The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

PARTICIPANTS of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League Bahamas camp have an opportunity to learn the game from a pair of former NBA point guards, one who now serves as a head coach in the league and the other a Hall of Famer.

Brian Shaw and Gary Payton will serve as the coaches for the group of 11 seniors and underclassmen for the duration of their brief camp, which concludes with an exhibition game against a Bahamas junior select squad.

Shaw, who most recently completed a two-year stint as the head coach of the Denver Nuggets, said he was excited to have an opportunity to pass his knowledge along to the group in the Bahamas - a place he has heard so much about from his former Bahamian teammates.

“I feel great here. Being around Mychal Thompson and Rick Fox they’ve always talked to me about the Bahamas and growing up here, so I look forward to coming here any chance I get,” he said. “I think the important thing is we try to help them understand the importance of fundamentals of the game. With technology and all the things that these kids are exposed to, they are much further along athletically than we were. All of them are long, they’re quick, they can run and jump and dunk but some of the fundamentals of the game get lost, so we just try to stress fundamentals. We want to get them to understand playing together, not just on the court but off the court as well in terms of life skills.”

Brian Shaw spent 13 years in the NBA as a combo guard with the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic, Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, Portland Trailblazers and Los Angeles Lakers.

In 2005 he made the shift to the bench as a coach where he served as an assistant for the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers, before taking the helm with the Nuggets from 2013-15.

He has been active on the grassroots circuit this summer, also working with the Adidas Nations Skills Camp last month in the Philippines.

“These kids, they still have a couple levels that they can get to and as talented as they are, they’re still in high school. They aspire to go to college and to make it to the NBA but there is a lot of work to be done on and off the court before they get to those next levels,” he said. “It’s a job, it’s about the business of basketball.”

Payton, the 17-year veteran, best known for his 13-year tenure with the Seattle Supersonics, looked to take his well known competitive spirit from his playing days to his role as a coach.

“We’re not here [at the gym] to have fun. We have fun when we get back to the hotel. When we get out on the floor they are here to work. I told a lot of them they’re not in shape and I don’t like to see that from kids, you got to get in shape. So when we get after them out on the floor that was our mentality. We are trying to be competitive and we are trying to learn,” he said. “We are trying to teach them that they need to work on a lot of stuff to get better. They listened. When you get into their head with that work ethic like that it translates to their mind they take it to school and they continue to work hard like that.”

Following his run with the Sonics, he also played with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.

The only point guard to ever win the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award,  Payton has also been active on the grassroots circuit for the Nike EYBL.

“Tomorrow we’ll work on defence and I’m looking forward to that. This class is a really, really talented class. They are more athletic than we were, but now we have to teach them to play basketball. We went through a couple of easy plays and they were a little fast with it, but in a little more time they will start catching on very early,” he said.

“We will adjust to what we face [in the exhibition game] because these kids are good enough to adjust. Me and Brian when we go out we are supposed to look at that other team and see what they are doing and set it for them. With this team being as talented and athletic as they are, they can get on the floor, make baskets and adjust on their own.”

Both Payton and Shaw are two in the lineage of NBA point guards out of the Oakland, California, area which also includes Bucks head coach Jason Kidd and Portland Trailblazers point guard Damian Lillard.