Bill Laimbeer New Minnesota Assistant, Won't Need Help Putting T-Wolves in Check

Bill Laimbeer quit his job as the Detroit Shock head coach earlier this season in an attempt to get a head coaching job in the NBA.

Rumors were circulating Laimbeer was going to be the head coach of the Timberwolves, but it did not happen. Instead, the Timberwolves hired Laimbeer to be their assistant coach.

Laimbeer could have been content to coach in the WNBA forever, but his heart was not in it anymore. He felt coaching the Shock ran its course for him, and he decided to take on a different challenge.

He coached the Shock in the first place to get head coaching experience. He got that, but it wasn't enough to sell NBA owners and general managers about him coaching their NBA team.

The former WNBA head coach knew he had no choice but to take a job as an assistant coach, and he was fortunate to get a job with the Timberwolves considering most general managers did not want to deal with his abrasive personality.

It's a good move for him in his career.

This will get him a chance to learn on the job about being a professional head coach, and he will have an opportunity to work with the big men in Al Jefferson and Kevin Love.

Kahn talked about how the Timberwolves emphasized player-development, and that's where Laimbeer can shine here.

If Laimbeer encourages Jefferson and Love to be tougher on defense and in the paint, this would increase his resume when it comes to being a head coach.

This is what Kahn was banking on when he hired Laimbeer over the weekend.

The new Timberwolves president of basketball operations made a good choice in hiring Laimbeer. Laimbeer knows his basketball, and he teaches well based on his work with female players.

Coaching women's basketball is not exactly easy. Take it from this writer who covers girls' basketball in high school.

The amount of teaching that coaches take on with young girls is tremendous. They work many hours with them so Laimbeer must have done something right for his players to do well in the WNBA.

This is the type of stuff that folks in the NBA recognize when it comes to hiring, and if Laimbeer manages to have success with Love and Jefferson, this can go a long way toward being a head coach.

It's something Mark Jackson should have done if he was serious about being a head coach. He knows that no team is going to hire him unless he learned on the job as an assistant coach.

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson coached in the NBA without coaching experience, but they did not last long. Johnson did alright, but he knew this job was too much for him.

Bird did not do much coaching as he let his assistants (Rick Carlisle and Dick Harter) do the coaching for him during his Pacers' coaching days.

There is something to be said about how a coach learns more as an assistant coach when it comes to dealing with players, watching film, and offering suggestions when it comes to strategy. It's hard to do all of that at once as a head coach.

The head coach assigns his assistants to do a task, and each gets different role. Laimbeer needs to experience different aspects of the job before he is ready to be a head coach.

He gets his chance now to show his worth, and he will do a fine job in his new chapter of his coaching career.

It's going to be a matter of time until he becomes a NBA head coach.

Don't be surprised if he is hootering and hollering as the Wolves head coach in three years.