HISTORY.

Bill Laimbeer surpasses Brian Agler to sit at No. 2 in all-time #WNBA wins!#CountIt pic.twitter.com/Qd15LKqqLp

— WNBA (@WNBA) June 4, 2021

Laimbeer was a four-time All Star and two-time champion during his days in the NBA. Since retiring in 1993, he’s seen similar success in the realm of coaching, leading the WNBA’s Detroit Shock to three championships during his 2002-2009 reign.

After a short stint as an assistant for the Minnesota Timberwolves from 2009-2011, Laimbeer returned to the WNBA this time as the general manager and head coach of the rebuilding New York Liberty.

Five seasons later, coaching the Liberty to a 92-78 record and three consecutive playoff appearances, Laimbeer would go on to helm the Aces’ expansion to Las Vegas.

The 64-year-old has led them to a 39-17 record over the past two seasons.

Under Laimbeer, the Aces made their first Conference Finals appearance in 2019 and the organizations first WNBA Finals appearance last season, where they would lose 3-0 to the Seattle Storm.

“Any coach will tell you you’re measured by how good your players are. You can have all the best X’s and O’s, you can have all the best interpersonal skills, but you still have to have great players. I’ve been very fortunate over the years to have quality players and if I didn’t, I went out and got some,” Laimbeer said.

With superstars like reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson and All-Star Liz Cambage still on board in Sin City, Laimbeer’s climb up the record books goes hand-in-hand with the Aces making another run at their first WNBA championship.

Currently, Washington Mystics head coach Mike Thibault is the WNBA’s all-time leader in regular season wins, with a career record of 345-255.

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Thomas says Jordan has always been pleasant in his presence, and that he long ago left their fierce competition where it belonged: on the basketball court.

Zeke adds that MJ is the fourth greatest player he ever faced.

Per CBS Sports:

“I was definitely surprised,” he says. “Because we’ve been in each other’s presence before, and I’ve never gotten that type of reaction from him. We were even at dinner a couple times and he was always pleasant. Always good to my kids. Always good to my son. He even gave my son a pair of gym shoes.

“The competition that we all had on the floor, I truly just thought it was on the floor.”

For Thomas, Jordan’s greatness too often overshadows the ’80s own version of historically great basketball, and its historically great players.

“When you put Jordan and his basketball team in the ’80s, they weren’t a very successful team,” he says. “They just weren’t. When you talk about Jordan and his team dominating, they dominated the ’90s. But when you put him with those Lakers teams and those Pistons teams and those Celtics teams, they all beat him. They just did.

“What separated Jordan from all of us was he was the first one to three-peat. But he didn’t three-peat against Magic [Johnson], Larry Bird and [Julius Erving].”

Related Isiah Thomas: ‘I’ve Paid a Heavy Price’ for Not Shaking Bulls’ Hands

The post Isiah Thomas ‘Definitely Surprised’ Michael Jordan Called Him an A-Hole appeared first on SLAM.

“It’s unfortunate that it happened,” laments Thomas, adding that he remains hurt for supposedly not being selected to The Dream Team due to a “lapse in emotion.”

It bears noting that MJ trashed the Pistons as “undeserving champions” prior to the infamous walk-off.

“The Pistons are undeserving champions,” Jordan said on the day between Games 3 and 4 in Detroit in 1991. “The Bad Boys are bad for basketball.”

Per ESPN:

“We were coming down, Michael Jordan was coming up,” Thomas said. “And in coming up, you have certain emotions; and in coming down as champions, you have certain emotions. … Looking back, over the years, had we had the opportunity to do it all over again, I think all of us would make a different decision.”

With 7.9 seconds remaining in the Bulls’ 21-point rout to end the series, the Pistons — at [Bill] Laimbeer’s behest, according to Thomas — walked off the court without shaking the Bulls players’ hands or congratulating them.

“I’ve paid a heavy price for that decision,” Thomas said. “And in paying that price — I understand this is the sports world and everything else, but at the same time, looking back over it in terms of how we felt at that particular time, our emotional state and how we exited the floor — we actually gave the world the opportunity to look at us in a way that we never really tried to position ourselves in or project ourselves in that way. So it’s unfortunate that it happened.”

The Hall of Fame guard also was asked about his omission from the roster of the 1992 Dream Team at the Barcelona Olympics, and whether he believed his refusal to shake Jordan’s hand was a factor.

“I thought I should’ve made that Dream Team,” Thomas said. “However, I wasn’t a part of it. That hurt me, and looking back, if I’m not a part of the Dream Team because a lapse in emotion in terms of not shaking someone’s hand — if that’s the reason why I didn’t make the Dream Team, then I am more disappointed today than I was back then when I wasn’t selected.”

Related Bill Laimbeer: Michael Jordan’s Bulls ‘Just Whiners’

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There’s zero regret on Laimbeer’s part for leading the decision to not shake hands with MJ and company after being swept in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals.

Laimbeer adds that Detroit was only vanquished after they “got old.”

Per ESPN:

“Why would I regret it now today? I don’t care what the media says about me. I never did,” Laimbeer said. “If I did, I’d be a basket case, especially back then.

“I was about winning basketball games and winning championships and did whatever I had to do to get the most out of my ability and our team — and we did. At the end of the day, we’re called world champions.”

[Isiah] Thomas took a much more conciliatory tone in his interview Monday morning, saying he is “personally hurt” by his portrayal in [“The Last Dance”] docuseries and apologizing to the city of Detroit.

“They whined and cried for a year and a half about how bad we were for the game, but more importantly, they said we were bad people,” Laimbeer said. “We weren’t bad people. We were just basketball players winning, and that really stuck with me because they didn’t know who we were or what we were about as individuals and our family life.

“But all that whining they did, I didn’t want to shake their hand. They were just whiners. They won the series. Give him credit: We got old, they got past us. But OK, move on.”

Related Michael Jordan: Pistons Hatred ‘Carries Even to This Day’

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“They made it personal,” Jordan said of the Pistons’ physically dominating his Bulls during Episode 3 of “The Last Dance” documentary that aired Sunday night.

Chicago finally got rid of their nemesis in a four-game sweep of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, en route to its first NBA title, and several of the Pistons infamously walked off the court without shaking hands.

Per ESPN:

“Oh, I hated them,” Jordan said. “And that hate carries even to this day.”

Jordan and the Bulls lost to the Pistons in five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 1988, in six games in the conference finals in 1989 (after holding a 2-1 lead) and in seven games in the conference finals in 1990.

“We knew Michael Jordan is the greatest player, and we tried to use it as a rallying cry to come together,” Pistons star Isiah Thomas said in Episode 3. “We had to do everything from a physicality standpoint to stop him.”

The Pistons tormented Chicago’s high-scoring shooting guard, employing a bruising style of defense that came to be known as “The Jordan Rules.”

“They made it personal,” Jordan said. “They physically beat the s**t out of us.”

Related Steve Kerr: Being Punched By Michael Jordan ‘Helped Our Relationship’

The post Michael Jordan: Pistons Hatred ‘Carries Even to This Day’ appeared first on SLAM.

In addition to his physical gifts, Laimbeer says what separates James from the pack, is a preternatural ability to “involve his teammates to win.”

Laimbeer adds that Michael Jordan—a longtime and hated rival during Chicago and Detroit’s playoff wars of the ’80s and ’90s—was a “one man band” for several years prior to adopting a more team-oriented game en route to six NBA titles.

Per USA Today:

“I’m very vocal on this. I think LeBron is the best player who has ever played the game,” Laimbeer said. “He’s 6-foot-8, 285 pounds, runs like the wind, jumps out of the gym. … At the end of the day, I firmly believe he’s the best basketball player in the history of the game.”

Laimbeer, who coaches the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, said Tuesday in an appearance on ESPN’s “First Take” he doesn’t even see a debate.

“More importantly, when (LeBron) came in the league from Day 1, he knew how to involve his teammates to win,” Laimbeer said. “That’s something Jordan had to learn for a long time.

“Now if you go by championships, obviously Michael Jordan has more championships. But I think LeBron in any generation would be doing what he’s doing right now all these years.”

Related Bill Laimbeer: LeBron James is Better Than Michael Jordan

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The former Detroit Pistons center argues that James has a more well-rounded game than Mike, and claims that an-in-his-prime Jordan couldn’t have led the current Cleveland Cavaliers into the NBA Finals.

Below, we can only assume, is Jordan’s retort:

Per The Dan Patrick Show:

Dan asked who he would take, Michael Jordan or LeBron James. “There’s no question I would take LeBron James,” Laimbeer said. “He can do more.”

Laimbeer pointed to LeBron’s rebounds. He said that Jordan couldn’t lead this Cavs team to the Finals.

Laimbeer also talked about how soft the League is now. “If you have bad breath and breathe on somebody, it’s probably a Flagrant 1,” Laimbeer said. “The league wants more scoring.”

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If you haven’t already, it’s time to familiarize with another warm-weather league, the WNBA, a league that epitomizes all that we love about summertime basketball. Since the League’s birth in 1997, the level of talent has heightened and the distribution of that talent evened. The fundamentals that brought many early adopter fans in are now coupled with rising athletic talent and recognizable big-name players with followings carried over from storied college careers.

For New Yorkers, there’s added reason to be amped about WNBA basketball. New York’s home team, the New York Liberty, returns to its rightful home of Madison Square Garden after a three-year hiatus due to renovations. New York Liberty basketball is literally summer hoops at the Garden. The rivalries, the hype, the hoop culture pulsing through the veins of New Yorkers are all present, rocking the house at the World’s Most Famous Arena. Fitting for the Big Apple, the team is stocked with marquee players, a former NBA champion as coach, home grown stars, and storylines sprinkled with feel-good and drama.

New York Liberty second year head coach and general manager Bill Laimbeer, known for the toughness and physicality he brought to the game, may have left a sour taste in the mouths of some New York fans who loved to despise the two-time Detroit Pistons champion of 1989 and 1990. But in addition to the legacy left from his playing days, the original Bad Boy has steadily built an impressive reputation for himself on the women’s side of the game.

Laimbeer is a three-time WNBA champion, having realized quick success with the Detroit Shock in the early to mid 2000s. After stepping away from the WNBA in 2009 to spend time with family and to accept a stint as assistant coach with the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves, he returned to the WNBA last season with the Liberty, only to fall short of rather high expectations. Injuries plagued the 2013 New York roster. Athletic wing Essence Carson, on the verge of a breakout season, tore her ACL and super veteran Cheryl Ford never made it out of the gate with too many miles on her battle-tested body. The Liberty missed the playoffs after a rough 11-23 season.

The 2014 season brings in a new squad that features four new faces including the addition to the 2012 WNBA MVP, Tina Charles. Laimbeer carved his path to three WNBA championships in Detroit with thoughtful maneuvering in the offseason and leveraged those skills again for this season. In the head coach and general manager role for New York, Bill made the most of a No. 4 lottery pick in the draft and packaged it with a young raw talent in Kelsey Bone and the Liberty’s 2015 first-round draft pick to trade with the Connecticut Sun for one of women’s basketball’s most dominant young stars, 26-year-old and New York City native, Tina Charles.

The blockbuster trade left Connecticut simmering—they did not want to give up their WNBA All-Star and claim Charles made it clear she wanted out by asking for a trade. Connecticut Sun vice president and general manager Chris Sienko said, “We’re not going to be held hostage by anybody. We had to do what’s best for our organization and fan base. New York came back with a significant offer…that’s a great trade.”

After four years of playing professionally in Connecticut as well as overseas, most recently in Russia, a homesick Charles described returning to her hometown as a blessing, “The opportunity to be in New York is a dream come true,” said Charles. “My mom always took me to the Liberty games, I’d see Rebecca Lobo, Becky Hammon, Teresa Weatherspoon before games. This is a big dream to play at the Garden.”

A Queens, New York native, Charles attended Christ The King high school, a nationally ranked basketball powerhouse churning out other great female hoopers like Sue Bird and Chamique Holdsclaw. Charles continued to excel on the collegiate level under Geno Auriemma at the perennial power, University of Connecticut. She graduated in 2010 as a two-time National Champion, the John R. Wooden National Player of the Year and the No. 1 draft pick in the 2010 WNBA draft.

Along with an incredible pedigree, Charles brings leadership on and off the court to the Big Apple. Committed to philanthropic service, she has already built out her Hopey’s Heart foundation that supplies AEDs (Automated External Defibrillators) to schools and built a school in Mali, Africa. Charles has achieved a lot, yet she comes to New York looking to accomplish a goal she’s never reached: win a WNBA championship and bring the elusive title to New York City.

After a 1-1 split, two games into the regular season schedule Bill Laimbeer sees a bright future for his newly acquired dominant post. “I like the athleticism Tina’s shown. She has much more to bring than what she’s showing and we want to bring that out.” He also commented on her basketball IQ, “Tina is a willing learner. That, plus a team that has a year under their belt with my system, is going to help.  The team understands the structure I want after having a year to play in it.”

The WNBA summer hoops season moves quickly, and a challenge for all teams is to mesh together quickly. At 6-5, solid built, Charles can be found getting in deep with her back to the basket and drop-stepping baseline or counter spinning middle for sweeping artistic hook shots over defenders. She’s expanded her game to include a mid range jumper and passes out of double teams increasingly well. Tina Charles needs the rock. However, so does another superstar, Cappie Pondexter.

Pondexter is exactly what New Yorkers can’t get enough of.  A lightning quick Allen Iverson-esque crossover to set up a step back fade-away jay that slips past the outstretched hands of a sadly defeated defender at the buzzer; yes, that’s what the Rutgers grad and WNBA All Star provides. At any self respecting summer hoops tournament in the city the emcee/hype man on the microphone would have a lot to say about Pondexter, “The bigger the shot the more she likes it. She is swag! She is confidence! Cappie puts the sizzle in the summer!”  Along with that sizzle, Pondexter provides substance; Cappie is a proven champion, having already won two titles with the Phoenix Mercury in 2007 and 2009.

Last season, Laimbeer made a shift in the All-Star guard’s game, shifting her from the shooting guard to the point guard or “lead guard” position. Pondexter embraced the challenge, however, struggled at times with the nuances of poised point guard play and choosing when to take her shot. Both Laimbeer and Pondexter have expressed desire to continue down the path of converting the slippery scorer into a combo guard creator.

Laimbeer is making a second attempt at successfully implementing the Triangle offense with the Liberty. With the Triangle being anchored through the post, Laimbeer can “take advantage of having one of the best post players in the world in Charles,” he explains. “The triangle is a post dominated offense. It runs through the post on the low box and elbow. We’re not a great three-ball shooting team we’re more slashing and cutting. I plan to use the Triangle more than I plan to use set plays,” he continued.

The triangle works when smart reads are made against the defense and also when the team keeps good spacing and timing. It’s more cerebral than, say, a “clear it out and watch Cappie work” isolation play, which past Liberty squads have been known to do. Laimbeer considered how Pondexter would find her shots this season, “The offense dictates who gets what. It goes into the post first and it depends on how fast teams will double Tina and how efficient Tina is with the ball. Cappie will still be a creator for us, she will find her shots, but she won’t be as ball dominant as she’s been in the past few years.”

Pondexter welcomes the shift of focus, “I’m excited to have Tina. She’s a great player, competitor, Olympian. To have her on the floor at the same time will be special. They have to decide who they want to double. We’ll open up a lot of things for each other,” she said.

Two superstars, a second year head coach, and a return to Madison Square Garden headline the 2014 New York Liberty season. Summer basketball has officially returned to New York, boosted by the rich tradition of past Liberty glory and fueled by new blood and fresh faces.  Add one more league to your summer basketball schedule; Summer Hoops at The Garden has commenced.

Catch the next home game, Tuesday, May 27, 7:00 p.m. EST as the New York Liberty host Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm at Madison Square Garden.

Ros works as an analyst and reporter for MSG Networks covering the New York Liberty, for ESPN and Pac-12 Networks breaking down NCAA basketball, and for the NBA D-League covering the Santa Cruz Warriors.

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Bill Laimbeer always wanted to compete at the highest of levels and so, when he took his first ever coaching job with the WNBA’s Detroit Shock back in 2002, this league is surely not where he thought he’d still be today. But here he is, the baddest boy of the former Bad Boys, jogging up and down the other practice court at the Madison Square Garden practice facility, refereeing a scrimmage between the New York Liberty and a group of men who have been brought in off the street to provide a fresh level of competition.

In less than a week Laimbeer will make his debut as the Liberty’s head coach. He’s also the team’s GM and, since taking the job in October, has been burning the candle at both ends, as they say. There was the draft. There have been trades and free agent signings. A playbook had to be drawn up and implemented in practices. There was also an evening at a Rangers playoff game to help sell sponsorships and an afternoon at a ticket sales luncheon. “In our league, the GM wears multiple hats,” Laimbeer says.

But right now Laimbeer is doing the thing that he loves most, the challenge that he says keeps bringing him back to the game, even if it’s not in the role that he always wanted. Laimbeer wanted to be an NBA coach. He still wants to. Since retiring in 1993—a two-time champion and a four-time All-Star—he’s tried his hand at other jobs, tried to live away from the game. At one point he turned down a front office position with the Pistons. There was also a packing company that he and his father started, but that didn’t take. The game that he had spent his entire life playing, the thing he had devoted his entire life to doing, it never stopped calling. The way a person is is the way he is. It’s not something you can change.

Slowly, Laimbeer began to crawl back to the hardwood. First he became a Pistons broadcaster, a sort of happy medium. He could be around basketball and talk about basketball, but the strains and sleepless nights that come with being directly involved with the competition of a basketball game would no longer be his to deal with. Pretty soon after that, though, Laimbeer wanted more. “I really get off on trying to figure out how five players can beat five other players,” Laimbeer says today. “That’s what I enjoy. And that’s the thing I really missed when I was away—that instant gratification, the ability to go home at night and know whether you have won or lost.”

Laimbeer would eventually ask the Pistons’ ownership if he could “poke his nose around” the business side of the Shock. Under the title of a consultant, he would watch the team practice and look at the team’s budgets. He would also give recommendations. In 2002, when the Shock started the season by losing their first 10 games, he was asked for one. “You have to make a change,” Laimbeer told Shock management. “You’re really bad, you’re fans are falling by the wayside and if you don’t do anything the franchise is going to be in big trouble.”

What came next was no surprise.

“I knew they would ask me to coach,” he says.

Laimbeer thought it over for a day, discussed it with his wife, Chris. “I had to decide whether going to the WNBA was a worthwhile opportunity,” he says. On June 21, Laimbeer was standing on the sidelines, clipboard in hand, coaching his first ever professional basketball game. Yes, it was for the WNBA’s Shock and not the NBA’s Pistons, but still, he was getting the opportunity to build a team, to teach five players how to work as one. And either way an offer from the Pistons, or another NBA team, couldn’t be too far off.

***

Bill Laimbeer is standing in a piece of real estate that he used to own. Both his feet are firmly planted in the paint as he’s calmly instructs the players that Bill Laimbeer the GM has provided him how to feel for the balance and weight of a defender. Later he’ll show some of his guards how to properly curl off of an off-ball pick. Every now and then he’ll smile, too.

In their 16-year existence, the New York Liberty, one of the WNBA’s original eight teams, have never won a title. There have been three finals appearances, but the last one was in 2002. Last year they finished the season 15-19. Laimbeer, on the other hand, is a three time WNBA champion—2003, ’06 and ’08—the second most in league history. It took him less than two full seasons to lead the Shock to their first WNBA title. The Liberty are hoping for an even faster clock this time around.

“My players want to play for me,” Laimbeer says matter-of-factly when asked to describe what he believes is behind his WNBA success. “That’s more than three-quarters of the job for any pro coach, no matter what sport. If you know what you’re doing then once you get the players to want to play for you’re way down the road towards being wildly successful.”

Upon his arrival in New York, Laimbeer decided to build the Liberty using this same strategy—to import from Detroit players who had previously sworn fealty to him. When the Liberty opened their season May 25 in Connecticut, they had four former Shock players on the roster. The two most noteworthy off-season acquisitions were Katie Smith, a 14-year veteran and the WNBA’s third all-time leading scorer, and Cheryl Ford, a former Rookie of the Year and a four-time All Star. Ford (who is Karl Malone’s daughter) had been out of the league for the past three years. If it wasn’t for an opportunity to play for her former coach, she might still be sitting at home.

“I love playing for Bill,” she says. “He’s got so much knowledge and experience, and, you know, he’s just a big, gentle giant.”

Gentle is not a word that many have used to describe Bill Laimbeer. Giant, perhaps, but few in the history of basketball have carried around a less gentle reputation. Bill Laimbeer is known for stray elbows and menacing shoulders, for excessively falling, for implementing the Jordan Rules and repeatedly knocking His Airness on his ass, for getting under the skin of opponents like an itch that just wont go away no matter how much its scratched.

And as much as his WNBA players love playing for him, and as gentle as they say he is, they’ve all been forced to do their fair share of scratching as well. Take, for example, the “FU, Bill Jar” that made its way into the Detroit locker room when Laimbeer was coaching the Shock, a jar that would allow his players to scratch that itch by saying “F you, Bill” without consequence, save for being required to drop in some cash.

“You know, he’s just a straight shooter with no filter, and sometimes that can really get on your nerves,” says Smith. “He likes to talk, he likes to give you a hard time every now and then, and there are times when he can wear you down a bit—especially when he’s getting on you for a mistake that you know was a mistake. But, you know, if you snap at him, he’s not going to give you a hard time either. He understands. And as a player, you know he’s in your corner and just trying to give you the tools to succeed.”

Laimbeer says the jar never bothered him. In fact, when asked about it, he lets out a giant laugh, one that, when coming from the 6-11 house of man, sounds almost like a roar. And this is what Ford and Smith are talking about. This is what draws them to this Bad Boy, and what sits as the foundation of Laimbeer’s WNBA success—the ability to let adults be adults and to recognize which of his players actions should be focused on and which should be ignored. The self-awareness. The confidence in self.

“I can definitely wear on people,” Laimbeer says. “I’m very sarcastic with them. I know it, and I know it can frustrate players. But the thing is, they know I’m right, too, and they know I’m doing the right things. So if they want to yell at me or cuss at me, that’s really fine by me. It makes no difference because I know I’m right.”

Is Bill Laimbeer ever wrong?

“I tell the players that, when I was playing, I missed a shot every now and then.”

***

To this day, Laimbeer still regrets not taking the Pistons front office job that he was offered back when he retired. At the time he thought more offers would come—why rush into something right away? Why not take some time off and get away from the game a little bit? It’s not that Laimbeer dislikes his current position and the WNBA. (“I love what I’m doing,” he says. “I’m really happy now.”) For him, it’s more about competing at the highest of levels, working with and going against the best of the best. If a Scandinavian women’s basketball league was considered the greatest in the world, that’s where Laimbeer would want to be. It just happens to be that said title currently belongs to the NBA, and so Laimbeer is not shy about admitting that he stills wishes he would be given a chance. “The extra 0 or two at the end of the check, that wouldn’t be bad either,” he adds.

He got close to the NBA a few times. In 2005 he was considered for two head coaching jobs, both with teams being ran by former teammates of his. One was for Larry Brown’s position in Detroit, but Pistons GM Joe Dumars decided to go with Flip Saunders instead. The other was for the job that Brown would take with the New York Knicks. There Isiah Thomas wanted to hire him, but the former Knicks president, and another one Laimbeer’s Detroit teammates, has gone on the record in saying that MSG chairman James Dolan—ironically, the man currently signing Laimbeer’s checks—wanted the pedigree that came with Brown instead. Laimbeer says that such slights don’t hurt him, that “it’s just the way things are,” but one has to wonder, especially in the case of being rejected by his Dumars and beloved team, whether a brush off like this is something that human beings, even the most confident of all, are even capable of.

In 2009, Laimbeer decided to resign from the Shock and go about his pursuit of an NBA head coaching job in a different way—he joined then-Minnesota Timberwolves head coach Kurt Rambis’ staff. He stayed there for two years, but when Rambis was fired in 2011, Laimbeer once again found himself on the outside looking in. He would remain there for a year until the Liberty called. “My wife was really happy,” the 56-year-old Laimber says. “She really wanted me out of the house.”

So what is it about Laimbeer? Why is it so hard for him to get a shot? It is the enemies that he made in the NBA during his playing days? Is it that WNBA success, or respect among WNBA players (“He’s such a loyal, nice guy,” says Katie Smith. “He always has your back”) is not considered something valuable in NBA circles? Is it the strong personality, the belief in his way of doing things?

“He can be hard on you at times, but that’s because he knows the game and understands what it takes to win championships and survive,” says Brian Cardinal, who played a season for Laimbeer in Minnesota. “But also, that’s why I think it’s good that he’s a bit sarcastic—it’s his way of getting his point across, but doing it in a lighter way.

“I loved playing for him,” Cardinal continues. “He’s an awfully intelligent person who really understands the game, and, maybe my experience was different because I was a reserve and, as someone who played for coach [Gene] Keady at Purdue, I like and am used to playing for a rugged guy. I had a great relationship with him and thought he had a good relationship with a lot of the guys, including Kevin [Love].”

Right now, though, Bill Laimbeer is the head coach of the WNBA’s Liberty. And he’s doing everything he can—as an executive and as a coach—to get a fourth ring. If he does, he’ll be tied with former Houston Comets coach Van Chancellor for the most in league history.

The Liberty end up dropping their season opener against the Sun, 81-69. They follow that up, though, with consecutive overtime wins over the Shock and the defending champion Indiana Fever. “I’m almost completely gray now after the last two games,” Laimbeer would say jokingly after the second victory, the gentle side of the giant showing its face.

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As told to Christian Mordi / @mordi_thecomeup

Hello SLAM Magazine fans! My name is Cappie Pondexter and I am a guard for the New York Liberty. I will be checking in with you guys twice a month to share my journey throughout this WNBA season!

Over the WNBA offseason, I had a great experience this year playing overseas in Turkey. Fenerbahce was one of the best teams in Europe. We lost in the finals of the Euroleague Championships, but it was a big year for us because we were the first team, male or female, for this franchise to play in the final game. We may not have taken the Euroleague crown, but we did take the top spot in the Turkish League Championships. I had an amazing season over there and I am excited and hopeful it carries over to the Liberty season.

There has been a change in the culture here for the New York Liberty this year with the arrival of Coach Laimbeer. We all know he knows the game and how to win. He expects us to play at a high level and demands a lot. I have been here maybe a week, and I have already learned a lot of great things from him. The system is a little challenging as a whole, but I love what we are running and I am excited to put these plays in action come regular season.

The pre-season has been great. Coach Laimbeer expects us to have a high basketball IQ. He makes us study a lot more than I have since I began playing professionally, which I think is great. When you understand the game at a high level, it makes you a better overall player. He told me from day one when he came to visit me in Turkey about the system and I am doing my best to make things happen.

So far, I think our energy level can be down sometimes, but I think that’s all due to us learning a new system and we will get better with time. On a positive side, we have great depth, especially in the post. I am excited to see our growth from now to the end of the season.

Every year it’s something new as each team has new people and personalities. We really enjoy being around each other.

Off the court, I have been putting a lot of time into my company, 4 Seasons Style Management, a firm which focuses on fashion styling and image consulting for many models, actors and musicians. Every year we throw a big party and invite all of the taste-makers, and show everyone what we have done in the past year. I also have been doing a lot of reading. Right now I am reading The Fault in Our Stars, it is a pretty intense book. I was never a really big reader, mostly magazines when I was younger, but this offseason I have really taken on a lot of reading. I also recently read the Pat Summit book, Reach For The Summit, which had a lot of inspiring moments in it.

‘Til next time,

Cappie @cappa23

The post Cappie Pondexter, Diary 1 appeared first on SLAM.

Following the Timberwolves’ Sunday night win over the Mavericks, Lamar Odom compared Kevin Love (who torched Dallas with 25 points and 17 boards) to Pistons’ great Bill Laimbeer. Per the Star-Telegram: “He’s almost like a new version of (Bill) Laimbeer to me,’ Odom, the Mavs’ forward, said. ‘Almost Laimbeer-like. But a little bit more athletic.’ Love showed off that athleticism when he converted a gorgeous step-back three-point field goal during a key moment of the fourth quarter. That three-pointer followed another three-pointer by Love on the T-Wolves’ previous trip up the court and soared Minnesota ahead 90-82 with 4:07 left.”

The post Lamar Odom: Kevin Love is ‘a New Version of Bill Laimbeer’ appeared first on SLAM.

The post Polladaday: Pistons’ New Head Coach? appeared first on SLAM.

by Alan Paul

“I sort of came up with the whole Bad Boys thing,” Isiah Thomas says. He’s not exactly bragging, but neither does he need to be prodded. The cherub-faced former point guard is simply answering a question about the nickname and outlaw image so proudly sported by his two-time champion Detroit Pistons teams a decade ago. The name gave the team a strong identity in their quest to unseat the reigning Lakers and Celtics and hold off the surging Bulls, but it has also obscured their greatness. Ten years later, it’s easy to forget that the ’89 champs went 63-19 during the regular season and romped through the playoffs with a 15-2 record. The last great team before Jordan’s royal reign, they were recently hailed by the NBA as one of the 10 all-time greatest squads.

“It’s not that I or any of us wanted to be the bad guys,” Thomas insists. “We had to wear the black hats because the Celtics and Lakers were wearing the white hats. They were the good guys and all of America was rooting for them, so we just figured we’d be the guys who no one was rooting for, the bad guys.”

The Bad Boys. The Pistons began to be widely referred to as such in January of ’88, after Rick Mahorn floored Michael Jordan then took on the entire Bulls bench, including coach Doug Collins, when they came to the aid of their battered star. Collins ended up sprawled across the press table, and the Pistons had shown the world that they would bow to no one. “I don’t take any shit from anyone,” says Mahorn. “I had a lot of confrontations with a lot of people, but that was definitely one of the more significant ones that labeled us.”

The next day, the Pistons read in the paper that Jordan had called them the dirtiest team in the League and claimed that they intentionally tried to hurt people. Their first reaction wasn’t exactly to sue for libel.

“I thought, ‘Here’s our opening, our chance to establish a niche,’” Thomas recalls. “You’d go to Boston Garden and everyone would talk about the mystique, then Kevin McHale, Larry Bird and Robert Parish would kill you—they beat you, not some leprechauns, but the talk distracted you. I figured we could get the same kind of thing going. I always liked the Oakland Raiders, and I wanted our image to be just like that.”

So the Pistons turned the complaints into a badge of honor. From ’85, when Mahorn arrived in Detroit, until ’93, when Bill Laimbeer retired, the Pistons were fined more than $220,000 and lost about $85,000 due to suspensions. The burly, 6-10 Mahorn had long been known for his dirty tactics; on the Washington Bullets he had teamed with Jeff Ruland to form an infamously brutal duo known as McFilthy and McNasty.

“I had great partnerships with Jeff, Bill and then Charles Barkley with the Sixers,” Mahorn says. “The truth is, they were all more talented players than me but had a similar style, and they all thrived knowing that I was out there to watch their back.” The 6-11, 260-pound Laimbeer, a slow-moving center and great defensive rebounder, was viewed as a cheapshot artist and consummate crybaby.

“I hated him before he was my teammate,” says Mahorn. “I hated him for most of the first year he was my teammate. I thought he was an asshole and a cheapshot artist, but then I realized that he was a straightforward dude and he played by the rules. We didn’t go beyond the rules, but we took them to the limit, and the rules had to be changed because our limit was just a little bit different than most people’s. For instance, we would always give someone an extra shot after the whistle. Like Jordan or Dominique might be fouled up top on a drive, then we’d smack them on the continuation. Well, they outlawed that because of us.”

While Mahorn was more likely to get into an actual physical confrontation, Laimbeer was the one who tormented opposing players into losing their focus, or blowing their top and taking a swing at him.

“Laimbeer rarely hit anyone; he just drove them nuts,” says longtime Pistons’ announcer George Blaha. “He delighted in getting under your skin. He was constantly trying to gain not the only physical edge, but also the mental edge. If he could make you lose your concentration, then he’d won, because he never seemed to lose his cool. There would be an incident, then he could go right to the free throw line and nail them, while the other guy would often have trouble playing the rest of the game.”

“It was all about throwing people off their games,” says Mahorn. “I think Michael developed that baseline jumper because of us. There were some teams and some people who just couldn’t deal with us. They’d be preoccupied thinking about us instead of their game. Like Charles Oakley was one of the few guys who wasn’t intimidated by us at all, but he would get frustrated because his teammates [were]. But we wouldn’t try to hurt anybody, just hit them. And nobody could scare us. Our best fights were with each other at practice, where we could actually land some punches.”

But while Laimbeer and Mahorn were clearly the chief instigators, they were not the lone Bad Boys. A skinny, ferocious-rebounding forward by the name of Dennis Rodman learned well from his mentors. Easygoing center James Edwards, veteran guard John Long, scoring machine Adrian Dantley and his replacement Mark Aguirre all garnered fines with the Pistons. Even consummate nice guy Joe Dumars lost his cool a few times; in ’90 the 6-3 Dumars was fined $2,000 for fighting 6-10 twins Harvey (Washington) and Horace (Chicago) Grant three weeks apart.

And then there was Isiah, the Pistons’ captain and little general. He may have weighed in at 185 pounds soaking wet, but says Mahorn, “Isiah was a little man who wanted to be a big man and played as if playing hard enough would make him a foot taller.”

In April ’89, Thomas showed his lack of both fear and common sense when he busted his hand clocking 7-foot Bulls center Bill Cartwright in the head. He slapped Lakers center Mychal Thompson the following January, drawing a $2,500 fine. In April ’90, he punched Mahorn (then with Philadelphia), despite being outweighed by nearly 100 pounds.

“I didn’t back down to anyone,” Thomas says today with a slight laugh. “I’m lucky I didn’t get hurt. I don’t think I played cheap, but I definitely played hard. I’d most like to be remembered as a guy who just did whatever it took to win—whether that meant scoring 40 and looking pretty or digging in my heels and playing ugly. And that goes for the whole team; we thought we should have won the title in ’88, and by the next season we were prepared to do whatever it took. I think our toughness was mental as well as physical.”

Thomas undoubtedly is right, but mental toughness doesn’t leave black-and-blue marks, so it doesn’t tend to be as noticed. “You felt it when you played them, because the whole team was incredibly physical,” recalls Pacer vet Chris Mullin. “It’s not that they were all dirty, but they gave you nothing.”

The post Original Old School: Foul Ball appeared first on SLAM.

by Alan Paul

Bill Laimbeer was not a player people had mild feelings about. He was, in fact, unforgettable. Pistons fans will forever recall him helping Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Chuck Daly win back-to-back titles in ’89 and ’90, while the rest of the basketball world holds memories that are, well, not quite so sweet. They likely remember the hacks and flagrant fouls, or Laimbeer’s grimacing, shiner-stained face whining about a non-call, or him flying across the floor, sent sprawling by the most incidental of contact. And of course, the sight of Big Bill draining threes, pulling down crucial rebounds or pumping his fist after Zeke, Joe D or Vinnie Johnson scored after being freed by one of his bone-rattling picks.

Laimbeer was the ultimate guy you loved to have on your team, and otherwise hated-really hated. He was called a thug, a flopper and “His Heinous.” He was booed from coast to coast. He was punched by many of the game’s greatest players, including Robert Parish, Larry Bird, Bob Lanier and Charles Barkley. And he never minded any of it. In fact, getting under opponent’s skin and driving them to the point of distraction was a key-maybe the key-to his game. “I just did my job, played basketball and won championships,” says Laimbeer today. “I didn’t get distracted by the other stuff, and if other people did, it worked to our advantage.”

“I hated him before he was my teammate,” says fellow Bad Boy partner in crime Rick Mahorn. “In fact, I hated him for most of the first year he was my teammate. I thought he was an asshole and a cheap shot artist, but then I realized that he was a straightforward dude, and he played by the rules. We all did. We didn’t go beyond the rules, but we took them to the limit and they had to change the rules because our limit was just a little bit different than most people’s.”

Adds longtime Pistons announcer George Blaha, “Laimbeer rarely hit anyone; he just drove them nuts. He delighted in getting under your skin. He constantly was trying to gain not only the physical edge, but also the mental edge. If he could make you lose your concentration, then he’d won, because he never seemed to lose his cool.”

Still, Laimbeer was more than just a provocateur; he was, in fact, one of the best centers of the ’80s, a four-time All Star who became just the 19th player in League history to amass more than 10,000 points and 10,000 rebounds. For his 14-year career, all but the first season and a half of it in Detroit after starting out with the Cavs, he averaged 12.9 ppg and 9.7 rpg. He led the League in rebounding with 13.1 in ’86, in the midst of six straight seasons averaging better than 10 rpg. It’s an amazing accomplishment for a slow-footed 6-11 guy who could barely jump. Laimbeer, who retired in ’94, is now the coach of the Detroit Shock, whom he led to the WNBA championship last year.

SLAM: How quickly did you realize that playing with Isiah was going to be special?

BL: Right away-as soon as I got to Detroit after being traded from Cleveland. Just playing a couple of games you could see the great talent and unselfishness in him. Playing with him was just a great, really fun experience because he took care of his guys. When I got there, he reminded me that I had played with him before at the Olympic Trials and I said, “Oh yeah-you were the guard no one could stop, and our team kept winning.” It was really a good fit, and I loved playing with him.

SLAM: Settle an argument: I say that Isiah was far better than Allen Iverson, because he could control a game without scoring, which Iverson can’t do, and that had he wanted to he could have been just as much of an offensive threat and scored 30 a night. A friend disagrees and says AI has more offense. Who’s right?

BL: Probably you, but it’s hard to say because that’s not who he was. Isiah didn’t want to score 30 a night. His whole focus is winning and winning championships. Could he have done that? Probably. Would he have? Absolutely not. He’d do whatever he had to do to win basketball games.

SLAM: When did you start thinking that you guys could be championship caliber?

BL: Isiah and I both always thought that we were going to win a championship. That was our sole focus and drive behind everything we did, which was one of the best things about our team. Everyone shared that. We always got better. We never took a step backward; we always kept moving forward, getting closer to a championship step by step, and we all believed that we were going to get there.

SLAM: You guys had some brutal seven-game series losses on the way, notably to the Celtics in the Eastern Finals in ’87 and to the Lakers in the Finals in ’88. Did you ever lose faith?

BL: Not at all, and that’s one of the greatest things about our team-we were mentally tough, able to go through very tough times and come out feeling good and looking forward. Our first championship was more relief than joy because we had been building to it for so long.

SLAM: I can assure you that some of those series nearly killed Pistons fans. Did any of them hurt particularly bad?

BL: They all did. Don’t get me wrong, any time you lose a tough, hard-played series in seven games, it hurts like hell. When you play so good and lose it makes for a tremendous basketball series and the losing team goes away shaken and disappointed. But we never quit or played badly. We just got beat, and you can take that. You can live with playing well and losing as much as it hurts. It’s not like panicking and blowing a series, and we knew if we kept pushing we were going to break through eventually, and that’s what happened.

SLAM: I noticed that in the Pistons Hall of Fame at the Palace, you, Joe D and Isiah all have your own lockers, and Adrian Dantley and Mark Aguirre share one. That makes sense, because while Aguirre got the rings, both were essential to what you guys achieved. Do you agree?

BL: Yes, actually, though I never noticed that [laughs]. Both of them did a great job and were important to our success, but neither of them was here long enough to be huge players in the long-term history of the franchise.

SLAM: But when Dantley was traded to Dallas for Aguirre, it was a huge source of controversy, because a lot of people saw it as Isiah sending off someone who’d had the nerve to stand up to him and bringing in his childhood buddy.

BL: The only controversy was in the media, not in our ball club. Adrian did a fine job for us on the court and also in teaching some of the youngsters like John Salley and Dennis Rodman about being professional. He came in during a transitional period when we were moving from being a free-wheeling offensive team to a more methodical defensive-oriented team, and he fit right in to a disciplined offensive structure. But I think our team just outgrew Adrian Dantley. Joe D was about to come into his own, and it was important that we had more ball movement, and that was not Adrian’s strength.

SLAM: Isiah really pushed the Bad Boys image, and you all seemed to embrace it.

BL: Well, I certainly did. Someone like Joe, who is more of a quiet, unassuming person who kept to himself, may not have liked it that much, but many of us did. It was our identity, it was fun and we used it as a tool.

SLAM: You seemed to revel in being hated by other teams’ fans.

BL: Well, I don’t know if I’d say “revel,” but it didn’t bother me. It was cast upon me through my style of play, and I wasn’t going to run away from it or alter my game to please anyone else-particularly my opponents or their fans.

SLAM: How would you describe your working relationship playing with Rick Mahorn?

BL: We played well together. It wasn’t the best at first because Rick came in here overweight and out of shape and didn’t understand how to play an intense team style, but he changed overnight and became a really important part of what we were doing.

SLAM: Do you have any regrets about the way your run ended, with you guys walking off the court refusing to shake hands with the Bulls after they swept you in the ’91 Eastern Finals?

BL: No, I have no regrets. They had said some things about us personally over the course of a year and half in the papers. Not stuff about us as players, but personally, and we weren’t going to forget or ignore that. And time has shown that we were true champions and hasn’t treated them all as kindly. [Huh?-Ed.]

SLAM: You led the League in rebounding in ’86. How did you manage to outrebound people like Moses Malone?

BL: Being relentless and wanting the basketball. You take a lot of abuse down there, so you have to really want the basketball. I wanted to be a great rebounder, so I spent a lot of time working on my timing, positioning, anticipating when someone was going to shoot and where the ball would go. I was a position rebounder, so the key was to get between your man and the basket and want the ball more than he does.

SLAM: You had a very unusual game, in that you were a great rebounder who scored most of your points from outside.

BL: I was always a perimeter shooter, and we had a ball club that was structured differently in that our post scoring came from our forwards and guards, not our center. I was a great pick-and-pop player for our guards, had great success doing that and loved playing that role.

SLAM: How would you compare the feeling of winning as a player to winning as a coach?

BL: There’s no comparison. Winning as a player is much better. You’re the one out there doing the doing and putting your mental and physical well-being on the line. As a coach, you’re happy for the players because you helped put them in a position to experience that great feeling.

SLAM: A lot of people compared this year’s Pistons team to your teams. What do you think of that?

BL: Just like us, they are mentally tough, have strong internal leadership in the locker room and are a well-prepared ball club that puts the emphasis on defense. But you really can’t compare the two eras because there is just not the same depth today. You can get one or two very good players on the bench but you don’t go 10 deep like we did. You don’t have great offensive players like Vinnie Johnson and James Edwards or defensive stoppers like John Salley and Dennis Rodman on the bench. It’s not that the players are worse now; it’s just that there are more teams so they are spread thinner.

SLAM: This team was very unusual in not having a single focal point, a la Isiah, Michael, Bird or Magic.

BL: Ben Wallace is a very strong leader. He was the guy and everyone on the team knew it. It is certainly unusual to have a defensive rather than offensive player in that role, but leadership is leadership and it doesn’t matter where it comes from.

SLAM: Let’s play a little name association. Isiah Thomas.

BL: Winner. Great leader.

SLAM: Larry Bird.

BL: Mentally tough competitor.

SLAM: Robert Parish.

BL: Solid role player.

SLAM: Joe Dumars.

BL: Quiet leader, true professional.

SLAM: Kareem.

BL: One of the best ever. A great team player.

SLAM: Vinnie Johnson.

BL: Two things-close friend, and sacrifice. He sacrificed a lot for us. He never made the All-Star team, which he would have done easily on another team, and he got rewarded by winning championships.

SLAM: James Edwards.

BL: Buddha! A very underestimated post player.

SLAM: Rick Mahorn.

BL: Great teammate, great personality.

SLAM: Chuck Daly.

BL: Knowledgeable, non-egotistical.

SLAM: Bill Laimbeer.

BL: A great complementary player who won championships. That’s really all I want to be remembered for-just winning championships. That’s what we played for, and that’s what was fun.

The post Original Old School: The Piston You Love To Hate appeared first on SLAM.

by Alan Paul

“If some guy tries to block your shot and you throw it down on him, you just look him in the eye and say, ‘Your mama.’ Simple but effective. Really, it doesn’t get any better than that.”

Sacrilege? Like them, Double Dee was a pioneer, the first baller to do many things we now hold near and dear to our hearts. He was the first to shatter a backboard. The first to name his jams. The first to go from high school to the NBA. Chocolate Thunder was also the first NBA player we know of to claim he was actually an alien from the planet Lovetron. It all added up to him recently being named “Man of the Millennium” by Saturday Night Live, edging out William Shakespeare and Albert Einstein.

But to explore that avenue any further would be to propagate the idea that Dawkins is some kind of joke, a hoops freak show to be both laughed at and with. Remember that something can be funny without being a joke, and that’s exactly the case with The Master of Disaster, Darryl Dawkins.

In ’75, Dawkins, then a senior at Maynard Evans High School in Orlando, FL, announced-to the snickers of many-that he would go directly to the NBA. Drafted fifth by the 76ers, Dawk didn’t set the League on fire his rookie year, averaging just 2.4 ppg. Still, he quickly developed into a solid low-post contributor, and by his second season, the Sixers were in the Finals, where they lost to Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas’s Trail Blazers. Dawkins and the Sixers returned to the Finals twice more only to lose. Fact is, they coulda-shoulda won either (or both) of the ’81 and ’82 series against Magic’s Lakers, which would have radically rewritten both the history of 80’s hoops and Dawkins’ place in the basketball cosmos.

“Dawkins was an incredible physical specimen,” recalls Bob Costas. “He was 6-11 and 275 pounds and no one had seen anything like him to that point. He was a manchild and everyone was actually terrified of him.”

Including the refs, who never gave the benefit of the doubt to the bad-ass guy swatting shots, glaring at opponents and occasionally delaying games for hours while new backboards were installed. Dawkins led the League in fouls three times and still holds the record for most fouls in a season (386). By the end of his 14-year career, Dawkins relied largely on his muscle and ferociousness, a natural evolution for a guy who never met a confrontation he didn’t like. But Dawk was no mere thug. He’s the fifth most accurate shooter in NBA history with a fg percentage of .572.

Post-NBA, Dawk spent five years playing in Italy and one as a Harlem Globetrotter. Now he has defied virtually all expectations by becoming a successful minor league coach. The last two years, he coached both the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs of the U.S. Basketball League and the Winnipeg Cyclones of the International Basketball Association, for whom he also played last year. He has been Coach of the Year in both leagues.

Prowling the sidelines at a recent ValleyDawgs game, Dawkins cuts an imposing figure in his mustard suit, gold hoops dangling from both ears, his chocolate dome shaved smooth. On the court, his squad runs and presses mercilessly, driving their opponent into submission. Despite an easy win, Dawkins is stern in the postgame locker room, saying, “If the big guys can’t get it done, I’ll go out and find me some who can.” The 43-year-old Lovetronian doesn’t rule out suiting up himself to show how it’s done.

Afterwards, in between flirting with departing dancers and making friendly, funny small talk with everyone from the ValleyDawgs owner to their ball boy, Dawkins gave some love to the only magazine that could ever truly appreciate his brilliance.

SLAM: You have a lot of nicknames, but the most enduring is Chocolate Thunder. Where did it come from?

DAWKINS: A kid I visited at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia said I was like a mass of chocolate, so I started calling myself Chocolate. Then Stevie Wonder wrote a song that said, “I’m bad like Stevie Wonder and strong like Chocolate Thunder” and I loved that. So I’ve been the Chocolate Thunder ever since.

SLAM: When did you start naming your slams?

DAWKINS: In ’76. I wound up on the Sixers team with George McGinnis, Dr. J, World B. Free and Doug Collins. That was a great, great group of players and I needed to do something so people would know I was on the team, too. So I decided to name my dunks and have a calling card. My first one was “Your Mama,” then came “The Heartstopper,” “The Cake Shaker,” “The Baby Maker,” “The Turbo Sexaphonic Delight” and “The Left Handed Slam Chiller’s Delight.” Then “The Chocolate Thunder, Flying-Glass, Babies-Crying, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Teeth-Shaking, Babies-Still-Crying, Wham-Bam-Thank-You-Ma’am, Yes-I-Am Jam.”

SLAM: What was the best one ever-not the name, but the slam?

DAWKINS: “Your Mama” [laughs]. I liked that because if some guy tries to block your shot and you throw it down on him, you just look him in the eye and say, “Your Mama.” Simple but effective. It doesn’t get better than that.

SLAM: Were your backboard smashings intentional?

DAWKINS: The first one was accidental. Then I had to see if I could do it again, so the second was quite intentional. Once I found out I could, I was actually going to do it some more, but they said they were going to fine me $5,000 every time I broke one after that. And that put an end to that.

SLAM: Besides, they made the breakaway rims, which is one of your great contributions to the game.

DAWKINS: They can still be broken! I broke two in Italy. You have to dunk from the side. It collapses from the front, but not the side. If you hit it hard enough from the side, it will go.

SLAM: Do you see any current players following in your large footsteps?

DAWKINS: Take the strength of Shaquille O’Neal and put it together with the freedom of Dennis Rodman, and you have the Chocolate Thunder. Like Rodman, I was going to do what I wanted to and I wasn’t going to let anyone control me.

SLAM: Is that part of the reason you decided to not go to college?

DAWKINS: No, I wanted to go, but my family was in financial difficulty. I was able to help. I’d seen my mother and grandmother work their fingers to their bones and I could end that. I put brothers, sisters and cousins through college, instead of just going myself. That’s why I took that route. As far as not wanting to be controlled, let me make this clear: I wanted to make my own decisions and not have someone dictate to me: “You’re going to do this because we want you to.” That’s not a good reason.

SLAM: When you went pro right out of college, could you ever have imagined that it would be a common occurrence 25 years later?

DAWKINS: No, it was unheard of at the time. People thought I was crazy. Moses [Malone] went to the ABA the year before, but that was different. The only reason to go to college is to get an education to support your family. If you can make money and get an education on your own schedule, go for it. What happens if you get in an accident? If you blow out your knee? If you have the skills and it’s your dream, you got to go for it.

SLAM: But what gave you the confidence to think you could play against Artis Gilmore and Kareem just because you dominated in high school?

DAWKINS: I believed in myself. I had six brothers and four sisters. Growing up in a big family I learned that there’s nothing that can’t be done if you work hard enough. It had never been done before in the NBA but I really believed I could do it. I had a lot of confidence and my pastor, Rev. W.D. George, believed in me, as did my mother. They were about the only ones. People I grew up with said, “You’ll be back home standing around here in a year or two.” Well, it’s 25 years later and I’m still not back in Florida.

SLAM: That Sixers team you came on to was loaded with great players.

DAWKINS: We had so much talent, we forgot we had to play some nights. Look who we had: Julius Erving, who was Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan; George McGinnis, an incredible player. Doug Collins, a super talented, super guy, and World B. Free, one of the best shooters ever.

SLAM: As good as the team was, that group never won a title [The Sixers did win it all in ’83, but that was Dawkins first year on the Nets].

DAWKINS: I just think when we played Portland and L.A., they were better teams. You just have to realize that. Everyone thought we should have won a championship, but we met our match. They also had great talent but played more unselfishly, with more of a team concept.

SLAM: Were you surprised when Maurice Lucas took you on in the middle of a scuffle with Bobby Gross, another Portland player?

DAWKINS: No. I was surprised that my teammates let him approach me from behind. He hit me, then we squared off but never got a chance to go because everyone separated us. Then I turn around and Julius is sitting on the ground and George McGinnis is picking his nose. If someone’s running up behind my teammate, I’m going to grab him or do something to stop him. But I don’t carry grudges about that. It was a long time ago.

SLAM: Talk about what made those guys so good, starting with McGinnis.

DAWKINS: He was big, strong and quick. And he knew the game. He had a great one-handed shot.

SLAM: What was Doug Collins’ game like?

DAWKINS: He was great, a very underrated player. Doug was a tremendous force in college and would have been as good as Bird if it weren’t for injuries. He had a bum arch in his foot and kept getting hurt, but he was a Bird type of player. He could run, jump, shoot, pass and rebound.

SLAM: What about World B. Free?

DAWKINS: World B. Free is still my brother. He was the original Boston Strangler. I hear people say Andrew Toney is the best shooter they ever saw, but World was better, man. He and I played one-on-one every day and he helped me with my ballhandling skills because he would take it from me every time I put it down. He also showed me one of the great keys to my game. One night, he took it down the middle and dunked on Bill Walton, a great shot blocker, and I said, “Damn, how’d you do that?” He said, “You can, too.” I went out and dunked on Walton myself. After that I dunked on everyone, with no fear. It was just a matter of having confidence, and World showed me. For that, I am forever grateful.

SLAM: How good was Walton in his prime?

DAWKINS: Bill was a great player, but his supporting cast was also strong, which made him better. He was surrounded by guys who wanted to win and didn’t care who scored. That’s why they won. L.A. was the same-only a few guys had to have the ball. Everyone else played a role. Everyone on our Sixers team wanted the ball, and that hurt us. We had guys who had to score to be happy. And that makes a big difference.

SLAM: Was that frustrating?

DAWKINS: At times, very much so. You had to do what the stars didn’t, and you didn’t know what that might be. One night somebody’s shot’s not falling so you have to score. Another night, you need to rebound.

SLAM: You were briefly with the Pistons.

DAWKINS: Yeah, I played with Rodman and Isiah for a bit. I thought they got rid of the most talented guy on the team, Adrian Dantley. He did it all, but if you didn’t get along with Isiah, you didn’t stay in Detroit. That’s a fact. Rodman was a force on the boards, and John Salley was also talented. And Rick Mahorn and I were good buddies and still are.

SLAM: I know you’re buddies with Rick, but was he a cheap player?

DAWKINS: He was a nice guy. Honestly. Everyone misunderstood him. We always had a good time. In fact, I always used to call his mother, God rest her dead, “Mama Mae Mahorn” after a DJ on Kiss FM and we always joked about that on the court. I never thought he was cheap. I thought he did what he had to do to be where he wanted to be.

SLAM: What about Laimbeer?

DAWKINS: Cheap.

SLAM: Would he hit you from behind before you could turn around?

DAWKINS: I used to get him before he could get me. When I was with the Nets, I gave him a kidney punch and he went down. [Referee] Jake O’Donnell said, “Darryl, if you hit the white boy again, you’re out of the game.” After that, Bill was a little afraid of me. But there was more to him than that stuff. He was a good, heads-up player. He knew how to get in someone’s head, but I never let him get to me. Look at Rodman. He wouldn’t bother me, ’cause he knew we’d brawl. Other guys would want to stay in the game but we didn’t give a fuck. If you have that going for you, no one’s starting anything, believe me.

SLAM: Were there any guys you knew not to mess with?

DAWKINS: I don’t fear anyone. I never did. Even now, I don’t fear a saber-toothed tiger; I just don’t fuck with one. There are guys who’ve never been scared. You just take care of yourself. Guys who play today want to shoot each other if there’s trouble on the court. That’s crazy. We fought hard, but in the end, we got together and had a beer. That’s a big difference.

SLAM: You’re still suiting up in the IBA. Do you think you could still play eight minutes a night somewhere in the NBA?

DAWKINS: I have no desire to play. I have a desire to coach in the NBA or the WNBA. I’m not trying to relive my youthful days; they’re done. I enjoy what I’m doing now and I’m pretty good. Coaching is a chance to stay around the guys and basketball, which I love to death. It’s given me a lot, and I think I have a lot to offer back.

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Was it really this easy for the Pistons to get this confused about its identity — to question whether it should rebuild or reload? They’ve finger-pointed for nearly an entire season. They pointed at Allen Iverson and then Chauncey Billups with his tremendous success in Denver. They pointed a finger at the architect of the ’04 championship squad, Joe Dumars. They blamed Rip and his ego, which cast a shadow longer than the Piston bench at times.

Of course, they always blamed Darko. He ruined things from the beginning.

But, mostly, they pointed toward Michael Curry. At every game, during the sweep in the first round, Curry played the scapegoat role. Today, Curry is gone and we can only imagine what happens next:

Pistons coach Michael Curry has been fired, the team announced Tuesday.

“This was a difficult decision to make,” Pistons president Joe Dumars said. “I want to thank Michael for his hard work and dedication to the organization. However, at this time, I have decided to make a change.”

(Note: Not that we’re laughing, but it’s funny how news like this comes after reports like these. The AP wasn’t what it used to be folks!)

A man who captained the Pistons from 59 wins to 39 in just 12 months will receive no extended eulogy. Rather, the talk almost immediately will turn to finding a savior. But with the uncertainly surrounding the team, who will the Pistons dubb as head coach? A quick read through the beat writers’ reports mention three names, none exciting or surprising: Bill Laimbeer, Doug Collins, Avery Johnson.

We’ve said this many times before: A coach is only as good as his players. And, clearly, much more needs to be done than replace the Detroit head man. That said, who do you think has the best chance of pulling the Pistons out of this spiral of negativity?

The post Michael Curry: He Gone! appeared first on SLAM.

Laimbeer coached the Shock for the better part of six seasons, taking them from the bottom of the standings in 2002 to their third WNBA Title this past year.

He is the second coach to call it quits already this season. Don Zierden, coach of the Minnesota Lynx, resigned days before play began to take a coaching job with the Washington Wizards.

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