William Laimbeer Jr. (born May 19, 1957) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and player who spent the majority of his career with the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

. 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 The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) career, Laimbeer was known for his 11-year tenure with the

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. Prior to the NBA, he played for the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

and Palos Verdes High School in Southern California. After his playing career, Laimbeer served as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

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 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

Laimbeer was born in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

and raised in the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

suburb of Clarendon Hills'' 30 for 30: Bad Boys'', published by

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

on April 18, 2014. Time: 7:20. 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. The younger Laimbeer once famously joked, "I'm the only player in the NBA who makes less money than his father." Laimbeer played a Sleestak on the children's TV series '' Land of the Lost'' before attending Notre Dame. 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 stunnin

upset over 6 time defending champion Verbum Dei Jesuit High School, Verbum Dei.

College career

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 Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

. 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 behind starting center Bruce Flowers. With the Fighting Irish, Laimbeer appeared in the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in 1978, and the Elite Eight in 1975.

Professional career

Brescia (1979–1980)

Laimbeer was drafted by the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

in 1979, but the team's hesitation in signing him to a contract led him to instead spend his first professional season in Europe. He played in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

for Pinti Inox Brescia, where he averaged 21.1 points and 12.5 rebounds.

Cleveland Cavaliers (1980–1982)

Laimbeer returned to play for the Cavaliers in 1980. He was a reserve for the entire 1980–81 season and started only 4 games for the 1981–82 team.

Detroit Pistons (1982–1993)

On February 16, 1982, Laimbeer was traded to the

, 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 Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American former professional basketball player. Renowned for his defensive and rebound (basketball), rebounding abilities, his biography on the official NBA website states that he is "arguably the ...

'', saying, "He aimbeerwas 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 him down. 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." 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 In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

percentage several times. He won the NBA rebound title in the 1985–86 season. He made a career-high 53.0% of his field goal attempts in the 1983–84 season, and the following season he posted a career-high 17.5 points per game. 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. 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 A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

for the

Super Nintendo Entertainment System The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

, '' Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball'', a futuristic basketball game in which physical play is encouraged. In a cameo in the ninth season of ''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American television sitcom, created by Glen and Les Charles, Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, that aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/C ...

,'' Kevin McHale of the rival Celtics remarked, when presented with the X-Ray of an adult male gorilla's ankle, "...could be Laimbeer."

Career statistics

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, 81 , , — , , 30.4 , , .503 , , , , .765 , , 8.6 , , 2.7 , , .7 , , 1.0 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 50 , , 4 , , 17.9 , , .470 , , .500 , , .775 , , 5.5 , , .9 , , .4 , , .6 , , 6.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, 30 , , 30 , , 31.2 , , .516 , , .143 , , .813 , , 11.3 , , 1.8 , , .6 , , 1.1 , , 12.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 82 , , 35.0 , , .497 , , .154 , , .790 , , 12.1 , , 3.2 , , .6 , , 1.4 , , 13.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 82 , , 34.9 , , .530 , , .000 , , .866 , , 12.2 , , 1.8 , , .6 , , 1.0 , , 17.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 82 , , 35.3 , , .506 , , .222 , , .797 , , 12.4 , , 1.9 , , .8 , , .9 , , 17.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 82 , , 35.3 , , .492 , , .286 , , .834 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 13.1* , , 1.8 , , .7 , , .8 , , 16.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 82 , , 34.8 , , .501 , , .286 , , .894 , , 11.6 , , 1.8 , , .9 , , .8 , , 15.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 82 , , 35.3 , , .493 , , .333 , , .874 , , 10.1 , , 2.4 , , .8 , , 1.0 , , 13.5 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;", † , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , 81 , , 32.6 , , .499 , , .349 , , .840 , , 9.6 , , 2.2 , , .6 , , 1.2 , , 13.7 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;", † , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , 81 , , 33.0 , , .484 , , .361 , , .854 , , 9.6 , , 2.1 , , .7 , , 1.0 , , 12.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 82 , , 81 , , 32.5 , , .478 , , .296 , , .837 , , 9.0 , , 1.9 , , .5 , , .7 , , 11.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 81 , , 46 , , 27.6 , , .470 , , .376 , , .893 , , 5.6 , , 2.0 , , .6 , , .7 , , 9.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 79 , , 41 , , 24.5 , , .509 , , .370 , , .894 , , 5.3 , , 1.6 , , .6 , , .5 , , 8.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 11 , , 5 , , 22.5 , , .522 , , .333 , , .846 , , 5.1 , , 1.3 , , .5 , , .4 , , 9.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 1,068 , , 861 , , 31.8 , , .498 , , .326 , , .837 , , 9.7 , , 2.0 , , .7 , , .9 , , 12.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", All-Star , 4 , , 0 , , 11.3 , , .650 , , , , .667 , , 2.8 , , .5 , , .5 , , .5 , , 7.0

Playoffs

, - , style="text-align:left;", 1984 , style="text-align:left;",

, 5 , , 0 , , 33.0 , , .569 , , , , .900 , , 12.4 , , 2.4 , , .8 , , .6 , , 15.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1985 , style="text-align:left;",

, 9 , , 9 , , 36.1 , , .449 , , .000 , , .706 , , 10.7 , , 1.7 , , .8 , , .8 , , 14.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1986 , style="text-align:left;",

, 4 , , 4 , , 42.0 , , .500 , , 1.000 , , .913 , , 14.0 , , .3 , , .5 , , .8 , , 22.5 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 15 , , 15 , , 36.2 , , .515 , , .200 , , .625 , , 10.4 , , 2.5 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , 12.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1988 , style="text-align:left;",

, 23 , , 23 , , 33.9 , , .456 , , .294 , , .889 , , 9.6 , , 1.9 , , .8 , , .8 , , 11.9 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 1989† , style="text-align:left;",

, 17 , , 17 , , 29.2 , , .465 , , .357 , , .806 , , 8.2 , , 1.8 , , .4 , , .5 , , 10.1 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;", 1990† , style="text-align:left;",

, 20 , , 20 , , 33.4 , , .457 , , .349 , , .862 , , 10.6 , , 1.4 , , 1.2 , , .9 , , 11.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 1991 , style="text-align:left;",

, 15 , , 15 , , 29.7 , , .446 , , .294 , , .871 , , 8.1 , , 1.3 , , .3 , , .8 , , 10.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 5 , , 4 , , 29.0 , , .370 , , .200 , , 1.000 , , 6.6 , , 1.6 , , .8 , , .2 , , 8.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 113 , , 107 , , 33.1 , , .468 , , .321 , , .819 , , 9.7 , , 1.7 , , .7 , , .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. Laimbeer won the NBA Shooting Stars Competition at the 2007 All-Star Weekend in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

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. 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

in 2003.

Coaching career

Detroit Shock (2002–2009)

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 Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

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 The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

' former team president, former Piston teammate Isiah Thomas, once considered Laimbeer as a possibility. 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.

Minnesota Timberwolves (2009–2012)

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.

New York Liberty (2012–2017)

In 2012, Laimbeer returned to the WNBA to become the head coach and general manager of the New York Liberty, replacing John Whisenant. 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. On October 14, 2014, the Liberty parted ways with Laimbeer after two seasons, but he was rehired as the Liberty head coach on January 8, 2015.

Las Vegas Aces (2018–2021)

On October 17, 2017, the then-unnamed Las Vegas Aces announced Laimbeer as head coach and President of Basketball Operations. Laimbeer coached the Aces through 2021. After the 2021 season Laimbeer retired from coaching. In total, Laimbeer finished first seven times as a head coach in the WNBA, winning the WNBA Finals three times in five trips.

Coaching record

, - , style="text-align:left;", DES , style="text-align:left;", 2002 , 22, , 9, , 13, , , , style="text-align:center;", 8th in Eastern, , —, , —, , —, , — , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - style="background:#FDE910;" , style="text-align:left;", DES , style="text-align:left;", 2003 , 34, , 25, , 9, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Eastern, , 8, , 6, , 2, , , style="text-align:center;", Won WNBA Championship , - , style="text-align:left;", DES , style="text-align:left;",

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, 34, , 17, , 17, , , , style="text-align:center;", 3rd in Eastern, , 3, , 1, , 2, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Conference semifinals , - , style="text-align:left;", DES , style="text-align:left;",

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, 34, , 16, , 18, , , , style="text-align:center;", 4th in Eastern, , 2, , 0, , 2, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Conference semifinals , - style="background:#FDE910;" , style="text-align:left;", DES , style="text-align:left;", 2006 , 34, , 23, , 11, , , , style="text-align:center;", 2nd in Eastern, , 10, , 7, , 3, , , style="text-align:center;", Won WNBA Championship , - , style="text-align:left;", DES , style="text-align:left;", 2007 , 34, , 24, , 10, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Eastern, , 11, , 6, , 5, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in WNBA Finals , - style="background:#FDE910;" , style="text-align:left;", DES , style="text-align:left;", 2008 , 34, , 22, , 12, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Eastern, , 9, , 7, , 2, , , style="text-align:center;", Won WNBA Championship , - , style="text-align:left;", DES , style="text-align:left;",

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, 4, , 1, , 3, , , , style="text-align:center;", (resigned), , —, , —, , —, , — , style="text-align:center;", , - , style="text-align:left;", NYL , style="text-align:left;",

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, 34, , 11, , 23, , , , style="text-align:center;", 5th in Eastern, , —, , —, , —, , — , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - , style="text-align:left;", NYL , style="text-align:left;",

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, 34, , 15, , 19, , , , style="text-align:center;", 5th in Eastern, , —, , —, , —, , — , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - , style="text-align:left;", NYL , style="text-align:left;", 2015 , 34, , 23, , 11, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Eastern, , 5, , 3, , 2, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Conference finals , - , style="text-align:left;", NYL , style="text-align:left;", 2016 , 34, , 21, , 13, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Eastern, , 1, , 0, , 1, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Second Round , - , style="text-align:left;", NYL , style="text-align:left;", 2017 , 34, , 22, , 12, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Eastern, , 1, , 0, , 1, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Second Round , - , style="text-align:left;", LVA , style="text-align:left;", 2018 , 34, , 14, , 20, , , , style="text-align:center;", 6th in Western, , —, , —, , —, , — , style="text-align:center;", Missed playoffs , - , style="text-align:left;", LVA , style="text-align:left;", 2019 , 34, , 21, , 13, , , , style="text-align:center;", 2nd in Western, , 5, , 2, , 3, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Conference finals , - , style="text-align:left;", LVA , style="text-align:left;",

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, 22, , 18, , 4, , , , style="text-align:center;", 1st in Western, , 8, , 3, , 5, , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in WNBA Finals , - , style="text-align:left;" , LVA , style="text-align:left;" , 2021 , 32 , , 24 , , 8 , , , , style="text-align:center;" , 1st in Western , , 5 , , 2 , , 3 , , , style="text-align:center;", Lost in Conference finals , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 521 , , 306 , , 215 , , , , , , 68 , , 37 , , 31 , , , ,

In popular culture

In 1990,

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...

ported a game called '' Future Basketball'' to their SNES console under the name ''Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball''. The game was set in a future where Laimbeer was commissioner of a basketball league with no rules, and weapons allowed.Bill Laimbeer in a Video Game.
AP File Photo. September 27, 1991. The Prescott Courier. The song "Tough Guy" off the 1994

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

album '' Ill Communication'' mentions Laimbeer referencing his physically aggressive style of playing basketball. Laimbeer is referenced by name in the 2005 song "Welcome to Tally Hall" by Michigan-based band

Tally Hall Tally Hall (sometimes stylized as tallyhall) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in December 2002, and publicly active until the conclusion of their Good & Evil (album), ''Good & Evil'' tour in 2011. The band is ...

. Laimbeer is also referenced by name in the 2025 song "Jordan Rules" by alternative rapper and producer JPEGMafia.

References

External links

WNBA.com coach profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laimbeer, Bill 1957 births Living people American agnostics American expatriate basketball people in Italy American male television actors American men's basketball players American women's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from California Basketball coaches from Illinois Basketball coaches from Massachusetts Basketball players from Boston Centers (basketball) Cleveland Cavaliers draft picks Cleveland Cavaliers players Detroit Pistons announcers Detroit Pistons players Detroit Shock head coaches Las Vegas Aces coaches Las Vegas Aces executives Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coaches NBA All-Stars NBA players with retired numbers New York Liberty head coaches Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's basketball players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) People from Clarendon Hills, Illinois People from Palos Verdes, California Basketball players from DuPage County, Illinois Basketball players from Los Angeles County, California Women's National Basketball Association championship–winning head coaches Women's National Basketball Association general managers 20th-century American sportsmen