Brian Shaw Helping Indiana Pacers After Disappointing Split With Los Angeles Lakers

SI's Ian Thomsen has thorough look at the Indiana Pacers new associate head coach, Brian Shaw and the circumstances that led to his hiring by Frank Vogel this summer. The news take away from this piece is how Shaw opened up to express his views on the Los Angeles Lakers process to replace their retired, legendary coach Phil Jackson.

Shaw, along with many others, figured he would be the natural successor to Jackson considering his experience with the organization and experience at the right hand of Jackson. He's quoted extensively on the situation which has already spawned plenty of news stories.

But this article also has some great stuff for Pacers fans, namely Frank Vogel offering his usual positive, high-energy account of how he recruited Shaw to join him with the Pacers and just what the new coaching staff is up to as they prepare for whatever season may be left with the NBA lockout is over. Here's Vogel on hiring Shaw:

"It was a recruitment of him. I treated it like I was a college coach going after a player. I'm calling him and texting him and trying to sell him on our team and where we're going, and we're going to be a playoff team, and we're going to be one of the most exciting teams in the league over the next few years -- but we need someone like him to help us get there."

The article begins with Vogel talking about the new coaching staff, which Thomsen describes as one of the NBA's most promising staffs, getting into the nuts and bolts of the game during the lockout. Despite all of the time on their hands, there's plenty for Vogel and his staff to discuss.

"The question, 'How did you guys do it?' is asked every day around here," Vogel said. "How did you teach post spacing or post cutting? How do you teach your ball-handlers and set-up men in the pick-and-roll? There's really an infinite amount of topics that you can have debates about and learn from each other. That's what we're doing right now."

Thomsen also mentions that the Pacers plan to install a simplified low-post offense with read-and-react keys, which sounds like a similar system to what they ran under Vogel late in the season, working the ball inside out but keeping some JOB flavor without the emphasis on threes. Although considering Roy Hibbert and Tyler Hansbrough are the only low-post options on the roster, it is hard to imagine how the low-post sets will work until we find out which front court players are acquired after the lockout is lifted.

So check out the whole article, it will certainly get you excited about the coaching staff.