Roughly three weeks ago, Bill Laimbeer was contemplating his future with the New York Liberty. Then a phone call redirected him entirely.
"It was quite timely, actually," Laimbeer said Wednesday, a day after being announced as head coach and president of basketball operations for the WNBA's Stars franchise, which is moving to Las Vegas from San Antonio. "Because I was struggling to figure out what to do, I got into a conversation. Then I talked to my wife. It was very intriguing. It was like, 'OK.'"
The call was from MGM Resorts International, which purchased the Stars from Spurs Sports & Entertainment and is relocating the franchise. The team will play at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas..
Most of the other details -- if the team will change its name and what the team colors, logo, etc. will be -- are expected in a bigger announcement in the coming weeks.
Laimbeer doesn't "officially" start work until Nov. 1, as per his contract, but suffice to say he's already on the job. He spoke Wednesday from his home base in Michigan, saying he still has some loose ends to tie up with the Liberty, has already reached out to the Stars players and is "hitting the ground running."
Laimbeer has spent the past five years with the Liberty. He brought Katie Smith into New York as a player in 2013 with the intention that she would then join the Liberty coaching staff and eventually become a WNBA head coach.
"They have a tremendous amount of resources. That's a huge bonus, and one of the reasons why I think this franchise has a great chance to succeed. They are an entertainment company. Now they just have to understand basketball, and that's my job." Bill Laimbeer on new Stars owner MGM Resorts International
After this past season ended with a second-round loss to Washington, Laimbeer considered different options with the Liberty. Stay another season as coach? Move into a front-office role? Ultimately, he felt it was best if Smith elevated to head coach now with New York, and he fully supported her in that.
"It was her time," Laimbeer said. "Then I had to make a choice, 'What am I going to do now? Am I going to be the GM? Or do I pursue something else?' And all of a sudden, the phone rang.
"Katie has all the energy in the world right now, and she's ready to go. And, yes, I still have energy to be a head coach, too. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't."
Indeed, there is a lot to be done for the Las Vegas franchise (which for now we'll still call the Stars). Laimbeer will be on the ground floor of all of it.
To some extent, this job has some parallels to what he did in Detroit, when he came aboard as coach/general manager during the 2002 season, and when he came to the Liberty for the 2013 season. In both cases, he had to make roster moves and establish a culture he felt would best produce success.
With the Stars, though, basketball is a new business for MGM Resorts International. It's a vast global entertainment/hotel company, so there is existing infrastructure in place that the WNBA team can utilize. MGM Resorts International has ownership or partial ownership of three arenas in Las Vegas, with marketing, ticket sales and public-relations personnel connected to those facilities.
"They have a tremendous amount of resources," Laimbeer said. "That's a huge bonus, and one of the reasons why I think this franchise has a great chance to succeed. They are an entertainment company. Now they just have to understand basketball, and that's my job."
The specifics of having a basketball team present new needs to be filled. That's a different type of infrastructure.
"From my end, it's things like staff, trainers, equipment, where do we practice," Laimbeer said. "That's the time-consuming and organization part that you have to get on right away. Because the clock's ticking.
"I love challenges. I spent a lot of time over the years with Kristin Bernert, who is a very organized individual person and very driven. I watched a lot of the stuff she did and learned a lot from her to go into this."
Bernert is senior vice president of business operations for the NBA's Knicks, having worked previously in the front office for the Liberty and for the Shock when Laimbeer was in Detroit, plus for the WNBA's Sparks and the league offices of the WNBA and NBA.
"The key for me is to hire the right people -- who you tell them once, and they go do it," Laimbeer said. "That's what I'm trying to do right now: identify the staff that I want to put together."
Then, of course, there is the team itself. The Stars have had the worst record in the WNBA each of the past three seasons, a combined 23-79. The core is made up of their draft picks over the past five years: center Kayla Alexander (No. 8 in 2013), guard Kayla McBride (No. 3 in 2014), forward Dearica Hamby (No. 6 in 2015), guard Moriah Jefferson (No. 2 in 2016) and guard Kelsey Plum (No. 1 in 2017).
McBride (15.4 PPG) led the Stars in scoring this past season. Jefferson was the assists leader (4.4 APG) but played just 21 of 34 games due mostly to right knee issues. She missed nine of the last 11 games in the season, then had knee surgery Sept. 27.
Center Isabelle Harrison, the Stars' second-leading scorer (11.4 PPG) and leading rebounder (6.4 RPG), and guard/forward Alex Montgomery (6.0 PPG, 5.7 RPG) started the most games. Harrison came to the Stars before this season, via trade with Phoenix for Danielle Robinson. That deal also brought the Stars the No. 5 pick in the 2017 draft, which was forward Nia Coffey; she saw limited playing time (7.9 minutes per game) as a rookie. Montgomery previously played for Laimbeer in New York and came to the Stars via trade in 2015.
The Stars also have the greatest odds in the draft lottery of getting the No. 1 pick for 2018 (the lottery was postponed last month and hasn't yet been rescheduled). So there is talent for Laimbeer to work with, but the Stars' results of the past few years make it clear something has to change.
"Generically speaking, you never know a player until you coach them," Laimbeer said. "You only know from afar what you see. You never know who they are, what they are capable of doing, until you actually get in there and coach them and challenge them.
"So I don't have an answer to give you right now [regarding potential roster moves]. I know that they're young, they're growing. When you're a team down there at the bottom, it's a cycle. You have to find a way to break out of the cycle. Hopefully, you add a piece here or there, and I do believe that this franchise is going to be a quality destination for future free agents."
All this is part of more large-scale planning, and Laimbeer is just starting that process. He has been in touch with Ruth Riley, San Antonio's general manager the past two years and also a former player for Laimbeer in Detroit, to discuss the Stars' player personnel. What role, if any, Riley might have with the franchise going forward remains to be seen. Laimbeer has a clean slate in that regard, and as he said, he's fully immersed now in finding the right people for the Las Vegas basketball staff.
Laimbeer thinks MGM Resorts International is very committed to having a strong franchise. And he believes in the quality of the WNBA's product.
"It's an exciting sport that is growing every day," he said. "The product sells itself when you see it, go to it and get engaged with it. I think that's what the MGM people are going to market and get done. They're in the entertainment business, and they're good at it."