might recall that in the 1999-2000 season Coleman was an integral and vital part of the Hornets' success. You also might recall that in 2000-01, Coleman was a human carcinogen when he wasn't hurt. Silas wouldn't play him and told everybody why.

The Hornets had a winning percentage rivaling the UConn women when Coleman didn't play -- and one rivaling the Washington Generals when he did. Silas' stance on Coleman did not sit well in the front office, where ownership and management felt Coleman either should play or, at the very least, be publicly praised so as to not hurt any potential trade value. (As if everyone in the NBA didn't know Coleman's reputation by then.)

That has led to an edgy working relationship that, looking at from afar, is somewhat amazing in that it has yet to impact the team. Look at all the stuff the Hornets went through last year with impending relocation, horrible crowds, injuries to key players -- and they still got to the second round of the playoffs. They're among the top six teams in the East this year, although they've slid lately due mainly to a killer schedule stretch and Baron Davis' cranky back.

You'd think Silas would be safe by now. He stepped in when Dave Cowens abandoned ship in the 1998-99 season. It had been 16 years since he had been a head coach, but he had remained patient through all of the "interviews" he had along the way. The Hornets finished 22-13 under Silas that year, and they've won 49, 46 and 44 games since. What's not to like about that?

But Shinn is a known tightwad, although he apparently didn't think his current standoff with Silas should stop them from being next-door neighbors in New Orleans. You never know when you're going to run out of milk, after all.

But will Shinn step up and cut the check? Cooper wonders. But he doesn't think Silas will have a hard time finding work elsewhere if the need arises. He feels there's a market for a proven winner, even if it might not be the market where the man has done all the winning.

	Head coach Jim O'Brien is 'a big part' of the Celtics' future ... for now.

Another one of Cooper's clients, Boston Celtics coach Jim O'Brien, is in a less delicate situation. He at least has a year remaining after this one, so there isn't the same sense of urgency and the upcoming prospect of unemployment, er, free agency. There's also a new ownership group in Boston that has been publicly and privately supportive of O'Brien, as it should be. "They think he is an asset and that he's a big part of their future," Cooper said, referring to ownership's views.

The problem for O'Brien is that coaches tend to get rewarded for the way their teams perform. Right now, that's a bit of a sticky wicket because the Celtics are in a spin of sorts. Their schedule gets dramatically tougher (they've already played the Bulls four times while not having met Indiana and Detroit) and their roster is packed with minimum-wagers thanks to departing owner Paul Gaston, who left his coach and team hanging as he walked away with $360 million.

O'Brien is now left holding the bag. Gaston would not authorize any realistic offer to re-sign Rodney Rogers, a player O'Brien desperately wanted back. Too much money, Gaston said. Might make us a luxury-tax payer. But Gaston had no trouble signing off on the Vin Baker deal, which will make the Celtics luxury-tax candidates for years, because he knew he'd be selling and that soon would be someone else's problem.

The result is a roster with two core players who are getting worn down because they have to do just about everything for the Celtics to win. O'Brien rides Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker because he has no other choice. One key reason the team is struggling -- Walter McCarty, a pleasant-enough chap who is a deserving 11th man, is averaging 23 minutes a game, twice what he averaged last season.

Gaston refused to add even a 13th player to the roster and forced the basketball staff to sign the last four players on the roster to minimum deals. With the exception of McCarty, the other three are basically practice players. A 13th body was added this week, but Mikki Moore is not going to dramatically change things. Nor would Grant Long, who could come aboard any day now. Depth, not bodies, is the Celtics' biggest problem.

The new Boston owners understand the situation. While O'Brien's future might not be at the top of their list of priorities, it has to be on their list because he has shown he can win when he has the talent. O'Brien doesn't want to be in Silas' contract position this time next year. No coach does, although, as Silas knows, sometimes there is no other option.

Peter May, who covers the NBA for the Boston Globe, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.