Denver Nuggets: Is Brian Shaw In Over His Head?
By Evan Massey
Is Denver Nuggets’ head coach Brian Shaw cut out for coaching this current Nuggets’ team?
Brian Shaw was hired by the Denver Nuggets to be their head coach last offseason, and they fully expected to be getting a young star head coach. Unfortunately, Shaw has been unable to get the type of talent out of his team that is obviously there. Whether the issue be with the coach or the players, it has become an extremely disappointing situation out in Denver.
Denver has a lot of talent with players like Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried, and Arron Afflalo being the top three, and there is simply no reason that they shouldn’t be winning games at a more consistent clip than they have. Shaw talked about his disappointment, and is considering pulling players out of the quickly if they don’t give top effort.
"“What I have to do better is recognize when we don’t get off to a good start and when guys aren’t really getting into it, then I have to immediately go to the bench, use a timeout quicker, cut these runs. You start the game 0-0, look up and we’re down 12 already or down 20. So that’s on me.”"
"“I have to take a look at that, but I’m not going to play the blame game. There are some guys that are getting after it, but I think for the most part it’s just a reactionary thing. We’re getting hit first and we’re not hitting back. We have to hit first. At least go out swinging.”"
There is no question that Shaw has the ability to be a good NBA head coach, but he seems to be lost at this point in time. The Nuggets simply haven’t been playing well despite all of their talent, and it is a very confusing situation to say the least.
Faried has been a major disappointment this season after an impressive offseason playing for Team USA, and was expected to come through with much improved numbers for Denver. Lawson has played well this year in a couple games, but has been very inconsistent in other games.
Needless to say, this has been a very difficult past couple of years for the Nuggets and Shaw might be the one to take the blame for it. The Nuggets have made multiple moves to help improve the roster, but they just haven’t seemed to help yet. Obviously we’re still very early in the season, but things aren’t looking too bright for the Nuggets.
Shaw is going to get a fair shot to turn things around this season, but he’ll need to do something in order to keep his job. Denver isn’t going to fire him unless the team continues to spiral, which is something that is a danger this year.
All of that being said, Shaw needs to show the team something in order to keep his job. Last season was a major disappointment, and the start of this season has been poor as well. Shaw has the potential to be a very good head coach, but he needs to figure out how to motivate his team and get them playing to their full potential.