When the Las Vegas Aces traded for Elizabeth Cambage it was widely assumed they would coast to the WNBA title, yet that did not occur. Think about it. Laimbeer had Kelsey Plum, the 2017 1st overall pick, Aja Wilson, the 2018 1st overall pick and Rookie of the Year as well as the 2019 1st overall pick in Jackie Young. To this he had Elizabeth Cambage, a first team all star. Not only did he fail to get to the finals he needed a miracle shot from D’aerica Hamby to get to the semifinals. With all this talent Lambeer somehow managed to be not even a top 3 seed in the WNBA finals.
So how did this happen?
Simple. Bill Laimbeer pissed away regular season games with nonsensical playing time decisions. When the Liberty acquired Sugar Rodgers in the off season it was praised. I, however, thought it was a mistake cause Tamara Young was already on the team. These two players would combine for Lambeer to play his crappy players as opposed to his actual good and talented players. Look at some of these games the Aces lost:
Let’s review games that he cost them: 2019 game versus the New York Liberty, who were the second worst team in the league they lost by 10.:
Elizabeth Cambage only played 25 minutes
Kelsey Plum only played 22 minutes
but for some reason Tamara Young got 20 minutes shooting 3 for 7 with 2 turnovers
Sugar Rodgers played 10 minutes shooting 2 for 5
Indiana on Tuesday August 27th, also an awful team and game they would lose 86-71
Kayla McBride only played 11 minutes
Elizabeth Cambage only played 25 minutes
Atlanta Thursday September 5th 78-74 Atlanta
Kelsy Plum only played 21 minutes
Tamara Young 25 minutes
Those are three horrible teams that the Aces have to beat, all because Laimbeer had to play HIS players instead of his good and talented ones. This also happened in games against talented teams as well. The Aces should have been a 2 or 3 seed instead of a 4. If they had played the Mystics in the Finals with Elena Delle Donne’s back injury they probably would have won. Instead they lost to a healthy Mystics in four games where they did not have home court cause Laimbeer had to Laimbeer during the regular season. The Las Vegas Aces need to fire Lambeer and get a real coach and they can go about possibly winning a title.