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Bill Laimbeer’s name sparks one thing in the collective mind of the Detroit community - the desire to win and achieve success in
whatever he is involved with. As the leader of the 2003 WNBA Champions and recipient of the 2003 Coach of the Year award, he played an integral part in turning a professional sports team from the worst team in the league to the best team in a single season. The Shock are entering their fourth straight playoffs in 2006 after recording a 23-11 regular season ledger.
Laimbeer, along with this season's seven other playoff head coaches plus ESPN analysts Doris Burke and Linda Cohn, discussed the upcoming postseason during a conference call with the WNBA on Tuesday, August 15. A transcript of Laimbeer's responses is included below. |  |
The second-seeded Detroit Shock take on the third-seeded Indiana Fever in the first round of the 2006 WNBA Playoffs, beginning Thursday, August 17 at 7 p.m. (ESPN2).
Bill Laimbeer: Our team in the last few days has had the best concentration we’ve had in a long time. We understand the task in front of us. We believe we have an outstanding chance to compete for the championship this year. We understand that we have one game in front of us that needs to be won and every time we step on the basketball court we are going to be mentally and physically prepared to play an all out war and to win the game at hand. This is the most focused I’ve seen out team in a long time. Whether that translates to tip off time, that’s what we are hoping for. Overall, we are healthy, we have no issue as far as being banged up or hurt, our bench is starting to round up to be in a good situation for us, and they are all on the same page being focused and dedicated to go out there and compete for the championship.
Q: League wide there are key players that have been down for extended periods of time. In your history with the league, are you seeing injuries this season being a bigger theme than in the past?
Bill Laimbeer: It happens every year. In certain markets they will promote injuries that happen to their key players. These [injuries] happen to every team, but it’s a matter of what year and what team. You have to play through it. That’s why you are going to see in such a short season that we have multiple champions over the course of time because injuries will play a part in who wins and loses.
Q: Some school of thought that believes that teams take on the personality of their coaches and that certainly has been said of coach Laimbeer.
Bill Laimbeer: I do understand when people say the players take on the personality of their coaches. In many ways they have my personality and in some ways they don’t. We lose focus at times which I never had a problem doing. We sometimes just blank out and have moments where we look bad, but for the most part I’ll take being associated with these players and them being associated with me. I think they play hard physical basketball and they go out there and compete to win every game.
Q: Can your own NBA playoff experience be translated to your players and is it applicable?
Bill Laimbeer: You can verbally speak the words and sometimes that registers and sometimes it doesn’t. In practice you have to work on scenarios that will show it. We’ve been putting in different sets for the playoffs that we haven’t shown yet just so people can’t scout them. In that regard, I do understand that you have to put in new things and make adjustments before you even play the first game in order to try and give yourself an edge.
Q: How different is the league now from when you won the championship?
Bill Laimbeer: Bigger, faster, stronger, smarter, coaches across the board are more prepared. It’s like night and day. The league had take two massive jumps. When it started it was a thirty something league and the first major jump was the year that Cash and Sue Bird and the Connecticut kids came in and really made it a influx of young talent. I think in the last year the new players coming in and the competition for jobs has taken the league to another jump. You have seen the scoring go up. I think the 24-second clock had an impact, but I don’t think anybody realized the impact it would have scoring wise and increase the quality of the game. Our team now is bigger, faster, stronger and we are more mature, but so are all the other teams.
Q: It seems like you like the 24-second clock but, don’t things tend to slow down in the Playoffs?
Bill Laimbeer: They will slow down a little bit and we still need to get rid of the zone defense. In the playoffs it will slow down a little, but if you look historically you are still going to score because the concentration level goes up so high. When the concentration level goes up the shooting percentages normally go up.
Q: Do you see any of your players being an absolute X-factor in this series?
Bill Laimbeer: There is no x-factor in our starting line up. They are talented individuals. Any x-factor would have to come from our bench. Braxton is probably the biggest potential x-factor there is out there. Nobody can guard her, she is 6’6”, strong as an ox and if she wants to play hard and have good concentration she’s unstoppable on offense. Kedra [Holland-Corn] making shots is another possible x-factor for us. I think those two off the bench will be hit or miss for us.
Q: Can you talk about Katie Smith’s play this season and her hunger for a championship?
Bill Laimbeer: There is no doubt that Katie Smith has done everything we have asked her to do and has enjoyed doing it. She realized her place early on in our time. We have a great starting five and she fulfilled a role that we needed which was stability. What has been a great thing to watch is how well she plays defense. She’s an outstanding defender. Her defense has been phenomenal, he steady play and running our point has been a great positive for us and the best part about it is she is still learning how to understand the defenses being thrown at us and what our players can still do.