Bill Laimbeer not done yet in WNBA

The New York Liberty announced Tuesday they were parting ways with coach/general manager Bill Laimbeer. On Wednesday, he went fishing in Florida. On Thursday, he was in Michigan on his way to go hunting. He didn't sound perturbed by the Liberty's decision, and said if he does coach again, he expects it will be in the WNBA.

"I enjoy coaching, and I think I know the women's league very well," Laimbeer told espnW on Thursday. "The men's league is a brutal, brutal, brutal sport. Would I have an opportunity to be a head coach in the men's league? I doubt that, at this point. I think that's passed me by.

"Would I have an opportunity to be an assistant again in the men's league? That's tough. I'm 57. ... To go down that road just to have a job? No, that's not who I am. I enjoy leading, and I think going forward in the coaching ranks, the WNBA is a fine spot for me."

Right now, the only coaching job open is with the Los Angeles Sparks. While that might not be a fit for Laimbeer, it would seem likely he'll get another chance at some point. He said he wouldn't insist on a WNBA coaching job, including the general manager role, too. But he isn't interested in being only a GM without the coaching component.

"I was talking to some of the old [Detroit] Piston guys about this," Laimbeer said of his former NBA teammates. "The general manager doesn't get to be in the games like coaches do. [Coaches] are part of the action, and that's what's fun. If you can't play anymore, coaching is the next-best thing."

After leaving the WNBA's Detroit Shock, Laimbeer spent some time as an NBA assistant with the Minnesota Timberwolves. When he signed on with the Liberty two years ago this month, it was a return to a league in which he'd already won three titles and felt he could bring a championship mentality to New York.

But the Liberty, who have never won the league title, missed the playoffs in Laimbeer's two seasons. He felt the Liberty were on the right track for the future, but now that's going to be in someone else's hands.

"I enjoyed being in New York; it was interesting," he said. "I don't have anything bad to say about the organization. I don't want to paint any kind of picture that it's not a top-notch organization."

That said, Laimbeer acknowledged it was different working for the Liberty, owned by MSG Inc., than for the Detroit Shock from 2002-09. He coached Detroit to championships in 2003, '06 and '08 before leaving early in the 2009 season. The Shock then moved to Tulsa for 2010 under new ownership.

"In Detroit, I worked for a private company where I had pretty much carte blanche and there was really only one person involved who I dealt with at that time, Tom Wilson," Laimbeer said of the then-president and CEO of Palace Sports and Entertainment, which owned the Pistons and Shock.

"In a public corporation, it's much different. Especially one that's the magnitude of MSG. They've got a lot of moving pieces. We talked about the direction that we were going, and I think they just chose that they are going to try a different way."

Laimbeer said he didn't have much discussion with MSG management after the Liberty's season ended at 15-19 on Aug. 17. The organization had until Oct. 31 to exercise an option year on his contract. So when he hadn't heard from MSG officials for such a long time, did Laimbeer expect that he wouldn't be retained?

"That's where I say, 'Yes and no,'" Laimbeer said, chuckling. "Or, 'No and yes.'"

This is sort of classic Laimbeer, in that he leaves an opening for you to read between the lines without giving much direction on exactly what you're supposed to be reading.

Suffice to say, Laimbeer felt good this past season in particular, in terms of the effort shown and progress made by the Liberty. Acquiring center Tina Charles via a trade with Connecticut was especially helpful, he said.

"My first year in New York was OK, but difficult," he said of going 11-23 in 2013. "But I enjoyed coming to work this past season. We had a group of kids who really wanted to understand and learn."

He thinks the Liberty organization has a chance to be successful if it makes the right moves in the near future.

"New York is well-positioned right now," Laimbeer said. "They've got Tina, they have no bad contracts, and tremendous [salary] cap flexibility moving forward. They will be defined in terms of who they are after next year."

Laimbeer didn't elaborate more on that latter statement, but did say he expects the WNBA's free-agent market to be potentially more fluid and fruitful for 2016.

"New York has a practice facility that's second to none, and a really nice situation with playing in Madison Square Garden," he said. "The goal was to make the environment very conducive to free agents. But that's not necessarily all you hang your hat on, though."

The college draft in 2016 is also expected to be talented and relatively deep, in contrast to the 2015 draft.

Laimbeer didn't complain about not having more time to put things in place in New York, but said getting a team to championship caliber is more difficult now than it was when he first joined the Shock more than a decade ago. That's in part, he said, because the Shock had two very good players -- Deanna Nolan and Swin Cash -- in place when he took over in Detroit, but also because the league itself is more challenging.

"Today's WNBA is a quality league; it's tough," Laimbeer said. "Every team is prepared, has a lot more talent, and is better-coached these days. The coaches and GMs are all sharper.

"Every pro basketball player has an ego; I don't care if it is a woman or a guy. Back in the earlier days of the league, I think teams didn't always want to deal with strong wills. And they made knee-jerk reactions with some players. Now, they will work with the player, and really try to get the most out of her."

Laimbeer sounded bullish on the league in general, and not like someone who felt disillusioned by the experience in New York. And he thinks the 12-team league expanding is inevitable.

"It has to happen at some point," Laimbeer said. "There are too many good players, and the business model is getting better every year. The product is much better than it's ever been."