NBA: Q&A W/DENVER NUGGETS HEAD COACH, BRIAN SHAW

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . NBA---Q&A W/DENVER NUGGETS HEAD COACH, BRIAN SHAW (Re-printed from Mile High Sports Magazine-Online Issue) --- RECENTLY, Mile High Sports magazine writer and Editor/Publisher of Sports Notebook, Marvin Leibstone, met with Denver Nuggets Head Coach, Brian Shaw, to gain a sense of Coach Shaw’s take on the Nuggets current capabilities and limitations, also Shaw’s thoughts about the recent and upcoming NBA seasons. Thus, the following—- LEIBSTONE – WHAT were the hardest among challenges that you faced at the start of your being head coach for the Denver Nuggets?. . . COACH SHAW – Actually, the first days were about the standard necessities for preparing an NBA team for regular and post-season play. This included setting up schedules for practice and for observations of each player’s strengths and vulnerabilities, for my analyzing their skills and where they might need improvement, and from that building the right criteria for the right rotation of players during game time, a process that’s crucial for any coach. . . ML – How would you portray the Nuggets in your first season with them, as the season progressed? . . . SHAW – We began strong and healthy enough for some good wins, which started to happen. We had those nights that pointed to the possibility of another post-season slot, but injuries occurred. We already had forward Danilo Gallinari injured. Then it was guard Ty Lawson getting injured. Then others were down, and so the Nuggets became a new team every so many nights, a less experienced team. When this happens, you have to make ‘adjustments on the fly’ and it could be too late for that to make a difference for you in the standings. . . ML – Which Nuggets players have surprised you the most with their commitment and improvement of skills? . . . SHAW – I’d have to list center, Timofey Mozgov. His game improved immensely as the season continued—speed, transition to defense, that full package of a center’s intended skills. Also, guard Randy Foye, for his ability to lead, to improvise and as a shooter. Keep in mind that these players had to take up the slack from Gallinari and Lawson being out. . . ML – How would you want the Nuggets to be for leading its division in the coming season, for leading the Western Conference, for being seeded for post-season play? . . . SHAW – Of course, we want to be a team that wins consistently. For this, you know, the Nuggets do not have a superstar, and surely the right superstar can make the difference that is desired, ‘which isn’t always the case.’ The superstar concept can be a detriment, in that all becomes dependent on the one or two stars, maybe a third. . . ML – In other words, the rest of a team’s players just being supporting characters in the superstar’s movie? . . . SHAW – I’m an advocate of the complete team, the basketball team that is made up of competent players who breathe and live the idea of ‘teamwork.’ A fine example of this are the San Antonio Spurs teams coached over the years by Gregg Popovich, who doesn’t see superstar in any player; he sees skilled teammates. If the Spurs Tony Parker or Tim Duncan make mistakes in a game, Coach Popovich works with them as he would even a rookie and he might put in back-up players soonest, he may even start a back-up player next game and have Parker or Duncan sidelined. I lean in that direction, wanting a group of players skilled in more than their best quality, a guard who can defend well, a center who can also shoot, a forward who can suddenly execute the playmaking expected from a point guard. In other words, across the board expertise, everyone strong at the assist, the rebound and the block, at transitioning fast into and back from defense, all capable of sinking the three-pointer as well as the two, being fine at the drive and scoring. And, most important, are leadership and improvisation, Nuggets players who together can improvise out of a bad situation and exploit the good situation, turning it all into points. . . ML – Can we say, then, that whoever has the basketball at any given moment has to be a leader and think quickly for what the next team move has to be, and then “execute?” . . . SHAW – The potential for that is definitely with the current Nuggets organization. Needed is for us to make sure that this potential becomes a reality for NBA 2014/15. . . ML – Is there a coaching style that nurtures this floor leadership and the ability to improvise? . . . SHAW – I don’t think it’s in micro-managing, and it isn’t in being hands-off either, in just sticking to watching practice passively and relying on rostering-choices being correct. You need to guide players into thinking about leading and improvising and on improving that during practice sessions, but you have to give your players some leeway to also figure things out by themselves, especially so that the players coming to you from other teams and from college basketball can first undo their habits that can’t always work in the NBA. . . ML – All this said, who will be the five Nuggets starters when the new season begins? . . . SHAW – Oh, it’s too early to get into that with precision, with a final statement, though some informed guesses have been made. I’ll be making that decision after the off-season, when the new season is about to commence. . . ML – When you were assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, you had several talks with Indiana player, Paul George, who confessed to you his appreciation for all that guard Kobe Bryant has meant to the NBA game, especially as a developer of skills for the L.A. Lakers. In those talks, you emphasized the enormous dedication that Bryant applies to perfecting his game, not only on-court but during practice sessions, this above that which other players normally offer up. Are you still an advocate of that kind of dedication? . . . SHAW – Dedication, focus, practice by any player above that which a coach asks for is always appreciated. It can inspire others greatly. . . ML – Which Western Conference and Northwest Division teams are, from your vantage point, the teams to beat? . . . SHAW – Conference-wise, certainly the Spurs, and this coming season we may see some extraordinary playing from the Phoenix Suns. As for our division, for the Nuggets it could be the Portland Trail Blazers, and there is always pressure from the Oklahoma City Thunder. . . ML – Coach Shaw, you are suddenly King of the NBA for several days and can make any changes you wish. What would those changes be? . . . SHAW – I’d certainly want to downgrade, maybe end the excess seen in rewards given to some potentially super-excellent players before they have had the NBA court-time to prove that they are worth it, especially the financial end of rewards. Also, it’s a tight season of 82 games plus pre-season games from October through mid-April, so I’d probably consider ending the back-to-back games within that. . . END/ml