Why All Nuggets Fans Should be Team Brian Shaw Right Now

Dec 23, 2014; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw gestures against the Brooklyn Nets during the third quarter at the Barclays Center. The Nets defeated the Nuggets 102-96. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

Brian Shaw went scorched earth against his players today, calling them out for a continued lack of effort and flat-out accusing them of tanking against the Charlotte Hornets. And I have to be honest: I absolutely love it.

Over the next few days, writers and pundits who cover the NBA are going to spend a lot of time discussing Shaw’s remarks and whether or not he violated some unspoken gentlemen’s agreement of basketball that says you don’t air your dirty laundry in public and you don’t call out your own team in the media. There are going to be a lot of folks claiming the moral high ground when they condemn Shaw or start calling for the team to send him packing.

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But, if you’re a real fan of the Denver Nuggets, you should block out all of that noise that is sure to come and rally around Shaw.

I know that sounds crazy, especially coming from someone like me who has openly questioned whether or not Shaw is the right guy to run this team at multiple points this season. But hear me out.

If you’ve watched this team play during the first half of the season and especially during the recent stretch where they’ve lost 9 out of 10 games, it’s nearly impossible to label Shaw’s comments as wrong. There have been games where multiple players have given far less than maximum effort, and that’s contributed to the Nuggets’ rapid descent into NBA mediocrity. Sure, there are plenty of players in the league who don’t show up and play balls-to-the-wall 82 games a year, but does that make it OK? I don’t think so. And, as fans, shouldn’t we be excited to have a coach who is going to hold players accountable, no matter how uncomfortable it may make things or what it might cost him in terms of remaining employed? How many coaches in this league would call out their roster full of underachievers for mailing it in? If you can come up with more than five names of coaches who would take a stand like Shaw took, I’d be surprised.

What Shaw did is certainly controversial. But Shaw includes himself in nearly every mention of the team’s struggles. Not once can I recall an instance where he has criticized his players without also admitting that he has failed to get through to the team or prepare them for all the challenges they have faced so far this season. If he was standing outside of the huddle and lobbing verbal bombs at them from a distance, that would be indefensible. But, to his credit, Shaw places himself in the trenches with his troops and readily puts himself in the line of fire along with them. That’s something that should be applauded, not derided.

Maybe Shaw doesn’t make it through the next month, much less the remainder of the season, as the Nuggets’ head coach (seems fairly likely). Maybe his supposedly ill-advised media relations campaign dooms him and he never coaches in the NBA again (that’s far less likely, but certainly a possibility). Or maybe GM Tim Connelly stands behind Shaw, cleans house between now and the start of next season, and gives the coach a roster of hungry, young players who are willing to learn and give maximum effort night in and night out (I’d say the odds of that happening are about 50-50 at this point).

Whatever his future holds, there’s one thing we know for sure about Brian Shaw — he is going to shine a light on loafers and quitters and guys who aren’t earning their paychecks, he’s going to make sure everyone knows who they are, and he’s going to stand by his decisions and his remarks regardless of the consequences. That’s exactly the kind of guy every team in this league should want on the bench. And, even though I never would have believed this as little as two weeks ago, I’m glad he’s the coach of our Denver Nuggets.

So, I’m on record as being #TeamShaw. I imagine it’s not going to be a popular stance, but if Brian Shaw has taught us anything, it’s that taking a stand may not always be popular, but it’s the right thing to do.

Next: The Nuggets Are Imploding Right Before Our Eyes

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