Bill Laimbeer

William J. Laimbeer Jr. (born May 19, 1957) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).[1]

Bill Laimbeer

Laimbeer in 2019 as Las Vegas Aces head coach.
Las Vegas Aces
Position	Head coach / General Manager
League	WNBA
Personal information
Born	May 19, 1957 Boston, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)
Listed weight	244 lb (111 kg)
Career information
High school	Palos Verdes (Palos Verdes, California)
College	Notre Dame (1975–1979)
NBA draft	1979 / Round: 3 / Pick: 65th overall
Selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers
Playing career	1979–1993
Position	Center
Number	41, 40
Coaching career	2002–present
Career history
As player:
1979–1980	Basket Brescia Leonessa
1980–1982	Cleveland Cavaliers
1982–1993	Detroit Pistons
As coach:
2002–2009	Detroit Shock
2009–2011	Minnesota Timberwolves (assistant)
2013–2017	New York Liberty
2018–present	Las Vegas Aces
Career highlights and awards
As player: 2× NBA champion (1989, 1990) 4× NBA All-Star (1983–1985, 1987) NBA rebounding leader (1986) No. 40 retired by Detroit Pistons Second-team Parade All-American (1975) As coach: 3× WNBA champion (2003, 2006, 2008) 2× WNBA Coach of the Year (2003, 2015) WNBA All Star Game Head Coach (2019)
Career statistics
Points	13,790 (12.9 ppg)
Rebounds	10,400 (9.7 rpg)
Assists	2,184 (2.0 apg)
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

During his National Basketball Association (NBA) career, he was known for his 11-year tenure with the Detroit Pistons. Notorious for his physical play and violent reputation on the court, Laimbeer played at center with Hall of Fame backcourt guards Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars and forward Dennis Rodman, winning back to back NBA Championships in 1989 and 1990 with the Pistons, and being named an NBA All-Star four times. Prior to the NBA, he played for the University of Notre Dame and Palos Verdes High School in Southern California.

After his playing career, Laimbeer served as the head coach and general manager of the Detroit Shock in the WNBA from 2002 to 2009, coaching the team to three league championships in 2003, 2006, and 2008. He was the head coach of the New York Liberty from 2013 to 2017 and has been the head coach of the Las Vegas Aces since 2018. He has twice been named the WNBA's Coach of the Year.

Early life & college

Laimbeer playing for Palos Verdes High School in 1975

Laimbeer was born in Boston and raised in the Chicago suburb of Clarendon Hills[2] before moving with his family to Palos Verdes Estates, California. His father, William Laimbeer Sr., was an Owens-Illinois executive who rose as high as company president.[3] The younger Laimbeer once famously joked, "I'm the only player in the NBA who makes less money than his father."[4]

Laimbeer played a Sleestak on the children's TV series Land of the Lost before attending Notre Dame.[5] He was a Palos Verdes High School student, and the Land of the Lost show solicited their basketball team for tall people to play Sleestaks.

For college, Laimbeer attended Notre Dame where he played basketball, but he flunked out after his freshman year. To regain his eligibility, he spent two semesters at Owens Technical College in Toledo, Ohio. Laimbeer then re–entered Notre Dame. He spent two years playing for Notre Dame's basketball team. For his last two years of college, he averaged 7.3 points and 6.0 rebounds per game while playing 20 minutes a game, primarily as a substitute. With the Fighting Irish, Laimbeer appeared in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in 1978, and the Elite Eight in 1979.

Playing career

Laimbeer was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1979. He played professionally in Italy for Pinti Inox Brescia, where he averaged 21.1 points and 12.5 rebounds, before returning to play for the Cavaliers in 1980.[6] On February 16, 1982, he was traded to the Detroit Pistons, where he would remain for the rest of his career. During his playing career, Laimbeer was one of the most notorious players in the NBA. While highly popular among Piston fans, Laimbeer was despised by opposing players and fans for his disdain of his opponents, his poor sportsmanship, and his dangerous play such as repeatedly committing violent intentional fouls. In the public eye, Laimbeer's reputation for physical play tended to overshadow his skills. His former teammate Dennis Rodman noted this in his book Bad As I Wanna Be, saying, "[Laimbeer] was more than a thug, but that's what he'll be remembered for." In an interview for the 1990 NBA Home Video release "Pure Pistons," teammate Isiah Thomas also talked about Laimbeer's effect on opposing players, saying, "He frustrates people," but then added, "He frustrates people...because he's strong."

In the ESPN ‘’30 for 30’’ film ‘’Bad Boys’’, Laimbeer said his approach to the game was all psychological. When the Pistons would take to the court before a game, Laimbeer made it a point to lead the rest of the team out from the locker room and he always did so with a scowl on his face to show he was not intimidated by anyone. While a serviceable and solid player for most of his career, Laimbeer also knew there were better skilled players than he was. However, there were not as many players who were as physical on the court as he was, and Laimbeer was able to use that to his advantage. The hard-nosed approach he used was designed to wear on opposing players to the point where they began focusing more on retaliating against him and the rest of the Pistons instead of trying to win the game; Laimbeer said if he was able to do that to an opponent during the course of a game, he had broken them down. [7]

Laimbeer was one of the top outside-shooting centers of his era, draining over 200 three-pointers for his career, and excelled at running the pick and pop with guards Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars. Then-head coach Chuck Daly utilized Laimbeer's inside-outside skills to great effect. On the defensive end, Laimbeer was one of the best rebounders in the game. On the offensive end, Daly would often have Laimbeer fade to the perimeter rather than roll to the basket, which had the additional effect of keeping the opposing team's best rebounder far from the backboard. Laimbeer was selected to the NBA All-Star Game on four occasions (1983, 1984, 1985 and 1987) and finished among the league leaders in rebounding and free throw percentage several times, winning the rebound title in the 1985-86 season. Laimbeer started on the Pistons' 1989 and 1990 NBA championship teams.

Bill Laimbeer and his Detroit teammates are the only players to have a playoff winning record against NBA legends Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan.

Altogether, Laimbeer spent 14 seasons in the NBA, 13 of them with Detroit. Laimbeer became the 19th player in league history to amass more than 10,000 points and 10,000 rebounds. Laimbeer was most effective off the defensive glass: from 1982 to 1990 no player in the league totaled more defensive rebounds. He was also remarkably durable, never playing fewer than 79 games in his 14 seasons, and playing all 82 games on seven occasions. His streak of 685 consecutive games played (which ended due to suspension in the 1988-89 season) is the fifth longest in league history. Laimbeer retired early in the 1993-94 season at age 36 after an incident in practice with longtime friend Isiah Thomas that led to Thomas breaking his hand. Laimbeer, upset over the fight as well as worried over the reaction of Pistons fans for injuring their team captain, decided to retire, believing the fight with Isiah was his "downfall". He announced his retirement after a private closed doors meeting with Thomas and head coach Don Chaney that ended with him and Thomas teary-eyed and remaining best friends.[8] Laimbeer had his jersey number (40) retired by the Pistons in February 1995. He remains the franchise's all-time leader in career rebounds.

Laimbeer's reputation as one of the Pistons' "Bad Boys" was such that in 1991 he even came to endorse a video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System called Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball, a futuristic basketball game in which physical play is encouraged. In addition, during a cameo in the ninth season of Cheers, Kevin McHale of the rival Celtics remarked, when presented with the X-Ray of an adult male gorilla's ankle, "...could be Laimbeer."[9]

NBA career statistics

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high
†	Won an NBA championship	*	Led the league

Regular season

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1980–81	Cleveland	81	0	30.4	.503	–	.765	8.6	2.7	0.7	1.0	9.8
1981–82	Cleveland	50	4	17.9	.470	.500	.775	5.5	0.9	0.4	0.6	6.7
1981–82	Detroit	30	30	31.2	.516	.143	.813	11.3	1.8	0.6	1.1	12.8
1982–83	Detroit	82	82	35.0	.497	.154	.790	12.1	3.2	0.6	1.4	13.6
1983–84	Detroit	82	82	34.9	.530	.000	.866	12.2	1.8	0.6	1.0	17.3
1984–85	Detroit	82	82	35.3	.506	.222	.797	12.4	1.9	0.8	0.9	17.5
1985–86	Detroit	82	82	35.3	.492	.286	.834	13.1	1.8	0.7	0.8	16.6
1986–87	Detroit	82	82	34.8	.501	.286	.894	11.6	1.8	0.9	0.8	15.4
1987–88	Detroit	82	82	35.3	.493	.333	.874	10.1	2.4	0.8	1.0	13.5
1988–89†	Detroit	81	81	32.6	.499	.349	.840	9.6	2.2	0.6	1.2	13.7
1989–90†	Detroit	81	81	33.0	.484	.361	.854	9.6	2.1	0.7	1.0	12.1
1990–91	Detroit	82	81	32.5	.478	.296	.837	9.0	1.9	0.5	0.7	11.0
1991–92	Detroit	81	46	27.6	.470	.376	.893	5.6	2.0	0.6	0.7	9.7
1992–93	Detroit	79	41	24.5	.509	.370	.894	5.3	1.6	0.6	0.5	8.7
1993–94	Detroit	11	5	22.5	.522	.333	.846	5.1	1.3	0.5	0.4	9.9
Career		1,068	861	31.8	.498	.326	.837	9.7	2.0	0.7	0.9	12.9
All-Star		4	0	11.3	.650	—	.667	2.8	0.5	0.5	0.5	7.0

Playoffs

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
1984	Detroit	5	0	33.0	.569	—	.900	12.4	2.4	0.8	0.6	15.2
1985	Detroit	9	9	36.1	.449	.000	.706	10.7	1.7	0.8	0.8	14.7
1986	Detroit	4	4	42.0	.500	1.000	.913	14.0	0.3	0.5	0.8	22.5
1987	Detroit	15	15	36.2	.515	.200	.625	10.4	2.5	1.0	0.8	12.3
1988	Detroit	23	23	33.9	.456	.294	.889	9.6	1.9	0.8	0.8	11.9
1989†	Detroit	17	17	29.2	.465	.357	.806	8.2	1.8	0.4	0.5	10.1
1990†	Detroit	20	20	33.4	.457	.349	.862	10.6	1.4	1.2	0.9	11.1
1991	Detroit	15	15	29.7	.446	.294	.871	8.1	1.3	0.3	0.8	10.9
1992	Detroit	5	4	29.0	.370	.200	1.000	6.6	1.6	0.8	0.2	8.2
Career		113	107	33.1	.468	.321	.819	9.7	1.7	0.7	0.7	12.0

Post-playing life

In 1994, Laimbeer and his father William Sr. co-founded Laimbeer Packaging Corp., a company located in Melvindale, Michigan, a Detroit suburb, producing corrugated cardboard boxes. The company struggled through the late 1990s and closed in early 2002.[10] Laimbeer won the NBA Shooting Stars Competition at the 2007 All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas along with Chauncey Billups of the Detroit Pistons and Swin Cash of the Detroit Shock. In February 2009 he won the competition with Arron Afflalo and Katie Smith.[11] In 1999, Laimbeer was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

Laimbeer is a former color commentator for the Pistons and was a studio analyst for ESPN in 2003.

Coaching career

In the middle of the 2002 WNBA season, Laimbeer took over the head coaching position for the Detroit Shock. A year later, he led the franchise to its first WNBA championship and was named Coach of the Year that year. It marked the first time in WNBA history that a team other than Los Angeles or Houston won the title. On September 9, 2006, Laimbeer led the Shock to their second WNBA championship against the Sacramento Monarchs in five games. Two years later, on October 5, 2008, Laimbeer led the team to its third league championship in six years by defeating San Antonio.

Laimbeer has talked about the possibility of one day coaching in the NBA. The New York Knicks' former team president, former Piston teammate Isiah Thomas, once considered Laimbeer as a possibility.[12] The Pistons, presided by former teammate Joe Dumars, had considered the possibility of Laimbeer replacing departing coach Larry Brown, before ultimately hiring former Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders.

On June 15, 2009, Laimbeer resigned as head coach of the Detroit Shock, due to family reasons and the desire to become an NBA head coach.[13] Though he was unable to secure an NBA head coaching position, that same year Laimbeer was offered, and accepted, an assistant coach position with the Minnesota Timberwolves.[14]

In 2012, Laimbeer returned to the WNBA to become the head coach and general manager of the New York Liberty, replacing John Whisenant.[15] He quickly returned to his pugnacious ways, drawing a fine for saying Minnesota Lynx player Maya Moore "should get hurt" for playing late into a game in which the Lynx easily defeated the Liberty.[16]

On October 14, 2014, the Liberty parted ways with Laimbeer after two seasons,[17] but he was rehired as the Liberty head coach on January 8, 2015.[18] On October 17, 2017, the then-unnamed Las Vegas Aces announced Laimbeer as head coach and President of Basketball Operations.[19]

Coaching record

Legend

Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win–loss %
Playoffs	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win–loss %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
DES	2002	22	9	13	.409	8th in Eastern	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
DES	2003	34	25	9	.735	1st in Eastern	8	6	2	.750	Won WNBA Championship
DES	2004	34	17	17	.500	3rd in Eastern	3	1	2	.333	Lost in Conf. Semifinals
DES	2005	34	16	18	.471	4th in Eastern	2	0	2	.000	Lost in Conf. Semifinals
DES	2006	34	23	11	.676	2nd in Eastern	10	7	3	.700	Won WNBA Championship
DES	2007	34	24	10	.706	1st in Eastern	11	6	5	.545	Lost in WNBA Finals
DES	2008	34	22	12	.647	1st in Eastern	9	7	2	.778	Won WNBA Championship
DES	2009	4	1	3	.250	(resigned)	—	—	—	—	－
NYL	2013	34	11	23	.324	5th in Eastern	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
NYL	2014	34	15	19	.441	5th in Eastern	—	—	—	—	Missed Playoffs
NYL	2015	34	23	11	.676	1st in Eastern	5	3	2	.600	Lost in Conf. Finals
NYL	2016	34	21	13	.618	1st in Eastern	1	0	1	.000	Lost in 2nd Round
NYL	2017	34	22	12	.647	1st in Eastern	1	0	1	.000	Lost in 2nd Round
LVA	2018	34	14	20	.412	6th in Western	—	—	—		Missed Playoffs
LVA	2019	34	21	13	.618	2nd in Western	5	2	3	.400	Lost in Conf. Finals
LVA	2020	22	18	4	.818	1st in Western	8	3	5	.375	Lost in WNBA Finals
Career		489	282	207	.577		63	35	28	.556

See also

• List of National Basketball Association career rebounding leaders
• List of National Basketball Association season rebounding leaders

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. 30 for 30: Bad Boys, published by ESPN on April 18, 2014. Time: 7:20.
3. "Philanthropists of the Year 2010 - Gulfshore Life - August 2010 - Naples, FL". Gulfshore Life. Archived from the original on October 12, 2017. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved June 22, 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. "Episodes cast for Land of the Lost (1974)". IMDb.com. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
6. "Legends profile: Bill Laimbeer". NBA.com. National Basketball Association. Retrieved November 19, 2019.
7. ’’30 for 30’’ episode 64. “Bad Boys”. Premiered April 17, 2014.
8. "`Sensitive' Laimbeer Mulled Retiring After Fighting Isiah". Chicago Tribune. November 21, 1993. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
9. Burrows, James (September 27, 1990), Cheers Fouls Out, Ted Danson, Kirstie Alley, Rhea Perlman, retrieved December 13, 2017
10. Goldman, Leslie (June 24, 2014). "In the game with Robin Roberts: Bill Laimbeer". Espn.go.com. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
11. "NBA All-Star Shooting Stars Winners". NBA.com. August 24, 2017. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018.
12. Ian O'Connor (November 6, 2010). "Isiah Thomas itching for encore with New York Knicks - ESPN New York". Sports.espn.go.com. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
13. "Laimbeer resigns as Shock coach". ESPN. June 15, 2009. Archived from the original on June 21, 2009. Retrieved June 15, 2009.
14. "Original Old School: The Piston You Love To Hate". SLAMonline. December 11, 2010. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
15. Ackert, Kristie (October 25, 2012). "Liberty tabs ex-Piston Laimbeer as new coach/GM". New York Daily News. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
16. Youngblood, Kent (August 22, 2013). "Laimbeer fined for saying Moore "should get hurt"". StarTribune.com. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
17. "New York Liberty part ways with Bill Laimbeer". Espn.go.com. October 16, 2014. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
18. Liberty Rename Bill Laimbeer Head Coach Archived January 9, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
19. "WNBA Announces Relocation of San Antonio Stars to Las Vegas - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA". WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA. Retrieved October 17, 2017.

External links

• NBA.com profile
• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com  or Basketball-Reference.com
• WNBA.com coach profile