Brian Shaw (Center) appeared to be the man who would get the opportunity to succeed Phil Jackson as the 22nd Head Coach in Laker's history. Sadly for Shaw, he was overlooked for the job.
Have you ever been stood up by a date? Canceled on at the last-minute? Led on by a girl that you liked? Mistreated by your family or significant other? If so, which I am assuming most of you have, you know that none of these instances lead to a good feeling. Well ask Los Angeles Lakers Assistant Coach Brian Shaw about getting led on. The man just got ditched by the biggest game in town. One of the NBA’s proudest and most storied franchises, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Shaw is not a happy man at the moment nor should he be. It never feels good to get led on or mistreated by something you hold so near and dear.
Brian Shaw is a man who has been through it all though. He literally has been through the fire. This will just be a minor setback for a guy who has never let tragedy get in the way of achieving his goals. Back in 1993, Brian Shaw experienced real tragedy. Both of his parents and sister were killed in a car accident. Shaw was just a young man at 27 at the time. He also dealt with adversity as a player. During his playing career, he got tossed around from team to team. Actually playing for an astounding 7 NBA franchises. Yet he always found a way to win. Bringing home 3 championships.
Brian Shaw was a role player his entire career. He played with some of the greats. Guys like Larry Bird, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and I could go on. The guy only averaged double-digit points over the course of an entire season one time in his career. He never got the limelight, nor did he seem to thirst it. He loved to win. And he loved to play.
Since retiring, he has worked with the Los Angeles Lakers in some capacity. Over the past 9 years, he has learned from the best and gotten the proper experience to be a Head Coach in this League. In coaching, there is only one position that gets any limelight. And that is of course the position of the Head Coach. Also there is no position in the NBA that the light shines on brighter in the League than that of the Head Coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Though the Lakers year ended in a very unexpected fashion, word on the street for some time had been that Shaw was the heir apparent to the great Phil Jackson. Even the franchise player, Kobe Bryant, had given his stamp of approval. It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that if Phil did not return to the sidelines, Brian Shaw would take over as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Well today, Laker’s Owner Dr. Jerry Buss announced the 22nd coach in franchise history. The man who was going to get the opportunity to replace arguably the greatest coach of all time. And the new coach is..
Mike Brown.
Once again Brian Shaw has been overlooked. He has been mistreated by LA in a position that appeared to rightfully be his. Now I am not going to say that I do not think Mike Brown is qualified for the job or that Brian Shaw would do a better job. Because I have no conclusive evidence to back either of those statements up. But I do know one thing. Brian Shaw was ready and deserving of the spotlight.
LA overlooked a man who was ready to step up to the plate. A man who they led to believe was the next Head Coach. Luckily Brian Shaw knows how to deal with adversity. He loves the game of basketball and will bounce back. It is very likely that Shaw will end up being the Head Coach of the Golden State Warriors. And he is very deserving of this opportunity.
But coaching in Golden State is not the same as coaching the Los Angeles Lakers. I mean who would you rather coach? Monta Ellis or Kobe Bryant?
Sorry Brian.
Stay tuned for the next edition of TheSportsKraze.
-TheSportsKraze
TheSportsKraze 
Don’t take this as a bias comment as I am a Cavs fan, but look at it this way… Why would you keep Shaw if he was just part of management that let a back to back NBA championship team with arguably the best talent in the game be absolutely man handled by the mavericks. If he couldn’t help motivate the lakers to win one game against dallas he deserves to get put out of the picture. Mike Brown got swept one time in all of his playoff appearances which was his first appearance in the finals when the cavs played the spurs. All in all, Mike Brown is a way better coach with a different philosophy. If it ain’t broke dont fix it. And we saw this year that the lakers were all kinds of broken.
Cam,
Those are valid statements. But number 1, the Lakers won 57 games. Therefore they will not all kinds of broken. Secondly, LA did get swept. Shaw was not the Head Coach though. Therefore he shoulders little of the blame for the embarassing performance against Dallas. In addition, the organization did not consult Kobe on this hire. You have to consult your franchise player in a coaching change. Kobe had approve of Shaw. Now Mike Brown does have appearance in dealing with stars such as LBJ, but the King and Kobe are very different players at very different points of their careers. Lastly, it is hard to say that Brown is a way better coach with a different philosophy. You have never seen Brian Shaw as the Head Coach. Therefore there is no evidence to back that statement up yet.
I am by no means saying that Mike Brown is not the right man for the job. He has definite qualifications. But Brian Shaw in my opinion was the deserving candidate at this time.
-TheSportsKraze
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