Fred Kerber: "Maybe no real front runner" but Brian Shaw close as it gets

Fred Kerber writes Sunday of Brian Shaw and what he would bring to the Nets bench, but notes as well that in the coaching search, there may be "no real front runner" for the job.

"There are enough candidates to fill every job in the Nets organization but maybe no real front runner, although Pacers assistant Shaw might be as close to a favorite as there is," Kerber writes.

But the Nets are very interested. Kerber quoted a league source. "“I heard right after they [Pacers] lost to Miami, the Nets were in contact. It struck me the Nets were really interested and I’ve heard that from different people,” he said.

Most of Kerber's column is devoted to what Shaw's current boss, Pacers GM --and Dolan victim-- Donnie Walsh says about Walsh ... and it's all good.

"He is a really good head coach waiting to happen," Walsh said. "He has the player experience but he has spent his time as an assistant with a lot of good coaches, particularly Phil Jackson. Now he’s been through the situation with us."

Walsh spoke particularly about Shaw's ability to communicate with his players.

"He’s got a special way that he presents things to players where they have a lot of confidence in what he tells them," Walsh said. "He’s firm without yelling and screaming. If they screw up, you’ll see him get right up at the timeout, go right to them, grab them aside and tell them: ‘You can’t do that.’ But he does it the right way."

Shaw said six teams have asked permission to talk with Shaw and presumably all will.

• Shaw has big fan in Walsh - Fred Kerber - New York Post
• Nuggets get teams' permission to talk to Brian Shaw, Lionel Hollins - Benjamin Hochmann - Denver Post