Laimbeer’s coaching experience came in the WNBA. In June, he stepped down as the general manager and head coach of the Detroit Shock. While with the Shock, Laimbeer led the team to three WNBA championships. When he left the Shock, he said he wanted to coach in the NBA — and now he’s gotten his wish.

During the middle of last season, Theus was fired as head coach of the Sacramento Kings. He was also a head coach on the college level. He’s regarded as a good motivator and should give a different type of coaching skill to the Timberwolves when compared to Rambis and Laimbeer.

The Timberwolves are likely looking at a long rebuilding process. However, the good news is that it appears as if they have assembled a good coaching trio.

Bill Laimbeer will be an assistant coach in Minnesota (Image: Zuma Press)

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Bill Laimbeer and Reggie Theus to Minnesota

Bill Laimbeer added a certain amount of clout to the WNBA when he took over as Detroit’s head coach in 2002. He has led his team to three WNBA titles in three years and has made the Shock into a basketball powerhouse. He talked his bosses out of folding the team after the 2002 season before engineering a worst-to-first championship run the very next season. But after three games into the 2009 season, he called a press conference and called it quits.

The reason? Two words: the NBA.

Bill Laimbeer resigned from his position as head coach of the Detroit Shock.

“It’s time for me to be doing something else,”  Laimbeer said, according to ESPN.com. “I want to coach in the NBA, and I think it was not fair to the Shock to try to coach them while my focus and passion were somewhere else. I don’t have another job, but it is something I want to explore. Whether it is a head coaching job or something as an assistant, that’s what I want to do.”

Laimbeer was a member of the Pistons’ “Bad Boys” championship teams of 1989 and 1990 before retiring in 1993. “I never expected to be here for this long, and I never expected to have this level of success,” he said. “I wouldn’t give a second of it back.”

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Bill Laimbeer “Shockingly” Resigns

Kevin McHale is out in Minnesota (Image: Zuma Press)

During his reign in Minnesota, McHale is known mostly for his failures. Despite having Kevin Garnett on the team for more than a decade, McHale the general manager could never put enough talent around him to make it to the NBA Finals.

Last season, McHale was asked to go from general manager to head coach. He was actually doing a really good job until star power forward Al Jefferson was lost for the season with a torn ACL.

The Timberwolves apparently wanted to go in a different direction. Who will be the next coach? One possibility is Bill Laimbeer, who recently resigned from the Detroit Shock of the WNBA. The timing of that resignation and McHale leaving could be a coincidence — but maybe not.

Post from: EveryJoe

Kevin McHale Era Over in Minnesota