Denver Nuggets fire head coach Brian Shaw

By Evan Massey | Mar 3, 2015

Feb 27, 2015; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets head coach Brian Shaw during the second half against the Utah Jazz at Pepsi Center. The Jazz won 104-82. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports /

The Denver Nuggets have decided to make the move and fire head coach Brian Shaw in the middle of his second disappointing season with the team.

Brian Shaw was hired by the Denver Nuggets as their head coach prior to last season, and he finished up coaching the Nuggets to a 36-46 record in his first year. It was a disappointment, but there was still hope for him to turn things around this season. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened this year and the Nuggets are just 20-39 on the year.

Denver decided to make a move today, and they fired Shaw in the middle of his second year.

The Nuggets have fired Brian Shaw, according to reports. http://t.co/mvDUHn7vai pic.twitter.com/KgEQqszoLZ
— SB Nation NBA 🏀 (@SBNationNBA) March 3, 2015

It was the end to a very disappointing failed experiment for both Shaw and the Nuggets. He definitely has the potential to be an NBA head coach, but Denver simply wasn’t the right system for him. Shaw will have quite a few assistant coaching jobs lining up for him in the near future.

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Indiana is a team to keep an eye on if he does end up looking for an assistant coach job. They were an excellent fit for him before he joined the Nuggets as head coach, and he was a big reason for the Pacers’ success. Frank Vogel and Shaw are great friends, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Pacers reach out and offer him a job as earlier as this season.

Denver will have an interesting coaching search starting up in the near future. There are a few different options available that would be solid, but nothing that immediately jumps into mind as a perfect fit. Shaw seemed like he would be a nice fit for what the Nuggets were trying to do, but obviously that wasn’t the case.

The Nuggets are preparing to go through a long rebuilding period after the fire sale that they had at the trade deadline this year.

Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried are the only two pieces that Denver currently has that they could build around. They do have a solid young big man in Jusuf Nurkic that they are excited about in the future, but the roster doesn’t scream “championship” to say the very least.

This move was not too surprising after everything that has been happening this season. Shaw will get other opportunities in the future, but this was a very disappointing finish to his first head coaching job. Obviously this isn’t all Shaw’s fault, but it will certainly be a blemish for Shaw moving forward as he looks for his next head coaching opportunity.

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