The “Brian Shaw” power forward. The “Brian Shaw” center/point guard/small forward/shooting guard.
The “Brian Shaw” player.
Just exactly who is it?
The reality is, no one knows. The Nuggets coach has no track record of picking players, having input on personnel decisions or having even the smallest hand in the construction of an NBA roster.
Shaw was part of a team as a player that he eventually became an assistant for, the Los Angeles Lakers. When he joined the Indiana Pacers as an assistant, they already had Paul George, Roy Hibbert, Lance Stephenson and David West.
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But Shaw’s big role is on the horizon.
The Nuggets appear headed down the road to rebuilding, and we should all pay close attention. That’s because clarity on just what the ideal team is for Shaw, general manager Tim Connelly and club president Josh Kroenke will be at hand.
From the point guard all the way to the center. From the bench to the players who are leaders. From shooters to the hustle players. From the smallest to the tallest. From the most athletic to those who prod along. From playmakers to specialists.
It’s all going to matter. It will all mean something. The process will too. Go with draft picks or free agents? Become bad to become good? Or try to make shrewd moves to cushion that process?
Shaw is fond of saying he only coaches the players given to him, and to a certain extent that is true. But don’t be fooled into believing Shaw will have no voice in the Nuggets’ personnel. No one knows what a team needs more than its head coach. Furthermore, Shaw has a vision of how he wants the Nuggets to operate on the court, and there are specific players who fit the mold.
And the information-seeking Connelly won’t do anything without getting input from Shaw first.
If we’re putting the pieces together, the biggest clues are what Shaw said at the start of his Nuggets tenure. He said he wanted to play inside-out, smash-mouth basketball. Expect the Nuggets to get to that. They’re already grooming a young bruiser in rookie center Jusuf Nurkic, who delights in crushing players setting a screen as much as he does in pinning and mauling a defender on post-up plays. Overseas, power forward Joffrey Lauvergne has a reputation of being attracted to physicality. The Nuggets will want as much of that on their roster as possible.
But beyond that, things are a mystery. The moves the Nuggets make, starting with the next eight months, will be their most significant since the Denver franchise was building around a young Car- melo Anthony after the 2003 draft.
It will truly be the Nuggets’ build.
Then we will know what they’re really thinking.
Then we will know what a “Brian Shaw” player and team actually are.
Christopher Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com or
