31 Facts About Bill Laimbeer

Bill 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.

Bill Laimbeer 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.

Bill Laimbeer has twice been named the WNBA's Coach of the Year.

Bill Laimbeer was born in Boston and raised in the Chicago suburb of Clarendon Hills before moving with his family to Palos Verdes Estates, California.

Bill Laimbeer played a Sleestak on the children's TV series Land of the Lost before attending Notre Dame.

Bill Laimbeer was a Palos Verdes High School student, and the Land of the Lost show solicited their basketball team for tall people to play Sleestaks.

For college, Bill Laimbeer attended Notre Dame where he played basketball, but he flunked out after his freshman year.

Bill Laimbeer spent two years playing for Notre Dame's basketball team.

Bill Laimbeer was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1979, but spent his first professional season in Europe.

Bill Laimbeer played in Italy for Pinti Inox Brescia, where he averaged 21.1 points and 12.5 rebounds.

On February 16,1982, Bill Laimbeer was traded to the Detroit Pistons, where he remained for the rest of his career.

Bill Laimbeer was immediately installed as the Pistons starting center.

However, there were not as many players who were as physical on the court as he was, and Bill 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; Bill Laimbeer said if he was able to do that to an opponent during the course of a game, he had broken them down.

Bill 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.

Bill Laimbeer started on the Pistons' 1989 and 1990 NBA championship teams.

Bill Laimbeer spent 14 seasons in the NBA, mostly with the Detroit Pistons.

Bill Laimbeer became the 19th player in league history to amass more than 10,000 points and 10,000 rebounds.

Bill Laimbeer was remarkably durable, never playing fewer than 79 regular-season games during his first 13 seasons, and playing all 82 games seven times.

Bill Laimbeer 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.

Bill Laimbeer had his jersey number retired by the Pistons in February 1995.

Bill Laimbeer remains the franchise's all-time leader in career rebounds.

Bill Laimbeer struggled through the late 1990s and closed in early 2002.

In 1999, Bill Laimbeer was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

Bill Laimbeer is a former color commentator for the Pistons and was a studio analyst for ESPN in 2003.

On September 9,2006, Bill Laimbeer led the Shock to their second WNBA championship against the Sacramento Monarchs in five games.

Two years later, on October 5,2008, Bill Laimbeer led the team to its third league championship in six years by defeating San Antonio.

Bill Laimbeer has talked about the possibility of one day coaching in the NBA.

The Pistons, presided by former teammate Joe Dumars, had considered the possibility of Bill Laimbeer replacing departing coach Larry Brown, before ultimately hiring former Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Flip Saunders.

On June 15,2009, Bill Laimbeer resigned as head coach of the Detroit Shock, due to family reasons and the desire to become an NBA head coach.

In 2012, Bill Laimbeer returned to the WNBA to become the head coach and general manager of the New York Liberty, replacing John Whisenant.