Phil Jackson will not be joining rookie Denver coach Brian Shaw in a role similar to how the Zen Master turned to Tex Winters during his days in Chicago and later Los Angeles.
According to ESPN. Jackson, more or less, has an open invitation to stop by and offer his observations anytime he chooses, but Shaw doesn't foresee him settling into a top assistant or even formal role with the team.
"No," a smiling Shaw told ESPN when asked if he had any plans to coerce the Zen Master out of retirement to join his coaching staff. "He can be my Tex? No. No. I want to invite him to come and watch us practice and just kind of see how I'm doing."
With his 11 NBA rings in tow, ESPN speculates Jackson now has something more prestigious in mind, namely a presidential or top-tier consultant post in the vein of what Pat Riley has in Miami where he can be involved in an organization's day-to-day process.
Prior to taking the head coaching post in Denver, Shaw spent previous two seasons as an associate head coach in Indiana, an experience he likewise expects to pay dividends.
"Going to Indiana the last two years was probably the best thing that could have happened to me, in retrospect looking back at it," Shaw told ESPN. "I had only known one way of doing things and being under Frank Vogel in Indiana and seeing the way that he prepared for the games, the way he practiced, was more along the lines of what the majority of the teams I would imagine do things. Phil had a very unique way of doing things so it was nice to be in Indiana. I feel more well-rounded now, or more rounded I should say, having experienced the last two years in Indiana."
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