When you think of the former Detroit Pistons, great Bill Laimbeer, you most likely remember him for his time with the team during the Bad Boys era. You probably had no idea that he was actually on the children’s television show Land of the Lost far before his Bad Boys days.
Bill Laimbeer apparently played a Sleestak, which was an aggressive humanoid/lizard creature that kind of resembled an insect. The show focused on our family’s efforts to survive and find a way back to their own world, which got trapped in an alternative universe inhabited by dinosaurs and other creatures.
Bill Lambeer just so happened to be lucky enough to go to a high school where people from the show were looking for interested parties to be a part of the show, as his Wikipedia entry explains:
Laimbeer played a Sleestak on the children’s TV series Land of the Lost before attending Notre Dame. He was a Palos Verdes High School student, and the Land of the Lost show solicited their basketball team for tall people to play Sleestaks.
He would go on to make more of an impact on the court then on television, gaining two NBA championships, four NBA All-Star games, his number 40 jersey retired by the Detroit Pistons, and even winning three WNBA championships in his coaching career.
It’s kind of a bummer he didn’t reprise his role in the remake with Will Ferrell and Danny McBride, but he was a bit busy coaching while they were making the film.
Every Detroit Pistons All-Star Player
Ranked by number of appearances, these are the 34 men who have been named All-Stars as Detroit Pistons.
Gallery Credit: Jacob Harrison