Brian Shaw not informed about Brown hire

Pure Class by Mitch Kupchak and the Buss' towards a loyal, longtime employee, 12 straight years with the organization both as a player and as assistant coach.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/213984/Lakers_Elected_Not_To_Notify_Shaw_Of_Coaching_Decision

bob


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Sorry I don't feel sorry for Brian Shaw, that guy was a Celtic who held out when we really needed him. I met him in South Beach in 92, he was a cocky asshole....I felt like punching him in the mouth when I met him.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Sorry I don't feel sorry for Brian Shaw, that guy was a Celtic who held out when we really needed him. I met him in South Beach in 92, he was a cocky asshole....I felt like punching him in the mouth when I met him.

cow,

90% of people who are the best at what they do (and ALL NBA players are the best at what they do compared to the rest of us) are cocky. 'Tude is a requirement. Bird was as cocky as they come, so much so that he shocked his fellow all-stars (not exactly shrinking violets themselves) when he proclaimed he was going to win the 3pt contest before they even got out of the locker room. Besides, how old was cocky Mr. Shaw when you met him? 26? How old were you that you considered punching someone twice your size in the mouth? :-)

The part about "being a Celtic who held out when we really needed him" makes me smile because it reminds me of the story Cornbread Maxwell tells about Red. Max was traded in 1985 to the Clippers (poor bastard!) with a draft pick for Bill Walton. He was traded because he had injured his knee the previous year and Red asked him to come to rookie camp to test it which Max, as would many other veterans, considered an insult and balked at doing. Red promptly traded him. Years later Red told Max "I forgive you". Max said that his thoughts when he heard that was "You forgive me? I didn't leave! You traded me!". Since then Max has said that "the father shouldn't have to apologize to the son and Red was the father".

Brian Shaw was a longtime employee of the Lakers, regardless of who he was before that. He won 3 championships with the Lakers as a player. He was a key coach on their bench and helped Phil Jackson win a few championships for the franchise. Whether he deserves to be remembered well by Celtic fans and the Celtic front office doesn't mean he shouldn't be remembered well and treated with a modicum of respect by the Lakers front office. 12 years with one club is a significant tenure, especially when it is sprinkled with championships.

Even if Brian Shaw is the most classless person on the planet, does that mean everybody who deals with him has to be classless too? I don't mean to start a fight with our Laker fans here, but this is just another reason why I don't like the Buss'. They hang Gail Goodrich's #25 from the rafters, even though he only won one championship for them, but they don't hang Mikan's #99? Because he was Minny and not LA? They brag about, and include in their total, the 5 championships he brought them though, don't they? It's ridiculous that a green-blooded Celtic fan like me thinks that Laker greats should be treated with more respect than the Lakers front office treat them and the way they've just slapped Shaw is just more fuel for the fire.

bob

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IMO he should have been one of the first people to know before it hit the media. A longtime employee of the Lakers and vying for the position.
"You stay classy Buss Jr."

Cowens,

Your take is interesting, because all I've ever heard about Brian Shaw is that he is a class act, humble (at least as professional athletes go), and a "glue" guy who is well-liked. Perhaps he changed in 1993, when his parents and sister were killed in an auto accident and he took over as parent for his niece, who survived the crash. Your comment is actually the first negative thing I've heard about him. I've never met the man personally, so you're one up on me in that department.

Outside

As far as I'm concerned Brian Shaw became the enemy, he was a Laker and when the Celtics drafted him I was excited cause he was at that time an exciting two way player that was exactly what we needed. He really helped us in 91 then was already gone by 92. The year Barkley won the MVP I lived in South Beach for a year and was head of security at a club on Ocean Dr called Hell.

I met a few famous people there, one guy who was a regular Joe that I was friendly with that I liked was Vanilla Ice, he was much different than that rapper character he portrayed. Shaw just rubbed me the wrong way, what comes around goes around, he definitely had the talent to help us, he became a Laker, he had a career with the enemy. Hes getting focked now, I don't feel sorry for him at all.

I still have a lamenated poster of Brian Shaw and Reggie Lewis somewhere at my folks home from when I was in HS. That was going to be a hell of a backcourt in the late 80's/early 90's until Shaw got greedy and went overseas for a year to end his contract with the C's. Then he goes and signs with the Lakers!!!
Indeed I considered him a traitor, but him having spent 12 yrs with the Lakers org, makes him a Laker more than an ex-Celtic really in my eyes and they did a long time employ dirty.
I can't see a great organization like say the Spurs doing that to an assistant coach when Popovich steps down. They'd either hire him or let him know they're going in a different direction.

He was indeed a traitor, once a traitor always a traitor.....seeing the sight of him has always made me sick. Glad hes getting his just due, hope he never gets another job.