Bad Boys, Three

A lot has changed since 1988, when Edwards, Bill Laimbeer and Rick Mahorn primarily composed the NBA’s toughest frontcourt for the Detroit Pistons.

What hasn’t changed, Edwards says, is Laimbeer’s fiery competitiveness and vocal leadership, which he now channels into his duties as head coach of the WNBA’s Detroit Shock.

“In the timeouts he’d be yelling at us, ‘Come on! Get it going! Get it going!’” said Edwards, who played with Laimbeer from 1988-91. “He wants to win. He wanted to win just as bad as Isiah [Thomas] and everybody else. It’s like having another coach on the floor basically when you’re playing with those guys.”

The Pistons had plenty of leadership during the “Bad Boys” era, with Hall of Fame coach Chuck Daly on the sideline and the franchise icon Thomas running the point. As one of the team’s senior members, Laimbeer assumed a leadership role as well, Edwards said.

What they didn’t have was the team’s state-of-the-art practice facility, which opened in 1995. Laimbeer held Shock practice there Wednesday, as he regularly does. Edwards, a Seattle resident in town to see the Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals, stopped by to see his old friends.

“He’s very knowledgeable about basketball so I figured he’d be a good coach and he’d probably copy Chuck’s style and run a lot of those plays that we used to run,” Edwards said. “That’s what he’s done and those plays work very well.”

Laimbeer has not however duplicated Daly’s cool sideline demeanor, as Edwards witnessed at the Shock’s roller-coaster victory over the New York Liberty on Sunday. “The other day they were up by about 20, he’s still up there yelling. ‘Sit down, Lamb, sit down!’” said Edwards jokingly, before he acquiesced. “But then New York caught up. He knew he had to keep on those ladies and make sure they play the whole game.”

As for working the refs - perhaps the one skill Laimbeer has found as useful in a suit as a jersey - “he should be good at it because he was good when he played,” Edwards snickered.

The “Bad Boys” reputation never did Laimbeer or the Pistons any favors with officials 20 years ago, and some could say a similar cloud has been cast over his Shock by association. “When we were the Bad Boys no one liked the Pistons, so it’s just something you have to live with,” Edwards said. “We liked ourselves and that’s all that mattered.”

Edwards reached four straight conference finals with Detroit and contributed mightily to the Pistons’ 1989 and 1990 championship teams. The 7-foot-1 center backed up Laimbeer in ’89 then averaged 14.5 points as a starter the next season. He shot 49.2 percent from the field during his Pistons stint, averaging 11.2 points.

It was the quick-witted Mahorn that first called him “Buddha” for his bushy, horseshoe-shaped mustache. The nickname has outlasted the look. A clean-shaven Edwards says Mahorn, a Shock assistant coach, is a fitting complement to the more excitable Laimbeer.

“More like Chuck - kind of calm, chilling, but gets his point across,” he said.

Edwards has heard that Mahorn - who carries a lighthearted manner within a heavyweight build - takes some ribbing from the players on occasion. He says that’s the sign of a good relationship between the staff and players.

“It seems like he has a lot of fun with the girls and they have a lot of fun with him,” Edwards said. “That’s what you want, a good group of girls that like the coach, respect the coach and the coach respects the players.”

Edwards has not coached professionally but has privately worked out NBA players, including the New York Knicks’ Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson. Should either comrade need an assistant coach down the road, he would welcome a phone call.

“Most definitely. That would be fun,” said Edwards, grinning at the thought. “I’d have a great time coaching the women.”

Can the WNBA handle another Bad Boy? Wait and see.