Many happy returns to Lakers and UCSB for Brian Shaw

Brian Shaw is back with the Los Angeles Lakers and for this week he has also returned to UCSB where he was a star guard. LA is conducting training camp in Santa Barbara.

Shaw won three NBA Championships as a player with the Lakers and two more as an assistant coach in Los Angeles under Phil Jackson. He left the Lakers in 2011 and was an associate head coach at Indiana and then head coach for Denver.

Now Shaw is an associate head coach for the Lakers under Luke Walton.

Back in the late 1980’s, Shaw helped transform UCSB’s Campus Event Center into the Thunderdome. Shaw led the Gauchos to their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. With Shaw at the point guard, the Gauchos became giant-killers beating UNLV and North Carolina State.

Shaw was the Player of the Year in the conference in 1988 and was later drafted that year in the first round by the Boston Celtics. He played on several NBA teams but he spent his final four seasons with the Lakers. He was part of the team’s Three-Peat from 2000-2002. He retired in 2003.