Nelson Chenault – USA Today Sports
The Philadelphia 76ers are currently looking for a new head coach as Doug Collins resigned at the end of the season.
The team is in a rebuilding mode and has a ton of decisions to make this offseason. They have a core of Jrue Holiday, Evan Turner, Thaddeus Young and Spencer Hawes. They have a lottery pick in this year’s NBA draft and they have a major decision to make on what to do with Andrew Bynum.
The worst thing for the 76ers would be to make a quick decision on their next head coach. The wrong choice here could extend the rebuilding process another three to five years. The last thing this team needs is another Eddie Jordan experiment.
With the NBA draft and free agency not coming for another couple of months, there is no need to hire a head coach any time soon. The 76ers should wait until the playoffs are over to have the opportunity to interview every possible candidate; and the person they should be waiting for is Indiana Pacers assistant Brian Shaw.
If we’re being realistic, the 76ers do not have much of a chance to get a big name coach to come to town. Guys like Stan Van Gundy, Phil Jackson and Jerry Sloan do not want to come back to take on a rebuilding project like this. The kind of coach that the Sixers need is a hungry assistant who is looking to make a name for himself; and Brian Shaw fits that mold.
The guy got a raw deal in LA. He was an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers for eight seasons and was the heir, apparent to Phil Jackson, but the Lakers decided to go with Mike Brown at the last second and Shaw continued his coaching career with the Pacers.
Shaw deserves the chance to be an NBA head coach. He is young enough that he can relate to the young players on this team and get them to play hard. He has a very high basketball IQ and will be able to bring some creativity to the offense and intensity to the defense. Hopefully, he can at least get these guys to play with some heart and effort just so they can stay competitive.
Shaw deserves a shot and the Sixers are the closest to being good of any team that is looking for a new coach. As long as the Pacers are in the playoffs, the Sixers should sit back and wait for their guy to be available.
Zach Slotter is a writer for www.rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @zslot6, Like his Facebook page, or add him to your network on Google.
