American basketball player and coach
William Laimbeer Jr.
(born May 19, 1957) is an American former professional
basketball
coach and player who spent the majority of his career with the
Detroit Pistons
. Known for his physical style of play, he played a big part in the Pistons earning the nickname the “Bad Boys" in the mid-1980s before helping them win back-to-back
NBA championships
.
In his
National Basketball Association
(NBA) career, Laimbeer was known for his 11-year tenure with the
Detroit Pistons
during their "Bad Boys" era. Although a solid shooter and rebounder, Laimbeer became notorious for his physical play and reputation for delivering hard, often flagrant fouls. 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.
[1]
[2]
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
.
[3]
He was the head coach of the
New York Liberty
from 2013 to 2017 and the head coach of the
Las Vegas Aces
from 2018 until 2021. He has twice been named the WNBA's
Coach of the Year
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Laimbeer was born in
Boston
and raised in the
Chicago
suburb of
Clarendon Hills
[4]
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.
[5]
The younger Laimbeer once famously joked, "I'm the only player in the NBA who makes less money than his father."
[6]
Laimbeer played a
Sleestak
on the children's TV series
Land of the Lost
before attending
Notre Dame
.
[7]
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.
As a senior in high school in 1975, Laimbeer led Palos Verdes to a CIF basketball title and a stunning
[1]
upset over 6 time defending champion
Verbum Dei
.
College career
[
edit
]
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.
Professional career
[
edit
]
Brescia (1979?1980)
[
edit
]
Laimbeer was
drafted
by the
Cleveland Cavaliers
in 1979
, but spent his first professional season in Europe. He played in
Italy
for Pinti Inox Brescia, where he averaged 21.1 points and 12.5 rebounds.
Cleveland Cavaliers (1980?1982)
[
edit
]
Laimbeer returned to play for the Cavaliers in 1980.
[8]
He was a reserve for the entire 1980?81 season and started only 4 games for the 1981?82 team.
Detroit Pistons (1982?1993)
[
edit
]
On February 16, 1982, Laimbeer was traded to the
Detroit Pistons
, where he remained for the rest of his career. He was immediately installed as the Pistons starting center. 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, "He [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
good
."
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 knew there were better skilled players than him. 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.
[9]
He even said the local media would play a role as his and the team's reputation preceded them: "When the Pistons came into a town, all the media would write about were the 'Bad Boys' and how rough we played. They'd be asking players if they were going to stand up to us. And once we got teams thinking like that, we had them. We already got them out of their game."
[10]
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
used 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.
Laimbeer spent 14 seasons in the NBA, mostly with the Detroit Pistons. 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 regular-season games during his first 13 seasons, and playing all 82 games seven times. 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 meeting with Thomas and head coach
Don Chaney
that ended with him and Thomas teary-eyed and remaining best friends.
[11]
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 endorsed a
video game
for the
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
,
Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball
, a futuristic basketball game in which physical play is encouraged. In 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."
[12]
Career statistics
[
edit
]
Regular season
[
edit
]
Playoffs
[
edit
]
Post-playing life
[
edit
]
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.
[13]
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
.
[14]
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
[
edit
]
Detroit Shock (2002?2009)
[
edit
]
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.
[15]
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.
[16]
Minnesota Timberwolves (2009?2012)
[
edit
]
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
.
[17]
New York Liberty (2012?2017)
[
edit
]
In 2012, Laimbeer returned to the WNBA to become the head coach and general manager of the
New York Liberty
, replacing
John Whisenant
.
[18]
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.
[19]
On October 14, 2014, the Liberty parted ways with Laimbeer after two seasons,
[20]
but he was rehired as the Liberty head coach on January 8, 2015.
[21]
Las Vegas Aces (2018?2021)
[
edit
]
On October 17, 2017, the then-unnamed
Las Vegas Aces
announced Laimbeer as head coach and President of Basketball Operations.
[22]
Laimbeer coached the Aces through 2021. After the 2021 season Laimbeer retired from coaching
[23]
Coaching record
[
edit
]
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 %
|
In popular culture
[
edit
]
The song "Tough Guy" off the 1994
Beastie Boys
album
Ill Communication
deals with Laimbeer and criticizes his physically aggressive style of playing basketball.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"BILL LAIMBEER: MR. PERSONALITY ≫ Mitch Albom"
. November 21, 2008.
Archived
from the original on March 30, 2023
. Retrieved
March 30,
2023
.
- ^
B, Mike.
"Shining Light on Isiah Thomas, Detroit Pistons Memorable "Bad Boys" Era"
.
Bleacher Report
.
Archived
from the original on March 30, 2023
. Retrieved
March 30,
2023
.
- ^
Longman, Jere (June 5, 2007).
"Aggressive, Infuriating and Successful"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
.
Archived
from the original on March 30, 2023
. Retrieved
March 30,
2023
.
- ^
30 for 30
: Bad Boys
, published by
ESPN
on April 18, 2014. Time: 7:20.
- ^
"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
.
- ^
"A Crashing Success"
. Archived from
the original
on June 1, 2016
. Retrieved
June 22,
2016
.
- ^
"Episodes cast for
Land of the Lost
(1974)"
.
IMDb.com
.
Archived
from the original on December 17, 2009
. Retrieved
April 1,
2017
.
- ^
"Legends profile: Bill Laimbeer"
.
NBA.com
.
National Basketball Association
.
Archived
from the original on July 31, 2021
. Retrieved
November 19,
2019
.
- ^
30 for 30
episode 64. “Bad Boys”. Premiered April 17, 2014.
- ^
Schmitz, Brian (November 13, 1994).
"THE MAGIC OF LAIMBEER: IT WAS ALL IN FUN . . . REALLY"
. Retrieved
February 11,
2021
.
- ^
"
'Sensitive' Laimbeer Mulled Retiring After Fighting Isiah"
.
Chicago Tribune
. November 21, 1993.
Archived
from the original on March 9, 2017
. Retrieved
March 8,
2017
.
- ^
Burrows, James (September 27, 1990),
Cheers Fouls Out
, Ted Danson, Kirstie Alley, Rhea Perlman,
archived
from the original on April 9, 2017
, retrieved
December 13,
2017
- ^
Goldman, Leslie (June 24, 2014).
"In the game with Robin Roberts: Bill Laimbeer"
.
Espn.go.com
.
Archived
from the original on July 1, 2016
. Retrieved
April 1,
2017
.
- ^
"NBA All-Star Shooting Stars Winners"
.
NBA.com
. August 24, 2017.
Archived
from the original on February 24, 2018.
- ^
Ian O'Connor (November 6, 2010).
"Isiah Thomas itching for encore with New York Knicks - ESPN New York"
. Sports.espn.go.com.
Archived
from the original on November 5, 2012
. Retrieved
August 8,
2012
.
- ^
"Laimbeer resigns as Shock coach"
.
ESPN
. June 15, 2009.
Archived
from the original on June 21, 2009
. Retrieved
June 15,
2009
.
- ^
"Original Old School: The Piston You Love To Hate"
. SLAMonline. December 11, 2010.
Archived
from the original on August 25, 2013
. Retrieved
April 1,
2017
.
- ^
Ackert, Kristie (October 25, 2012).
"Liberty tabs ex-Piston Laimbeer as new coach/GM"
.
New York Daily News
.
Archived
from the original on December 13, 2017
. Retrieved
April 1,
2017
.
- ^
Youngblood, Kent (August 22, 2013).
"Laimbeer fined for saying Moore "should get hurt"
"
.
StarTribune.com
.
Archived
from the original on January 5, 2015
. Retrieved
April 1,
2017
.
- ^
"New York Liberty part ways with Bill Laimbeer"
.
Espn.go.com
. October 16, 2014.
Archived
from the original on March 3, 2016
. Retrieved
April 1,
2017
.
- ^
Liberty Rename Bill Laimbeer Head Coach
Archived
January 9, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"WNBA Announces Relocation of San Antonio Stars to Las Vegas - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA"
.
WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA
.
Archived
from the original on October 18, 2017
. Retrieved
October 17,
2017
.
- ^
"Ex-Ace Laimbeer: 'Not ever going to coach again'
"
.
ESPN.com
. May 21, 2022.
Archived
from the original on November 27, 2022
. Retrieved
November 27,
2022
.
External links
[
edit
]
Links to related articles
|
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|
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- Founded in
1937
- Formerly the
Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons
(1937?1948) and the
Fort Wayne Pistons
(1948?1957)
- Based in
Detroit, Michigan
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