Brian Shaw Is Testing Out A No-Shootaround Policy With The Denver Nuggets
When your team is bad and every one knows it you’re forced to shake things up. For Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw, at 14-20, this apparently means employing a new policy on shootaround, via Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post:
“I’m going to experiment with it, I think, for the rest of the season and see how it works,” Shaw said. “Even if it doesn’t translate into wins and losses, just if our energy and our focus and everything is better.”
“It’s just something that I’m experimenting with now to try to get us to a point where we can come out and be a little bit more sharp,” he said. “Our attention span isn’t always the greatest.
“When we do stuff in the morning, sometimes it’s in one ear and out by the time we come back that night. So the closer we can do everything going into the game, hopefully it will be better for us.”
More from Shaw on his team’s propensity to go out at night, which is also a cause of his new experiment:
The Nuggets are already reported to be linked to Mike D’Antoni as a potential replacement as head coach should Brian Shaw be let go. Not to say that’s what’s at stake due to this new “experiment”, but nothing has gone right for Shaw in Denver. He had some issues with veteran Andre Miller when he was with the team, and more generally he hasn’t been able to establish any kind of lasting identity with these Nuggets.
Canceling shootarounds isn’t necessarily a huge deal, but it is a desperation sign from Shaw. Maybe he’s feeling the heat, but either way the Nuggets won’t be bound for success.
