No, this is not the time to start singing some song about Bill and Kurt sitting on a tree or something like that. It was just a surprise that Bill Laimbeer liked anyone in the whole world, let alone a former Los Angeles Laker and former agitator like Kurt Rambis, but he does and he admits it freely.

Kahn interviewed Laimbeer for the head coaching position that eventually went to Rambis. In a surprising move, Laimbeer decided to take a job working under Rambis after losing out on the position he really wanted.

“I like the guy,” Laimbeer said. “He’s well-prepared and is a lot like me, which surprised me. He’s a Laker. I’m a Piston.

“He speaks his mind, honest, blunt, sarcastic. Ditto. I thought it was a good fit, and we’re going to zing each other, but it’ll be fun. The bottom line is that he’s very competitive and wants to win, and that’s my nature.”
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Bill Laimbeer has been successful everywhere from starting at Notre Dame to leading the Pistons to two NBA titles, to leading the Detroit Shock to 3 WNBA titles. Laimbeer is driven to success and is one of the most competitive individuals you will ever meet.

Bill Laimbeer knows winning

Bill has never been afraid to do whatever is necessary to win and that might also be the motto for Kurt Rambis on the Lakers, where his main job was to do the dirty work.

So why did Kurt Rambis hire Bill Laimbeer? He wanted someone that would tell it like he saw it and not try to please the boss. Besides Bill has an excellent record as coach of the Detroit Shock and while no one would say that equates to coaching in the NBA, at least it is winning and that is all Bill knows is winning.

Image: Zuma Press

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Bill Laimbeer came out of the California high school system as a center and played at Notre Dame. He was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers. After playing in Italy for a season, Bill returned to Cleveland and played two years before being traded to the Isiah Thomas led Detroit Pistons.

While playing for the Pistons, Laimbeer teamed up with Rick Mahorn to win a NBA title and develop a reputation for meanness on the court. One of his favorite moves on post defense was to swipe his hand down to rake your arm as you tried to turn to shoot. He did it in a way that was mostly hidden from the referees. It drove players crazy.

Bill Laimbeer NBA factoid: 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. source

Still Bill was more than that or he would not have lasted or played on the Pistons as they won a second title without Rick Mahorn. The Pistons became known as the Bad Boys because of their aggressive defense that was played in a very physical style. After the two titles the NBA changed several of their rules to tone down the defense.

There is Bill Laimbeer, but can he guard Barack Obama?

Bill was amazingly competitive and a top notch darts player. One year he announced he would win the rebounding title and then went out and did it. He was a 4 time All Star.

After the NBA there were no takers for Bill’s coaching services. It was often stated they only remembered him by reputation and did not want him around. Bill began coaching in the WNBA for the Detroit Shock and won 3 titles in 6 years. Again no NBA coaching offers came to him. Finally he quit the Shock with the stated intention to become an NBA coach.

Now along comes Kurt Rambis from the Los Angeles Lakers and hires Bill Laimbeer to be his assistant on the Minnesota Timberwolves.

New Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis will add former Detroit Pistons bad-boy center Bill Laimbeer and former Sacramento Kings coach Reggie Theus to his staff, according to a league source.
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Image: Zuma Press

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Stephon Marbury may never find his potential

For better or worse and most of the time worse, Stephon Marbury has been the face of the New York Knicks. He was like a plague to both Larry Brown and Isiah Thomas. Now the Knicks are prepared to face life without him.

The rumor is that the Miami Heat will go after Stephon. That may be a bad idea even though the Heat need a point guard.

Yes, yes, if Stephon Marbury would mind his ways the backcourt of Marbury and Dwyane Wade would be awesome, but therein lays the problem. Would he mind his ways. Stephon once admitted that he only played for the money.

Miami seems to be the wrong team for that to happen. Where is the leadership? Matrix is unhappy. Beasley if off to a ‘fined for smoking’ start. Wade is off and on injured. Riley is getting old. Just where is the strong leadership?

The Knicks are preparing to put Marbury on waivers by the end of the week, several sources with knowledge of the situation told Newsday. The team must await the go-ahead from Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan, however, because it would involve eating another large chunk of money in a buyout, Newsday reported.

Marbury is entering the final year of his contract, worth $21.9 million.
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Two stories…

Years ago my Detroit Pistons picked up NBA troublemaker Mark Aguirre. It will never work the experts said, but the experts failed to take into account the strong leadership of Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer. Aguirre was everything the Pistons wanted and the reward was an NBA title.

Story number two…

One night while playing against my Pistons, Stephon Marbury buried shots from all over the court in the fourth quarter. You know that shot chart they show with the circles that are red for made shots? Stephon had about 10 of them all from different places on the court. It was amazing. Don’t even remember who won.

So that has always had me wondering if Stephon went to a team with strong leadership and could display those kinds of talents, just how good could he be? Just how good could the team he played for be?

We may never know.

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Adrian Dantley guarding Larry Bird

source newscom

Wow! That is all you can say about a Hall of Fame class including Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, Pat Riley.

But for me there is a double Wow for Adrian Dantley.

Pat Riley had this story about Adrian Dantley and it says it best.

Dantley was playing for the Los Angeles Lakes in the late ’70s, and Riley was the traveling secretary.

It was Riley’s job to assign seating on planes, and he always sat Dantley next to the reticent Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Dantley always wanted another seat, but Riley kept rejecting his request.

“He was the only guy who wasn’t scared of Kareem,” Riley said.

source

Adrian just had a knack for scoring that you can’t teach.

NBA Adrian Dantley factoid - Dantley led Notre Dame in scoring in 1974-75 (30.4 points per game) and 1975-76 (28.6 points per game), while also leading the team in rebounding those two seasons with marks of 10.2 and 10.1 rebounds per game, respectively. He was also the leading scorer on the 1976 US Olympic team that captured the gold medal in Montreal and was drafted sixth overall, by the Buffalo Braves, in the 1976 NBA draft. He became the third Buffalo player in five years to receive the NBA Rookie of the Year Award when he won it after the 1977 season.

Adrian played briefly for my Detroit Pistons (Ok, Bill Davidson is the owner, not me, and he is also going into the Hall of Fame, not me. Go figure, could have been me.).

The Pistons were in their glory years with Isiah Thomas, Bill Laimbeer, and Joe Dumars, but Adrian was so good offensively in the half court that the Pistons would be caught just standing around as Adrian stared his man down and then took off for the hoop with some amazing move that resulted in a basket or foul. The Pistons wanted to run more so Adrian was sent packing and an aging Mark Aguirre was brought in.

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