With Luke Walton already in place as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, the next step is to fill out his coaching staff. The Lakers reportedly wish to find assistants who have some head coaching experience and one name that has been rumored is former Lakers assistant and Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw.
Shaw has not coached since being fired by the Nuggets near the end of the 2015 season but has been rumored as a potential head coaching candidate for both the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks.
That may not be the case for the Knicks job, however, as Shaw told ESPN’s Hannah Storm that he doesn’t expect to interview for the Knicks head coaching vacancy (transcribed by ESPN’s Ian Begley):
“Kurt Rambis is there,” Shaw said on SportsCenter in explaining why he doesn’t anticipate to be interviewed. “He’s very adept at running the triangle, and if Phil Jackson wanted a coach that’s going to run that system for him, he has a guy that’s there that he has confidence in. So I don’t see him bringing in somebody else who has the knowledge of that system when he already has somebody there.”
Shaw may not be in line for the Knicks head coach job, which could potentially make it more of a possibility that he winds up on Walton’s bench with the Lakers. Shaw is familiar with the Lakers and Walton, and he surely fits what the Lakers are looking for in assistants for Walton’s staff.
Of course, there remains a chance that Shaw could wind up taking the Pacers head coaching job as he was very much respected during his time as an assistant there and he has said he would love to get another chance as a head coach. Shaw will be a name to watch as this coaching carousel continues to move.