After Luke Walton was named Lakers’ head coach, the first name to surface as a candidate to join his staff as lead assistant was Brian Shaw. Since then, it has been reported that Walton wanted Shaw to serve as his proxy in draft workouts, but that Shaw was considering other options, including waiting to see if an opening with the Warriors in Shaw’s hometown of Oakland would become a possibility.
It seems Shaw’s now close to making a decision and that the Lakers look to be his choice. From Broderick Turner of the LA Times:
Brian Shaw and the Lakers are close to an agreement on a deal for him to become Luke Walton’s lead assistant coach, the Los Angeles Times learned Saturday.
Shaw’s experience as a head coach, an assistant coach and as a championship player were the primary reasons why Walton wanted him on his staff, according to several NBA officials who are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
As I’ve written, I would fully support Shaw’s hiring should he, as is being reported, agree to a deal.
His combination of experience as a top assistant for the Lakers (where he was part of two championship staffs) and the Pacers, his head coaching experience with the Nuggets, and his contributions on championship teams as a player make him a well rounded candidate who can bring a lot to the table. The fact that he has familiarity with Walton from their time together with the Lakers is a an added, and important, bonus.
Further, Shaw’s history in Indiana as Frank Vogel’s top assistant coincided with the rise of Paul George and Lance Stephenson’s best basketball. He was credited as playing a key role in the ascent of both players and the hope is that he can play a similar role in helping the Lakers’ young players tap into their reservoirs of potential.
Shaw, as both a player and an assistant, was also known to be able to relate to star players and provide a calming influence in the locker room. That type of pedigree would serve Walton’s staff well, especially in a market like Los Angeles where there always seems to be a certain flair for drama.
Of course a deal is not done, but if things are leaning that way I would see it as another win if an off-season which has seen the Lakers add Walton and retain their #2 overall draft pick in June’s draft. We will keep you posted as we get more information.
LKK says
I’m hoping it turns out to be true. I’m a big fan of BShaw.
Alex Halikias says
This is starting to remind me the current season of GoT. We get a Jon Snow back unexpectedly and the tortured Starks begin to unite.
Chris J says
Echoing Alex’s comparison…
Brian Shaw’s been through enough tragedy in his life to be considered an honorary Stark. Let’s bring him home to Winterfell.
@BrotherWalton - Twitter says
Can you ask for a more ideal off-season? Even if the team fails in free agency, there’s nothing but space and opportunity going forward.
Today’s word of the day: PATIENCE.
Going to need plenty of it over the next few years. When Luke makes that bad rotation decision, the slumps by the youngins, or blowing games every now and then.
It’s not even about being championship caliber again, which I think the Lakers FO will learn. This team just needs to be fun again, watchable.
I always point back to the 2nd year of MDA’s tenure. Man, opening night was probably the most exciting game I’ve seen that had no implications. The team was running and gunning, slam dunks here and there. I want that for now. I want to see smiles on the court. As the time moves forward, then the competitiveness builds and we start to compete again.
Here’s to hoping for fun and that the Lakers don’t go chasing some “veteran star”. Build the core.
BigCitySid says
-May continues to be a fantastic month for our Lakers. Welcome back coach Shaw.
-Maybe I’m getting greedy, but I’d love to see Michael Cooper added also.
J C says
B Shaw has a great Laker pedigree and was a perfect piece of our championship puzzle here for awhile. I hadn’t realized he was a Laker assistant coach for seven seasons. I had to look that up. It sounds like his experience in Indiana will also be very helpful.
But his record in Denver was 56-85. Not so hot. I wonder what happened there.
John Barber says
Great hire if it happens. If the hiring of Cooper would happen, that would be fantastic! Lakers from three great championship eras that would give these youngsters a lot of champion expertise.
bleedpurplegold says
@JC:
Take a look at what he had to work with in denver. Those are basically a bunch of role players. Lawson is a subpar starting point at best, gallinaris effort comes and goes with each quater he plays, faried cant shoot ouside of 5ft, mozgov left midway through the season and after that, their starting center was (i think) jj hickson. The only real nba caliber starter was afflalo, and you can only but so much damage on D. He did a damn good job considering the guys he had to play…
Btt: the only way this offseason could get any better is if we land KD, which really is a pipe dream at best…mitch and jimmy have done a damn good job lately, and i think we have to appreciate that after all the hate they recieved from us, including myself
Craig W. says
First — MDA was a good coach. He was placed in a bad situation with the makeup of the Lakers – particularly a Dwight Howard who didn’t want to run pick-n-roll with Steve Nash. Plus MDA doesn’t do as well with big men – hence his issues with Pau Gasol.
Now look at Brian Shaw with Denver. He had been in high discipline systems, but had basically undisciplined players to work with. There was no veteran presence and he was following George Karl. Karl is an open-court coach and his teams thrive with a minimum of discipline. Denver was constructed around his vision. It was a no-win situation for Shaw.
I am glad he is an assistant coach, but he does have to learn to live with a more wide-open game. One of the reasons I think the Laker situation is ideal for him is that he can learn a different approach to running a team, while bringing his discipline to assisting players in aspects of their game. If he ever gets a chance to run a team again, he will have more tools in his toolbox to help him succeed.
PurpleBlood says
Hope this happens!
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from the last thread:
Clay wrote:
PS: I LOVE that Douchey Ainge wants to have his coaching staff and front office guys study Simmons and Ingram and may even try to schedule workouts with each guy IN THE HOPES THAT ONE OF THEM MAY FALL TO #3. How cute!!!
hahahahahaha – beautiful
bluehill says
This offseason has certainly given us reasons to hope. We’ve had a little luck – getting the #2 pick and ex-Laker Luke coaching for the champion Warriors during their record-setting season.
But I also wonder how much this reflects the very different constraints that the FO/ownership is starting with than they have had in the last couple of years. With Kobe, there were more constraints which limited potential actions that the FO/ownership could take IMO in terms of potential coaches, the types of offense they could run, their pursuit of free agents (meaning they had to go after LMA, Dwight, Melo, LBJ, etc) even if the odds were low, which fired up the fans when they said no.
I’ve tried to separate ownership’s decisions from Mitch’s decisions (though I have no idea how much Mitch was involved in some of the big, pivotal ones). I think the big decisions that set the organization down the current path was Kobe’s extension – not the time but the amount and the public announcement of the timeframe. These decisions affected the style of play, the coaching decisions, the pursuit of free agents. We’ve had a little luck there too. Imagine if we had signed Dwight and Melo to max contracts.
Anyways, long-winded way of saying, recent results reflect favorably on FO and ownership, but maybe they haven’t gotten better (or worse) they are just able to do things they couldn’t before.
Clay Bertrand says
In 1988, the Lakers had the 25th pick in the draft (remember the days of picking in the 20s!?!?!) and Jerry West was high on Brian Shaw out of UCSB to draft as a backup to Magic. I remember Jerry supposedly liked Shaw’s size and had seen a lot of his games so he was a favorite of his. Low and behold, the crappy Celtics had the 24th pick and they took Shaw right ahead of the Lakers. We took David Rivers out of Notre Dame who was a short scoring pg who ended up having a decent career……in Greece.
Jerry eventually signed Shaw after he’d been outta basketball as I recall the season before. I don’t recall him playing the season before we signed him to the Shaq-Kobe team for some reason. But we all know what he did for us during that ring run.
Hopefully, this gets finalized officially. At least Brian is gonna stay in Cali to keep closer to his family and hopefully get to catch a few of his sons basketball games up there in NOCal.
Does this mean dominoes are falling?? Does Silas Jr. take Luke’s old spot to hang out with Curry leaving the Houston job to Mike D w Jeff Bzdelik as his defensive coach?? Who does Memphis hire???
Interesting that I heard Adrian Wojnarowski say that the Lakers organization is not big on paying for assistant coaches. He says that is going to need to change because teams are investing much more in their staffs financially these days and getting specialized Offensive and Defensive coaches like in the NFL.
I recall though that under Mike Brown, the staff was HUGE and fairly accomplished for assistant guys. Ettore Messina, Steve Clifford, Quin Snyder were ALL on that staff along with others. I can’t see them all being here just for peanuts. That was also the biggest staff I can recall for the Lakers. It seems that they will spend where needed.
I have heard that the Lakers are a cheap organization and even under Jerry Buss that they would count paper clips!!! But it seems that whatever the coaches and FO has asked for, the team is willing to pay for. Being frugal and prudent with things is good business and some view it as CHEAP. To me, it seems like the Lakers have always been willing to spend what is necessary to be among the best even if they aren’t out there raising the bar constantly to make a splash like some other owners have. The new training facility is supposed to be state of the art.
OT but did anyone catch the article about the Raptors where the author says that although Casey won’t say it, the fact that Lou Williams was so lax on D was certainly a factor that dragged the whole line up down when he was playing. Glad to know Byron would have rather played Lou way more though so that he could get more wins. Sounds like a coach with a defensive focus to me for sure!!!! Smh……
J C says
Bleedpg,
Valid points- thanks for the perspective.
Also of note – in addition to Luke’s hire, Shaw may also be said to be a disciple, in part, of Phil.
This makes me wonder if Jeannie is nudging these hires along to pave the way for a more seamless Phil return. Food for thought.
Fern says
Jeannie has zero involvement whatsoever in basketball decisions. So i doubt she can “nudge” anything, she couldn’t “nudge” Byron’s job security. Her grand plan is her brother failing and she enforces that deadline. As bare Phil’s coaching tree is i think Brian Shaw is a pretty good assistant coach. Looks like the Lakers pull is tougher than GS gold. Things keep looking up.
Robert says
Shaw: Never should have let him leave so hiring him back is a good move. So with Luke – this makes 2 good hires in a row. We need to keep this up in FA.
TempleOfJamesWorthy says
Congratulations to B-Shaw on his hiring. I hope he has much success (again) with the Lakers.
I’m not sure what to make of Shaw’s record. Kobe was certainly in Shaw’s corner when PhilJax retired. There was much positive press about B-Shaw during his tenure in Indiana. On the other hand, Shaw’s stint in Denver was pretty much a train wreck.
Perhaps Shaw is one of those coaches destined to forever be an assistant; someone who lacks whatever “it” factor makes for good head coaches but is otherwise well-qualified. There’s no real shame in that. Coaches like Jim Cleamons and Tex Winter were major contributors to Phil Jackson’s success, yet were not head coaching material. Bill Bertka was a fine assistant under multiple Lakers head coaches, but never was a head coach (except for 1-game interim stints). Let’s hope Shaw does as well in his new role.
LKK says
Once the staff is assembled, I would love to see Jeannie, Jim and Mitch together welcoming the new coaches at a press conference. Present a united front and send the message to potential free agents that Lakers’ management is united and has a plan.
Shaun says
dantoni was never a good coach – lucked into great talent in pheonix and ostracized his teams in New york and LA, in LA to the point where we had to drop his whole scheme to make the playoffs and lose 2 years of kobe because he was a shit – hes gonna get the Houston job and watch him get canned mid-year after finishimg 12th. ..he should never ever be mentionwd on this board as a good coach … if anything the decision that led us down this path was his hiring which ticked off dwight and made him feel like his opinion didmt matter to then dictate to him that he would just be a roll man hwlping in his decision to walk …….booo craptoni booooo
Alex says
Shaun, I always thought the same of MDA. He’s been exposed enough, everyone should know this by now. Maybe he just interviews well…
Alex says
Soliciting opinions, could Ingram play SG for us next year? I recall KD did the same as a rookie because his rail-thin body would work better at the 2. I think it worked out but just okay. With his length and anticipation, Ingram as a defender v. 2’s could play off them an extra foot or two and still able to block or disrupt the shot or kill the drive. On offense, his defender would be staring at his belly button, Ingram could shoot over most 2’s. On switches, he’s be able to take anyone, while Randle/Russell/etc would pick up his. I know I’m daydreaming a little for an 18 yo to start in the NBA as a two-way 2, but he is a special talent (so is Simmons).
Also hope his 5k cal/day regimen works out and he comes in 20 (mostly muscle) lbs heavier in October. Still thin, but they won’t be using him as toothpick.
Fern says
MDA wasn’t a very good coach with the Lakers and he shouldn’t been hired but he was a better coach than Byron that’s for sure in New York he had to deal with the wreckage of Isaiah Thomas tenure as president of the Knicks. But in Houston he has a better team that can play to his coaching style. That hiring is the Rockets telling Dwight “seeya don’t let the door hit you on the way out”. About Dwight and his little feelings. Who gives a damn really? The best thing that happened to the Lakers was that buffoon going to Houston and showing the entire world what we knew in LA. That he is a crybaby wimp. We have to endure some rough times but I prefer that to four of five seasons of fringe playoffs, first rounds exits and “Dwightmares”. In other words, the Lakers would be stuck in not too good not too bad purgatory with an old and cap strapped team. Rocket fans ran their mouths when he signed with their team and now can’t stand the sight of him and want him gone. Poetic justice.
James Katt says
Dwight should never ever left the Magic. He can’t stand the big lights.
Fern says
The Lakers weren’t worried about Kobe and his five rings and all those seasons of being a Laker when they hired MDA , somebody think they would be afraid to “tickoff” a done nothing ringless been a Lakers for 6 games Dwight Howard?
LKK says
Alex…
Depending on how Ingram matures and fills out, I can visualize him at every position on the floor except point guard. The pro game has evolved to the point where a big man with versatility is a very valuable commodity. If he can eventually carry 230-240 lbs. he might be an option at center in small ball lineups. Exciting possibilities for sure.
Alex says
Which brings me to a related point about Harrison Barnes. After watching tape, I’m thinking he might be our top FA target. He’s 23, a capable shooter and player with upside, and his familiarity with Luke’s culture and system is a strong intangible (one more helper to Luke, one less player to learn/believe). Even if we overpay him at $20M (to make it hard for GSW to match, as Luke would already be privy to their plans), we’d be a starting center away from having a complete talented young team, 7-9 player deep. But if Ingram or Barnes can’t play the two, then one stifles the other at the 3, by way of splitting 48 minutes at most, making Barnes less likely to come.
PS-Barnes fits more naturally with Simmons, but we ain’t getting him.
LKK says
Alex,
I think that the Lakers’ free agent targets will become clear once the draft is complete. I like Barnes as well, but is he a fit if Ingram falls to the Lakers? Decisions, decisions!
matt says
Makes me think with shaw as assistant coach a tall guard who trained under phil jackson who was all about using tall guards, do we resign clarkson as a backup point and shooting guard, if so we trade off lou williams, and likely draft ingram as the small forward of the future, then sign a starter at shooting guard, batum, derozan, fournier, or evan turner these four players all played sg/sf but all are from the east
BigCitySid says
– Pertaining to Harrison Barnes, he would be a nice pick-up, but nowhere near max $$’s. Can’t see Warriors offering big money either, especially if they don’t win the ring. Barnes at best is their 5th, and more likely their 6th most important player after Curry, Thompson, Green, Iggy, &/or Bogut.
chris says
wow what an exciting off season, making all the right moves, getting the momentum, this is shaping up to be the best summer for a while.
Haven’t seen anyone mention Marc Gasol, do you guys think he would fit in with an umtempo team? kind of in that bogut mold but a little better for us? Or is he past his prime? I think picking up Harrison Barnes and Marc Gasol would be nice and doable with what the lakers have to work with.
PurpleBlood says
Bill Bertka was a fine assistant under multiple Lakers head coaches,
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TOJW, or as Chick used to call him: `Billy Bertka¨!!
Anonymous says
Chris: Gasol is 31 and will turn 32 in January. He makes a lot of money and just suffered a career threatening foot injury. No, he’s not a good fit. Not discounting the need for a center but we should target younger, mobile and active bigs.
Gary says
The problem with the Warriors is that Bogut is done. He’s giving them nothing and his minutes are down big time. When he produced it makes the transition to Green and small ball that much more effective and created match-up difficulties for the other team. Green now spends the majority of his game at center, which as we can see against the young and mobile bigs of the Thunder is not a recipe for success.
Agree with Anon above, centers still matter but they need to be quick and mobile not the bigs of 20 years ago. No to Marc Gasol.
matt says
Espnu recently aired duke vs virginia,,, ingram hit 3.. 3 pointers in a row, but what i liked best was his ability to guard multiple positions, and if he gets a path he will drive and dunk.
J C says
I like what I am seeing of Festus Ezeli.
Has some game and good mobility with size.
I also dug Allen Crabbe – SA, I think.
Don’t look now, but Luke may be available for those pre-draft workouts after all.