Pacers coach Frank Vogel talked like a person who knows he’ll be looking for a new lead assistant coach during his season-ending press conference on Wednesday.
He should have to look for one.
Brian Shaw has been ready to be a head coach in the NBA for quite some time now. He played for and was an assistant for Phil Jackson with the Los Angeles Lakers.
One of Shaw’s former teammates believes he’s ready to be a head coach, too.
“I’d like for him to get the Clippers or Brooklyn job,” Shaquille O’Neal said about his teammate of four seasons with the Lakers. “Make sure you put it in so they know I said it.”
Shaw is reportedly at the top of the Nets and Clippers’ list to fill their coaching vacancies.
“He’d be good for the Clippers job because they’ve got a bunch of good young players and B Shaw is one who can get them to the next level,” Shaq said. “B Shaw has playing and coaching championship experience and the guys will believe in him.”
Pacers president Donnie Walsh, who is granting teams permission to speak to Shaw, said recently that he should be able to choose the job he wants.
Shaq, like many others, believes it time to turn the corner in the coaching circle. Leave the recycled coaches behind and give qualified assistants – like Shaw – a chance to lead a team from the sidelines.
“I’m sick and tired of these coaches getting another chance before these other up-and-coming guys,” Shaq said. “People need to realize this is a new era and B Shaw speaks that language. He’s my age, but he understands how it goes. He knows how the players go, how they tick. All these guys who have losing records come and try to do the same (expletive). It’s not going work.”
Shaw has been instrumental in helping Vogel adapt to being a head coach and also in the development of players like Paul George and Lance Stephenson.
But long before he joined the Pacers, Shaw, according to Shaq, was a key member on the Lakers championship teams and also the middle man between Shaq and Kobe Bryant when the two had their problems as teammates.
“B Shaw is definitely a reason why I got three championships with the Lakers,” Shaq said. “I don’t get a lot of chances to tell my favorite players thank you publicly. He deserves a thank you because he kept us out of trouble and he was the buffer between me and Kobe. I’d be bull(expletive) around and he’d get me in line. He’s the type of guy you want leading your team.”
