Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The new Denver Nuggets coach Brian Shaw landed his first head coaching gig this Summer when he joined the Nuggets this offseason. Shaw is a crafty veteran assistant coach who worked for one of the greatest coaches to ever live, Phil Jackson and the Lakers. Shaw brings a whole new look to this Denver team.
This will be his inaugural season for Denver, and there are many ways the season could go. I am going to take you through the dream scenario for Brian Shaw in 2013.
Let’s start off with the players. Denver lost one of their best defensive forwards this offseason when he jumped the ship to the Golden State Warriors. In the ideal case, Iguodala’s capabilities are compensated for by Danilo Gallinari as he has a smooth transition to a more small forward type of role.
For an even more ideal situation, Shaw sees a nice improvement from Javale McGee, becoming a dominate force in the paint. He begins to truly utilize his length and height and becomes both an offensive and defensively sound player.
To continue on the player track, Ty Lawson finally realizes he is the leader of this team and takes over to become a Deron Williams type of player. He continues his steady improvement again this year, raising his points per game to around 18 and his assists per game to around six.
The obvious things for Shaw to have a great year is for him to be in control of the locker room and have no headaches. There won’t be much of a learning curve and his schemes fit in beautifully with the pieces in place. Shaw finished well above .500 and claims the fourth or fifth seed.
It may seem far fetched for everything to work so well, but I think every Nuggets fan ever would love for this to happen.