Bill Laimbeer

Bill Laimbeer
Player information
Full name	William J. Laimbeer Jr.
birthday	19th May 1957 (age 63)
place of birth	Boston , Massachusetts , USA
size	211 cm
Weight	111 kg
position	center
college	University of Notre Dame
NBA draft	1979 , 65. Pick, Cleveland Cavaliers
Clubs as active
1979–1980 Basket Brescia 1980–1982 Cleveland Cavaliers 1982–1994 Detroit Pistons
Clubs as coaches
2002–2008 Detroit Shock ( WNBA ) 2013–2017 New York Liberty (WNBA) Since 2018 Las Vegas Aces (WNBA) 0

William J. Laimbeer Jr. (born May 19, 1957 in Boston , Massachusetts ) is a retired American basketball player who was active in the NBA from 1980 to 1994 . He gained fame primarily as part of the Detroit Pistons "Bad Boys", which won the 1989 and 1990 NBA championships. He was also four times NBA All-Star and led the league once in rebounding .

After his playing career, he became a coach in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), where he led the Detroit Shock to three championship titles.

Youth and college

Laimbeer was born in Boston to Mary and William Laimbeer Sr., an Owens-Illinois executive . He has two sisters, Susan and Lee Ann. First he grew up in Clarendon Hills , a suburb of the city of Chicago . When he was in eleventh grade in high school , his family moved to Palos Verdes Estates, California .

After graduating from high school, Laimbeer attended the University of Notre Dame , but was de-registered after his freshman year. He then went to Owens Technical College for two semesters to regain his qualifications and then returned to Notre Dame.

Laimbeer played college basketball for the team from Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish , with whom he won the 1978 regional championship and thus reached the Final Four tournament of the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship . A year later, Notre Dame lost in the Elite Eight regional championship finals to the Michigan State University team led by Magic Johnson .

Player career

After Laimbeer attended the University of Notre Dame , he was selected in the 1979 NBA draft in 65th place by the Cleveland Cavaliers . However, before playing for Cleveland, he played in his first year as a professional in Italy . On February 16, 1982 he moved to the Detroit Pistons , where he was active until his retirement in 1994.

Laimbeer played on the position of the center . He was feared because of his harsh defense, in which he was often rough with his opponent. He worked with many hidden fouls, which resulted in various scuffles, such as with Larry Bird , Robert Parish and Charles Barkley . In doing so, he did his part to ensure that the Detroit Pistons were then referred to as Bad Boys .

However, he also had a lot of basketball skills. With almost 200 successful 3-point throws, he was one of the best distance shooters among the centers. He also played the pick and roll to perfection with the guards Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars . He was also a very good rebounder .

Laimbeer was named to the NBA All-Star Game in 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1987 . In 1989 and 1990 he won the NBA championship with Detroit. In NBA history, he is one of 19 players who have accumulated at least 10,000 points and 10,000 rebounds in their career. With the Pistons, Laimbeer's shirt number 40 was withdrawn in his honor and has not been given to other players since then.

Coaching career

In 2002 he took over the coaching post of the Detroit Shock , which play in the WNBA . Just a year later, the team won their first championship, which also gave Laimbeer the WNBA Coach of the Year Award . In 2006 and 2008, the team also won the WNBA championship.

In June 2009 Laimbeer gave up his coaching post. At the beginning of the 2009/10 NBA season he was assistant coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves .

In October 2012, New York Liberty announced from the WNBA that Laimbeer would take over the coaching position and the post of general manager from the 2013 season . In 2015 he received the WNBA Coach of the Year Award for the second time.

In 2017 Laimbeer ended his engagement in New York. He has been a coach with the Las Vegas Aces since the 2018 season .

Others

Bill played in the feature film Hot Shots! With. Here he was briefly seen in a fight with Charles Barkley .

Web links

Commons : Bill Laimbeer  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Bill Laimbeer - player profile on basketball-reference.com
• WNBA Coach Profile (English)
• Biography (English)
• Bill Laimbeer in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.nydailynews.com: Bill Laimbeer named general manager and head coach of WNBA's NY Liberty , accessed November 9, 2013
2. ↑ www.wnba.com: Liberty's Bill Laimbeer Named WNBA Coach Of The Year , accessed May 2, 2016
3. ↑ www.axs.com: WNBA team coming to Las Vegas, Bill Laimbeer named Head Coach and team President , accessed April 21, 2018