But he wouldn’t mind starting the process.

Laimbeer, also the team’s general manager, revealed Wednesday that his top priority entering the WNBA Draft on Apr. 9 is to land a guard that can complement one of the league’s most accomplished backcourts as a rookie - and then take the reigns a few years down the road.

“I’d say there’s three guards that we’re really looking at hard and that’s [Matee] Ajavon from Rutgers, that’s [Candice] Wiggins from Stanford and [Alexis] Hornbuckle from Tennessee,” Laimbeer said. “… We think these three guards can play, especially with our players. They don’t have to be the star. They can come in, they can play defense. They can play their role and learn for a couple years with great players around them.”

To get one of the aforementioned players, Laimbeer likely would have to use the No. 4 overall pick, which he procured from Seattle in the Swin Cash trade. Detroit also owns the No. 11, 18, 28 and 42 selections.

While it might be surprising for a GM to be so candid about his draft-day wish list, one glance at the current Shock roster tells the same tale. The team’s only guards are 2007 All-WNBA First Teamer Deanna Nolan, U.S. Olympian Katie Smith and Elaine Powell. The trio’s average age by season’s end will be 32. Smith and Powell are entering their 10th WNBA seasons and Nolan her eighth. Powell started 12 games in 2007 but is not an offensive threat (1.9 ppg).

“Right now, we’re enamored with a young guard,” Laimbeer said. “There are three quality guards out there at least, we think of. We think we need a guard for the future. We’ve only got two. We’ve got Elaine, she’s the third one. She’s a fine player but she’s getting a bit older too.”

The other primary backup in 2007 was Pee Wee Johnson, who, coming off the bench for the first time in her nine-year WNBA career, struggled with her shot. Johnson, who turns 34 in August, signed with Houston in the off-season.

Ivory Latta infused the Shock backcourt with youthful energy in 2007 after Laimbeer drafted her 11th overall. But she played a niche role her rookie season as a 3-point specialist and was traded to the expansion franchise, the Atlanta Dream. Laimbeer said his first selection this year would play a larger role than Latta did.

Laimbeer could use his stockpile of draft picks to trade for a veteran who would be better prepared to help the Shock’s title run for ‘08, but he says “that’d be tough” due to salary-cap restraints, which also played a role in Johnson’s departure.

“You get a veteran, you’re up in the salary ranks then,” Laimbeer said. “We don’t have a lot of money. We need that small contract also. That contract is a big thing. You get a quality player with a four-year rookie scale contract - that’s pretty good. We need that. We’ve got a lot of big, max (contract) players.”

To reunite the core of last year’s team, which he coached within one win of back-to-back WNBA titles, Laimbeer re-signed five players to multi-year deals. Nolan, Powell and Smith were unrestricted free agents. Reigning Sixth Woman of the Year Plenette Pierson and All-Star Game MVP Cheryl Ford also returned - but at a significant salary-cap hit.

Laimbeer has signed three guards - Tyresa Smith, Chrissy Givens and Nina Norman - to training-camp deals in hopes of finding a (cost-effective) diamond in the rough that way. The Shock have four open roster spots entering camp.

Laimbeer admits his team’s remarkable depth of previous seasons has been diminished by the league’s expansion and the salary-cap consequences of a successful, veteran squad. But with three top-20 draft picks in what has been hailed as the deepest talent pool in years, he expects the Shock to remain contenders in 2008 and beyond.

“That’s what draft picks are about,” he said. “You get by in this league with ‘X’ amount of star power. It lasts for a period of time. We’ve been doing that the last couple of years, and we’re going to have to get these young players up to speed here in the next couple of years to keep our franchise moving forward and competing for a championship every year.”