Report: Shaw Set To Be Pacers' Associate Head Coach
CBSsports.com
Royce Young
INDIANAPOLIS - Brian Shaw was supposed to be first in line to succeed Phil Jackson as head coach of the Lakers. That didn't happen, as Mike Brown was handed the job. The question then was, what's to become of Shaw, who is considered a rising coaching star?
According to the Indianapolis Star, he's set to become the Pacers "associate head coach."
Of course that's just a fancy name for an assistant, but what's so interesting here is that the Pacers still don't officially have a head coach yet. Frank Vogel is expected to get the position eventually, but that's contingent on Vogel putting together a good assistant staff. At least that's what Larry Bird has said recently.
Shaw isn't the most experienced guy in the world, but he's highly respected. One of the supposed issues with hiring Vogel was keeping control of the team as a disciplinarian and Bird wanted Vogel to have a couple assistants that think that way. I don't know if Shaw is exactly that, but he definitely makes the staff stronger.
Shaw will be a head coach at some point. It's obviously his goal. Who knows, maybe that job will come in Indiana if he replaces Vogel. The team hasn't settled on anything quite yet, but I'm sure it'll likely be Vogel. But if things don't go well, the job could easily becomes Shaw's in a hurry.
