Report: No circumstance where Denver Nuggets coach Brian Shaw leaves for New York Knicks
By Brad Rowland
The circus that is the New York Knicks and their coaching search has taken a few interesting turns in the past few days, and some of them involve current Denver Nuggets head coach and Phil Jackson disciple, Brian Shaw. First, Shaw publicly announced that he would be coaching the Nuggets next season (taken with a grain of salt by some), but then, there were reports circulating that Phil Jackson strongly preferred Shaw over “front-runner” Derek Fisher as his head coaching target.
Now, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports brings a report that Denver Nuggets president Josh Kroenke has put to bed any thought that Shaw would leave for New York.
"“Brian has said publicly – and privately to us – that his desire is to be here, and we feel strongly about him as our coach,” Kroenke told Yahoo Sports. “I don’t foresee a scenario or circumstance where he’s going to be anywhere but with the Nuggets next season.”"
That is about as definitive as it gets from a person in high management with the Nuggets, and because Shaw is under contract, Denver would have every ability to keep Shaw from heading to New York, even if he wanted to defect. In addition to the report on Kroenke’s comments, Wojnarowski had this to say about the next step for the Knicks:
"The elimination of Shaw, a long-time Jackson assistant and player with the Los Angeles Lakers, keeps Oklahoma City guard Derek Fisher as the frontrunner for the Knicks job, league sources said. Jackson is waiting for the Thunder’s season to end to discuss the opening with Fisher, who has a strong interest in becoming a head coach next season, sources tell Yahoo Sports. Jackson wants a coach whom he can mold and who will run his famed triangle offense."
In the end, the dominos continue to fall and there is only one prominent name left standing, Derek Fisher. The situation will not be fully broached until the Thunder either win the NBA title or are eliminated from the playoffs, but until then, the speculation continues.