He had to deal with Laimbeer, Thomas, Rodman, Salley, Aguirre, and other impossible egos, anchored by reasonable people like Vinny Johnson, and make them all into winners.The anchors of that team were Laimbeer and Thomas, they were team first, win first all the way, no me first ego problem from either of them. That's why Rodman and Aguirre were rarely ever a problem in Detroit, because they knew that Laimbeer and Thomas wouldn't tolerate it.
True. There was a insider book written by a Detroit sports writer during that time. I remember reading that, during a practice section, Aguirre drove to the basket, and Laimbeer clothes-lined him to the floor with a forearm, almost knocked him cold, looked down at him and said, "Welcome to the Pistons." L was a real mean bastard...unless he was on your team.
Typical press interview with Laimbeer:
Presstitute: "How do you think you will be remembered?"
Laimbeer answer, with bloodshot eyes: "I don't care."
Gotta love that.