[情報] Las Vegas新總教練
原標題:Inside The W with Michelle Smith: Laimbeer, Aces Looking Forward to
Playing New Hand
December 13, 2017
After five successful seasons in New York, helping to bring the Liberty back
to the upper echelon of the WNBA, Bill Laimbeer is headed to the desert to
rejuvenate another franchise.
The San Antonio Stars announced they were moving to Las Vegas in October and
that Laimbeer, who has won three WNBA titles as a head coach, would be moving
with them to serve as head coach and president of basketball operations.
On Monday, the newly relocated team unveiled its new name — the Las Vegas
Aces — as well as a new color scheme and logo. With the logistics in place,
Laimbeer can now begin to give the franchise an identity. We caught up with
Laimbeer this week before and after Monday’s big announcement.
What are the biggest challenges you face with a relocated franchise?
Just trying to organize everything from scratch: Bringing the team to Vegas.
Getting the players in place. And then there’s everything else that has to
go into this. Securing the arena, practice sites. Buying equipment and
medical supplies, hiring employees. It’s time-consuming and I keep figuring
out things that have to be done.
How do you think the players on the roster will react to a new situation?
Once the initial shock passes – I think it caught everybody by surprise – I
think they will see that there’s a really good opportunity here. They are
wanted here. MGM is making a strong commitment to the franchise. The building
is a quality place to be. They will all understand that.
Most of your players are overseas now, right? Have you been in communication
with them?
Moriah Jefferson is rehabbing in the states. Everybody else is overseas. We
have exchanged emails and a few phone calls. I will see Moriah this week on
our announcement day. It will be great to get a chance to talk to her about
what we are thinking about, get her feedback about some things, pick her
brain about what the players have experience and try to choose the best parts
of that.
What’s the biggest challenge here?
Well, the team hasn’t been the best and that’s been quite the challenge. It
’s easier actually when it comes to dealing with the players. There’s not
going to be a lot of player movement. We need to add some players; there will
be some competition for jobs and time. I don’t know the players, but a lot
of this is the easy part, the players’ end of things. Once we get everything
set up in year one, we will be ready to move forward with our plans. A lot of
people in this company are working on this project in so many areas. They are
really focused on making sure this launch goes well. We are going to stub our
toe here or there, but everyone has put in a lot of time and effort.
Why was it a time of change for you, to make this move?
I think a change was coming. In New York, we got to be a good team, but we
didn’t get over the hump. Katie Smith, I think it was her time to move up
the ranks. I told her my timeline was finite in New York. I wanted a
different challenge. Rebuilding a last-place team is definitely a challenge,
and it was the right time for me to take on something like this. Las Vegas is
a very different environment, so we will see how it is.
You coached in the Eastern Conference for a long time. You are moving out
West with teams like Los Angeles and Minnesota and Phoenix. How will that be?
I think a couple of years ago, it would have been a different thing. Now
everybody plays everybody three times. There isn’t any advantage or
disadvantage to being in one conference or the other. I think the biggest
thing is the logistical situation, longer flights and time zone changes. On
the West Coast, you are traveling across the country and you lose a whole
day, you lose practice days. It takes something out of you. That will be the
biggest thing being out west.
You have a young roster. Will you need to take on a different kind of
leadership role without a lot of veterans to lean on?
The answer is probably yes, I will find myself more in a leadership position
than I would if I had a more veteran team. I’m hoping we can add some
veteran leaders, I just don’t know. We are too new in the process of player
acquisition at this point. That doesn’t even start until the first of
February. But having a young team doesn’t bother me. Especially for a new
franchise, we have a lot of young, talented players can attach to. Our fans
can grow with them and we will all figure out together who we are and what we
are about.
You now have a team identity off the floor. How will you go about creating an
identity on the floor?
Those are two distinctly different things. The stuff we did (Monday) doesn’t
involve personnel. We have “X” amount of players who have “X” amount of
skills. We have the first pick in the draft, and you expect that first pick
to be an impact player. There are lots of factors that will go into it and
what style of play we will be able to play. Our identity will be a work in
progress, all depending on our players. You can’t put a square peg into a
round hole.
Did you have a chance to talk with any of your players at the unveiling on
Monday?
Yes. Kayla Alexander and Moriah Jefferson were there. I talked to Kayla about
on-the-court stuff, what I’d like to see from her. She was only here for one
day. Moriah is here for a few days. But I think this was a big eye-opener for
both of them, with how things went and the bigness of the situation compared
to what they experienced in San Antonio.
What will be happening with the franchise over these next few months?
I have a lot to do between now and the end of March, every day, all day. I
need to do a lot of scouting now. That No. 1 pick is the easy one — it’s
going to be one of a few players. But with our No. 13 pick, we are going to
have to expand our pool of possibilities. We could also be working on trades
to acquire another draft pick. Moriah will be here. She will be a “community
player,” helping to sell tickets, doing community outreach, reaching out
with possible sponsors, while she is rehabbing her knee. She had surgery in
September, but she will be seeing a lot of people here. I think she’s really
looking forward to it.
What are you most looking forward to before the season starts?
I’m looking forward to forward to free agency. There are not a lot of impact
players out there, but there are a lot of role players. We are young, so
maybe there are some leaders out there. We will be doing some trade talking,
trying to understand what our team is going to look like. And a lot of
logistical stuff. We are walking the arena today, deciding what our locker
room is going to look like. I’m looking forward to seeing what our team will
look like.
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※ 編輯: cobras638 (111.240.147.38), 12/18/2017 04:05:42
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