Smooth Criminal
06-13-2010, 12:24 AM
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/sports/basketball/11lakers.html?src=tptw
BOSTON — In a pivotal moment of the Los Angeles Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org)’ 2009 title run, Brian Shaw drew a blank, literally and deliberately, with a hint of creative mischief.
The Lakers had a 3-1 lead in the N.B.A. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_basketball_association/index.html?inline=nyt-org) finals and gathered for one last meeting before Game 5 in Orlando. Shaw, the Lakers’ youngest assistant coach, was the designated strategist for the series, charged with diagramming plays and underlining directives on a dry-erase board. Except on this night, when Shaw flipped the board around, it was shiny and blank.
Players stared. Coach Phil Jackson (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/phil_jackson/index.html?inline=nyt-per) was puzzled.
“You don’t have anything on the board?” Jackson asked.
No, Shaw did not. The time for X’s and O’s and meticulously drawn halfcourt sets, he believed, had passed. Instead, Shaw talked about Pau Gasol’s passion, Kobe Bryant (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/kobe_bryant/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s dynamism and Lamar Odom (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/lamar_odom/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s versatility, until he had gone through the lineup and roused every ounce of belief in the room.
Then the Lakers went out and crushed the Magic and claimed the championship.
If a coaching career has a coming-of-age moment, this was Shaw’s. Players still talk about the speech. Jackson beams as he recounts the story. It was, in fact, a very Phil Jackson sort of move.
“It kind of was a step in like, ‘O.K., this is how far coaching goes — now go out there and get the job done,’ ” Jackson said. “I like that.”
The next step in Shaw’s career may be the one that puts him in Jackson’s elevated seat, a moment that could arrive as soon as next month.
Jackson is in the final weeks of his contract, and undecided about his future. The Lakers’ owner, Jerry Buss, is similarly noncommittal, even as Jackson edges closer to an 11th championship.
If Jackson walks away, Shaw, 44, will surely top the list of hopeful successors. He is seasoned, having worked under Jackson for five years, and has all of the qualities that a head coach needs: a sharp mind, a steady persona, a commanding presence and refined communication skills.
And he has the abiding respect of the most important player on the roster.
“He’s always been a great basketball mind,” Bryant said. “Always. It was just a matter of him being on the floor to being on the bench.”
Asked if Shaw was ready to assume the top job, Bryant said, “I think he’d be up for the challenge, no question.”
Bryant and Shaw were teammates for four years, three of which ended in championships, until Shaw retired in 2003. Shaw was a key reserve and a critical voice in the locker room, one of the few people who could bridge the chasm between Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/shaquille_oneal/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the Lakers’ feuding superstars.
Shaw and Bryant have known each other for 20 years, having met in Italy when Bryant was a youth and Shaw was a young player just starting his career. They became teammates in 1999. They have shared championships and heartbreak, and the bonds run deep.
“B-Shaw, man, he’s going to give it to you straight,” Bryant said. “He’s not going to sugarcoat anything. He’s going to be straight up with you. And as players you appreciate that.”
There was never much question about Shaw’s basketball intellect. A 6-foot 6-inch guard, he could play either backcourt spot and was adept at keeping the offense humming. He quickly became a player who earned the “coach on the court” label.
Shaw’s career path helps him relate to players at every echelon. He has three championship rings, earning him the respect of star players. But he also had to play overseas, was traded and cut several times and played for seven teams in 14 N.B.A. seasons.
“He’s got that ability to make everyone really like him,” the veteran Luke Walton said. “And he’s got the ability to talk trash to anyone. He’ll talk trash to the 13th guy on the team up to Kobe, the first guy on the team.”
For years, Kurt Rambis was considered the clear favorite to succeed Jackson. But Rambis left the Lakers last year to take the reins of the Minnesota Timberwolves (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/minnesotatimberwolves/index.html?inline=nyt-org), leaving Shaw as the most promising up-and-comer on the bench.
“That’s the reason he’s here, basically, is he’s always had that vision,” Jackson said, adding, “We know Brian’s going to be a head coach sometime in this game.”
The question is where and when he will get his chance. Shaw has interviewed with four teams in recent years — Sacramento and Indiana in 2007 and Chicago and Phoenix in 2008. He met informally with Minnesota in 2009, but he stopped aggressively pursuing jobs two years ago, feeling that he should wait for the right opportunity. Shaw called the Lakers “my first and only choice” if the job were available.
“I feel like I’m ready,” Shaw said. “I’ve been preparing for this. I’ve played against, been around, played for, coached with the best people that I could possibly be around to prepare for it.”
He added: “But I’m not impatient. That’s one of the things I’ve learned from being around Phil, as well.”
It is a Jackson tradition to give each assistant a number of opponents to scout. When Shaw joined his bench in 2005, Jackson assigned him teams that were coached by Shaw’s peer group — including Chicago (Scott Skiles), Portland (Nate McMillan) and Dallas (Avery Johnson) — because he might one day coach against them. Shaw was also assigned Orlando because he played there.
As it turned out, that gave Shaw an influential role last year. By Game 5 of the finals, Shaw felt the Lakers had already learned everything they could about the Magic’s tendencies. There was nothing left to absorb. So he talked about his own championship experience, how empowered he felt playing next to Bryant and O’Neal, Robert Horry and Rick Fox, and how “every time we went out as a group, we felt invincible, because of all the guys that you’re walking out there with.”
Then he started looking around the room, listing every player’s strengths, “just talking from the heart.”
He spoke as an assistant. In that moment, he sounded like the heir apparent.
BOSTON — In a pivotal moment of the Los Angeles Lakers (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/losangeleslakers/index.html?inline=nyt-org)’ 2009 title run, Brian Shaw drew a blank, literally and deliberately, with a hint of creative mischief.
The Lakers had a 3-1 lead in the N.B.A. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_basketball_association/index.html?inline=nyt-org) finals and gathered for one last meeting before Game 5 in Orlando. Shaw, the Lakers’ youngest assistant coach, was the designated strategist for the series, charged with diagramming plays and underlining directives on a dry-erase board. Except on this night, when Shaw flipped the board around, it was shiny and blank.
Players stared. Coach Phil Jackson (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/phil_jackson/index.html?inline=nyt-per) was puzzled.
“You don’t have anything on the board?” Jackson asked.
No, Shaw did not. The time for X’s and O’s and meticulously drawn halfcourt sets, he believed, had passed. Instead, Shaw talked about Pau Gasol’s passion, Kobe Bryant (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/kobe_bryant/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s dynamism and Lamar Odom (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/lamar_odom/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s versatility, until he had gone through the lineup and roused every ounce of belief in the room.
Then the Lakers went out and crushed the Magic and claimed the championship.
If a coaching career has a coming-of-age moment, this was Shaw’s. Players still talk about the speech. Jackson beams as he recounts the story. It was, in fact, a very Phil Jackson sort of move.
“It kind of was a step in like, ‘O.K., this is how far coaching goes — now go out there and get the job done,’ ” Jackson said. “I like that.”
The next step in Shaw’s career may be the one that puts him in Jackson’s elevated seat, a moment that could arrive as soon as next month.
Jackson is in the final weeks of his contract, and undecided about his future. The Lakers’ owner, Jerry Buss, is similarly noncommittal, even as Jackson edges closer to an 11th championship.
If Jackson walks away, Shaw, 44, will surely top the list of hopeful successors. He is seasoned, having worked under Jackson for five years, and has all of the qualities that a head coach needs: a sharp mind, a steady persona, a commanding presence and refined communication skills.
And he has the abiding respect of the most important player on the roster.
“He’s always been a great basketball mind,” Bryant said. “Always. It was just a matter of him being on the floor to being on the bench.”
Asked if Shaw was ready to assume the top job, Bryant said, “I think he’d be up for the challenge, no question.”
Bryant and Shaw were teammates for four years, three of which ended in championships, until Shaw retired in 2003. Shaw was a key reserve and a critical voice in the locker room, one of the few people who could bridge the chasm between Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/shaquille_oneal/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the Lakers’ feuding superstars.
Shaw and Bryant have known each other for 20 years, having met in Italy when Bryant was a youth and Shaw was a young player just starting his career. They became teammates in 1999. They have shared championships and heartbreak, and the bonds run deep.
“B-Shaw, man, he’s going to give it to you straight,” Bryant said. “He’s not going to sugarcoat anything. He’s going to be straight up with you. And as players you appreciate that.”
There was never much question about Shaw’s basketball intellect. A 6-foot 6-inch guard, he could play either backcourt spot and was adept at keeping the offense humming. He quickly became a player who earned the “coach on the court” label.
Shaw’s career path helps him relate to players at every echelon. He has three championship rings, earning him the respect of star players. But he also had to play overseas, was traded and cut several times and played for seven teams in 14 N.B.A. seasons.
“He’s got that ability to make everyone really like him,” the veteran Luke Walton said. “And he’s got the ability to talk trash to anyone. He’ll talk trash to the 13th guy on the team up to Kobe, the first guy on the team.”
For years, Kurt Rambis was considered the clear favorite to succeed Jackson. But Rambis left the Lakers last year to take the reins of the Minnesota Timberwolves (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/minnesotatimberwolves/index.html?inline=nyt-org), leaving Shaw as the most promising up-and-comer on the bench.
“That’s the reason he’s here, basically, is he’s always had that vision,” Jackson said, adding, “We know Brian’s going to be a head coach sometime in this game.”
The question is where and when he will get his chance. Shaw has interviewed with four teams in recent years — Sacramento and Indiana in 2007 and Chicago and Phoenix in 2008. He met informally with Minnesota in 2009, but he stopped aggressively pursuing jobs two years ago, feeling that he should wait for the right opportunity. Shaw called the Lakers “my first and only choice” if the job were available.
“I feel like I’m ready,” Shaw said. “I’ve been preparing for this. I’ve played against, been around, played for, coached with the best people that I could possibly be around to prepare for it.”
He added: “But I’m not impatient. That’s one of the things I’ve learned from being around Phil, as well.”
It is a Jackson tradition to give each assistant a number of opponents to scout. When Shaw joined his bench in 2005, Jackson assigned him teams that were coached by Shaw’s peer group — including Chicago (Scott Skiles), Portland (Nate McMillan) and Dallas (Avery Johnson) — because he might one day coach against them. Shaw was also assigned Orlando because he played there.
As it turned out, that gave Shaw an influential role last year. By Game 5 of the finals, Shaw felt the Lakers had already learned everything they could about the Magic’s tendencies. There was nothing left to absorb. So he talked about his own championship experience, how empowered he felt playing next to Bryant and O’Neal, Robert Horry and Rick Fox, and how “every time we went out as a group, we felt invincible, because of all the guys that you’re walking out there with.”
Then he started looking around the room, listing every player’s strengths, “just talking from the heart.”
He spoke as an assistant. In that moment, he sounded like the heir apparent.