Can someone please explain to me why Bill Laimbeer, a Piston legend and a pretty darned good coach, continually is passed over for head coach when he clearly wants the job?

Laimbeer is a winner. He was a winner as a player, and now he's a winner as a coach. Granted, his success as a coach has come in the WNBA, but if you're going to give a fairly green former player a shot at the head coaching job, why in the world would you choose Michael Curry over Bill Laimbeer?

I never thought I'd see a coach who made me long for the Don Chaney era of Piston basketball, but Michael Curry is bad enough to do just that. Let's face it: we've had two great coaches in the last 30 years (Chuck Daly and Larry Brown), a decent coach in Carlisle, and tons of mediocrities like Curry, Irvine, Gentry, Chaney, Rothstein, and Saunders (Collins would have qualified as "decent" if he wasn't certifiably insane). Curry might just be the worst Piston coach of the modern era (which, looking at those other names, is really saying something), and he's certainly the least qualified.

Dumars played with Laimbeer during the championship years and with Curry during the dreaded teal era, so unless there's some animosity between the two that I'm unaware of...what gives? Why can't Bill get a shot? Judging from this season and the direction Curry has the team pointed in, Laimbeer couldn't possibly do any worse.

he may get the next shot. Nobody knows.

Hi, Bill - welcome to WTF.

Some of us think you do deserve the job but we don't have any sway with Joe. You'd be better off speaking to him about this, but thanks for stopping by.

I agree with ya Hawk but after the way that everything has gone this season I'm really starting to wonder if the problem is more with Joe Dthan anything else. He really looks to have lost his way.

Laimbeer shouldn't get a shot for the same reason that Curry shouldn't have gotten it. Franchises that are serious about being title contenders don't give the keys to a coach with little to no NBA experience. One year as an assistant or coaching the girl scouts doesn't qualify.

Typically those kinds of coaches get their break with teams bound for the eighth seed or the lottery. If that's what the team is going forward, then sure, bring on the Lamb.

Phil Jackson had exactly two years of being an assistant before he was named head coach in Chicago.

Pat Riley was the fucking TV color analyst before he took over the lakers.

At this point, we really need a coach who can teach our youngsters how to get better. Max, Stuckey, Amir and maybe Afflalo have all regressed this season. If these players are our future, they need to get better, not worse.

Dumars played with Laimbeer

You may have stumbled on the answer right there.

Welcome.

No more rookie coaches who we assume will have the respect of players. A veteran defensive minded coach is what i want.

I don't really care if he's a rookie coach or not. If he's willing to EARN the respect by benching guys that disrespect him and force guys to play defense, that's fine.

One year as an assistant or coaching the girl scouts doesn't qualify.
Given the way our team is playing, maybe we need a girl's coach.

I don't really care who coaches - as long as it's not Curry. I don't know about how good Laimbeer might be, but he can't be as incompetant as Curry. I like the fact that Bill is a tough guy and has credibility, but I wonder if players in the NBA would see past that?

Laimbeer I know has a scheme, and it's a proven winner. He inherited a lot of his ideas from Chuck Daly. The fact he employs them in the WNBA is inconsequential, because any Piston fan over the age of 25 will tell you they also work very well in the NBA.

Only thing stopping him from getting a job is the fear that the players won't like him.

At this point, I DONT GIVE A FLYING FUCK IF THE PLAYERS DONT LIKE HIM.

They hated Flip and they won. They hated Carlisle and they won. They fought LB and they won a title. They love Curry and they walk all over him and listen to nothing he says. He's a professional ass-kisser.

Laimbeer kisses nobodys ass. I'd sooner dump any player that crosses him than last another year letting the inmates run the asylum.

Lambs will force his team to defend. He will force them to grow a pair of balls and take the ball inside and rebound.

It's time for Lambs to take this team over.

It's time for Lambs to take back his team

Fixed!

If the pistons are serious about getting back to the top of the east they'll get a real coach, not another project. Lambs can go pay his dues with a team like the bucks or nets.

Of course if we view the pistons as having become a team like the bucks or nets and expect the next few seasons to be more or less like the one we just watched, then sure, may as well throw another trainee on the bench.

As bad as we are, he can pay his dues right here.

The more I think of this, the better the chances of this happeneing. Think about it like a ticket sales thing too. Some might call hiring Tramell a gimick while the Tigs knew they sucked. This would prolly sell tix, get Laims some time in the NBA, and give JoeD a look at Laims.

i've never watched a WNBA game myself so im hoping some of you could tell me. How similar is the wnba to the mens league? i mean do they run the same plays? is it as different as college and the pros?

i've never watched a WNBA game myself so im hoping some of you could tell me. How similar is the wnba to the mens league? i mean do they run the same plays? is it as different as college and the pros?

More so. Turns out it's women trying to play basketball. Novel, but no comparison.

Thank you.

I feel good when I agree with Herm.

Aside from the fact that floppy (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=1987) pussy (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=272) has an entirely different meaning in the wnba, having salaries on a par with walmart greeters makes them a lot more pliable than a roster full of nba millionaire superstars.

Having not watched a Shock game really, I have to think that Lamb at least has a clue on defense. I don't think our guys will be lost out there wondering if we're playing zone or not. I also think he'd milk mismatches instead of force feeding Prince in the post against Lebron.

he coaches pretty much the same system Daly employed. No real mystery to it.

He relies on the guards to do most of the scoring, but everything is focused inside. He likes to put the biggest possible frontcourt out there he can find.

I don't know if he's the best choice, but he's better than Curry. I know that much for sure.

They stay true to schemes more often in the WNBA because the players can't dunk or rely on athleticism. Success is more dependant on the coach because he has more of an effect on the game.

"Pay his dues" is a joke.

I love that Curry being a complete moron is working against Laimbeer as though the two are comparable in any way. One was barely good enough to be in the NBA, never won shit ever in any role, was a spy for the coaches, and had no justification for being a starter other than being the coaches pet because he simply NEVER produced, then became a GMs pet and was given a job as a head coach out of nowhere. The other was a key piece of two championships, who would rather burn down the arena then kiss someone's ass, never backed down from anyone most definitely not the greatests players to ever play the game, imposed his will on games and entire teams, got to the top of every level he ever tried, has been working to be an NBA head coach for a decade.

But you know. Its almost like they are the same person.

I also don't have a problem with bringing in a defensive specialist coach as was proposed earlier. As long as it's understood as a building block. Someone like JVG isn't winning a title deconstructing the offense to feed entirely into the defense. That's how they got to the title the last time, though. Through steps. Defense first.

(Also, love the idea that people don't worry about fucks like JVG, or Alvin Gentry, or Flip Saunders, working with the players but are terrified that Laimbeer won't be able to figure it out.)

I'm really hoping that Joe knew he was going to make some bold moves this year and saw Curry as a seat warmer and that's it. Maybe he has a guy in mind (even Lambs), but knew this year would be a transition year and didn't want to force that on his coach. He's a smart guy, is he that smart?

For some reason I feel like we'll be stuck with Curry again, but I hope not.

I love that Curry being a complete moron is working against Laimbeer as though the two are comparable in any way.

For my part anyway, the argument against Laimbeer isn't that Lamb = Curry. A Lamb would be a white flag. They may as well print "throwaway rebuilding year" on the back of the tickets.


working to be an NBA head coach for a decade.

Then he should fire his career counselor. There isn't exactly a well-worn path from WNBA head coach directly to NBA head coach. Most of the guys who spent the last decade "working to be an NBA head coach" have actually been working in the NBA.

FWIW, the fact that all signs point to Curry's return likely means he's out the door already. It looked like Flip was coming back last year, and he was gone. It looked like Carlisle was coming back, and he was gone. So don't lose hope yet. I imagine Joe needs to do a good sell job to get Boozer, etc. to consider coming here.

If they're going to fire Curry, they need to do so in the next couple of weeks. And then Dumars needs to conduct a thorough search (like the one that resulted in Carlisle) to find the next Pistons coach, ideally sometime around the beginning of June. And I think Laimbeer should be interviewed as a candidate in that search.

But Curry needs to go. No question. And say what you want about Dumars, but he's not afraid to admit a mistake and correct it. Hopefully he sees that with Curry.