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Nets expected to call Pacers assistant Shaw

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Published June 5, 2013, 4:00 a.m. ET

The Nets’ coaching search could kick into high gear soon.

With the Pacers out of the playoffs after dropping Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals to the defending champion Heat on Monday night, associate head coach Brian Shaw — a top candidate for the Nets’ head coaching vacancy — officially is available to be interviewed.

It has been expected the Nets would reach out to Shaw about replacing P.J. Carlesimo, who was not retained after the Nets lost to the Bulls in seven games of the first round of the playoffs.

Pacers president Donnie Walsh repeatedly has said Shaw would be allowed to speak to other teams after Indiana’s playoff run, and it shouldn’t take long for the Nets or other interested teams to reach out.

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The former NBA point guard has been a top candidate for jobs the past two offseasons, and has an impressive resume. His long playing career included a trip to the Finals with the Penny Hardaway-Shaquille O’Neal Magic in 1995 and three championship rings playing alongside Kobe Bryant and O’Neal with the Lakers in the early 2000s.

Shaw retired in 2003 and worked as an assistant coach for the Lakers from 2004-11, spending the majority of that time working under Phil Jackson.

Shaw was long expected to be the successor to Jackson, but was passed over for the top job in 2011 when Jim Buss, the son of legendary Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, chose to hire Mike Brown instead. That led to Shaw leaving the Lakers to become the top assistant on Frank Vogel’s staff, helping turn the Pacers back into an Eastern Conference power that pushed the Heat in last year’s conference semifinals and this year’s conference finals.

Pacers guard Lance Stephenson of Brooklyn recently spoke glowingly of Shaw, crediting Shaw with helping him begin to realize his potential and blossom into a starter this season.

“He gives me the confidence in the game to knock down big shots,” Stephenson said.

Stephenson’s teammate Paul George also spoke highly of Shaw and the impact he has had on the young Pacers over the past two years.

“He’s been around Kobe,” George said. “That’s somebody I grew up watching and idolizing in basketball.

“He’s been a champion. He’s been a champion as a coach and as a player. So everything he says has value, and he knows what it takes.

“Besides being around Kobe, he’s been around Penny [Hardaway], he’s been around Larry [Bird] … he’s been around some guys that’s been [elite] guys in this league. I think just his presence, being at practice and his whole mentality … he’s a champion.”

* The Nets have contacted Larry Brown about their coaching opening, according to a report by SNY.

Brown, who will turn 73 before next season begins, has coached nine NBA teams during his career. He has a long history with Nets general manager Billy King, whom Brown hired as an assistant coach with the Pacers before the two worked together in Philadelphia for six seasons.