With the Detroit Shock advancing to the WNBA Finals, there are a slew of Bill Laimbeer articles floating around the internet. My favorite so far is from Bob Kravitz of the Indy Star:
Someday, sooner rather than later, he would love to make the jump to the NBA. There was talk last season when Isiah Thomas interviewed him — a fallback in case Larry Brown didn’t take the job. He would rather not talk about that now, not with his team chasing a title, but he’s not going to insult anybody’s intelligence by suggesting he’s not interested.
The question is, will the NBA be ready for Laimbeer? He’s an oversized personality who would be moving to a league filled with oversized personalities — and bank accounts and egos to match.
“With the ladies, I can ride them a little more, challenge them, yell at them,” he said after his Shock beat the Fever 68-56 in Game 1 on Thursday night. “On the men’s side, they don’t take too kindly to that. You’ve got to be a lot more subdued. Even if you want to go ballistic and lose your brain, you can’t, because the players will shut down. It’s more of a stomach problem in the NBA than it is here.”
So why, he was asked, does he still dream of coaching in the NBA?
He shot his interrogator the kind of you’ve-got-to-be-kidding look most often reserved for erring referees.
“A lot more zeroes,” he said. “A lot more zeroes at the end of the paycheck.”
You’ve got to love the guy’s honesty, at least. Don’t you?
You certainly do.
In case you’re more interested in Laimbeer’s current quest to lead Detroit to another WNBA title, ESPN has a couple of good articles by Graham Hayes and Nancy Lieberman.
On a sidenote, the fact you’re reading this right is proof that I survived the bachelor party in New Orleans. Yes, there’s a lot of reconstruction still needed in other parts of the city and the surrounding communities, but Bourbon Street and the French Quarter proved to be the ultimate guys’ weekend destination (and this is from a guy who went to Vegas twice last year).
Is Laimbeer elbowing his way into NBA? [Indianapolis Star]
I have a friend who used to coach gradeschool and middle school soccer. She used to talk about the difference between coaching boys and girls. Boys you can yell at and push a little harder. If you yell at girls they just shut down.
It turns out that professional basketball is pretty similar, only it’s the men who need caressing. What a bunch of nancies!
I’m kinda curious as to why Bill Lameer wasn’t considered to coach the Detroit Pistons instead of Flip Saunders…
Please don’t tell me it’s like the objections that were raised against John Whisenhunt to replace Rick Adelman:
“no way male players will take orders from a guy that coaches the girls;”
said by:numerous male posters at Sactown Royalty…& of course, by my 60-year-old dad…
“nancy boys” is a good way to put it….As if the coach is any less good ‘cuz’ he coaches atheletes in sports bras instead of jock straps.puh–leeze.
Oh…& I meant Laimbeer; sorry about that you all.