Bill Laimbeer: 'I'm going to win the game ... I don't care what people think'

When was the last time you saw an NBA player forcibly knocked to the ground after going up for a lay-up or dunk?

It rarely happens nowadays.

But back in Bill Laimbeer’s playing days, it was comically commonplace.

“It’s been legislated out to a large degree,” the former Detroit Pistons center said recently on the “The Rematch” podcast with former NBA player Etan Thomas of The Players’ Tribune.

Laimbeer, one of the league’s most hated players ever and an enforcer for the “Bad Boys” Pistons, was known for his hard fouls and intimidating style of play, which was often labeled as dirty.

A four-time All-Star who played in 1982-94 with the Pistons, Laimbeer, now 60, was never bothered by the animosity. In fact, he thrived on it from an early age, saying he learned to be hated playing for Notre Dame in college. “Half the country hated you just because you went there."

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Playing basketball, he was focused on one goal and nothing else mattered.

“That’s one of the things I’m really good at. I don’t care, I’m going to win the game,” said Laimbeer, who is in his fifth season coaching the WNBA’s New York Liberty. “I don’t care what I got to do, I don’t care what people think about me. The most important thing is to win the game, most important thing is to win the championship.”

Laimbeer and the Pistons’ archetype of brutal physicality is non-existent in today’s game, replaced by jaw-dropping athleticism and outside shooting.

“But also the players today don’t really have that competitive drive as the players in the past, just because there’s more jobs,” Laimbeer said. “There’s no competition for jobs, especially amongst the star players, or minutes played. It becomes more free-flowing, everybody likes each other. It’s a foreign game to me, but every generation is different and the game always evolves."

Laimbeer, who discussed a wide-range of topics in the 26-minute conversation (listen below), also believes the AAU system, free agency and money has cultivated more friendly competition and less great rivalries.

“Back when I was playing, you were on the same team for a long time, it created intense rivalries,” Laimbeer said. “And the money I think now has become so great that players respect each other’s bodies, they don’t want to hurt anybody and get anybody in trouble because it is a livelihood. But like I said, every game evolves, in no matter what sport you’re playing in. Today’s a very fast-paced, perimeter-shooting game, where the big men are always on the perimeter and the guards control the action. So to each his own, and it will change again in another 10 years."

Laimbeer is the Pistons' all-time leading rebounder, and his No. 40 jersey is retired.

He coached the now-defunct Detroit Shock to three WNBA titles in 2002-09.

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Contact Marlowe Alter: malter@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MarloweAlter.

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