Nuggets coach Brian Shaw is a man of his word.

At the team’s media day Monday, Shaw said he wanted to take point guard Ty Lawson to a Broncos practice so he could watch Peyton Manning in action, to see how the sure-fire Hall-of-Famer leads his team.

Two days later, he did just that.

Shaw and Lawson stood on the sidelines at Dove Valley on Wednesday to witness Manning direct traffic in drills, with Shaw visibly coaching Lawson the entire time.

It’s as personal as coaching can get.

“I expect more from him than anyone on this team,” Shaw said of Lawson on Monday. “He’s our first line of offense and our first line of defense. We’ve talked about leadership. If he’s not a vocal guy, I’m fine with that, but you have to lead by vocally leading or you have to lead by example.

“He understands that in order for everyone to follow him, he has to lead by example. They’re not going to listen to him if he’s not in there putting in the work and getting after it.”

Manning had a chance to speak with Lawson during Wednesday’s practice and answer his point guard-to-quarterback comparison questions.

“I was glad to answer them,” Manning said. “It was the first chance I’ve gotten to spend some time with Ty. Brian and I have kind of followed each other from Indiana to Denver and different places, so I wish them both a lot of luck this year.”

Shaw has had multiple conversations with Lawson last season and throughout the offseason regarding his leadership, and Lawson knew this was coming. Attending a Broncos practice was expected, and he was even looking forward to it.

“Just to see how he runs a team, how he’s a leader, because I feel like he’s the best to do it in any sport,” Lawson said of Manning on Monday. “So I just want to go and pick his brain, see how he does it and what he does.”

Broncos tight end Julius Thomas knows first-hand the crossover between the quarterback and point guard positions. A four-year power forward at Portland State the same time Lawson was at North Carolina, Thomas second school records in career games (121) and wins (78) and competed in two NCAA Tournaments (2008, 2009).

“(Point guards) have sets and they have their plays, they need to know a lot that’s going on just as well as a quarterback does,” Thomas said Wednesday. “So I’m sure they have a similar mindset and understanding of making sure guys are in the right spots and doing the right things.”

Lawson averaged career highs in points (17.6) and assists (8.8) last season, numbers that Shaw believes were at all-star level. But the Nuggets simply didn’t win; the point guard of a 36-46 team in a conference filled with elite point guards won’t get an all-star nod.

Much of the Nuggets’ struggles were due to injuries — they lost 287 total games to injuries to their key players — but Lawson’s leadership came into question long before Shaw took over last season.

Throughout the summer of 2012, just months before Lawson signed a four-year extension to stay in Denver, former coach George Karl badgered him to become the team’s leader.

“He texted me all summer,” Lawson told The Post in October 2012. “Leadership? I probably have, I’ll say, at least 20 of them in my phone. Leadership? What are you doing? Are you leading right now? I’m like, I’m asleep, it’s 12 o’clock at night.”

Shaw continued to press Lawson to lead when he took over last season, and, like Karl, he hasn’t let up.

“It’s time to get to the next level,” Shaw said. “He wants to be an all-star. It’s that time and he should start feeling it and understanding what it’s going to take to get to that level.”

Nicki Jhabvala: njhabvala@denverpost.com or at twitter.com/nickijhabvala