<p>The Bad Boys are back together.</p><p>Rick Mahorn will join Bill Laimbeer on the Detroit Shock bench, serving as Laimbeer's top assistant for the 2005 season, the team announced at a Thursday afternoon press conference. Laimbeer and Mahorn also work as announcers for the Detroit Pistons.</p><p>"I've been trying to convince Rick to do this for two years now," said Laimbeer, who took over the team in 2002. "This is a great hire for the franchise, because I believe that professional basketball players should be coached by people with professional-basketball experience. Rick has that, he lives in the area and he already has a great rapport with our players."</p><p>Mahorn and Laimbeer provided the toughness for the Pistons' 1989 championship, and their Rolling Stone cover is one of the most memorable images of the "Bad Boys" era.</p><p>"Everyone remembers them, and how tough they were," said Shock All-Star Swin Cash. "That's the attitude that they are going to bring to our team, and it's going to scare people around the league."</p><p>After his 18-year playing career, which included two stints with the Pistons, Mahorn, 46, worked as a head coach in the CBA and spent two years as an assistant with the Atlanta Hawks. He expects that his experience working for Laimbeer will be more fruitful than his time in Atlanta.</p><p>"When I was with the Hawks, I never even knew what my responsibilities were," he said. "That's not going to be the case here. I learned more in my first 15 minutes with Bill than I did in two years in Atlanta."</p><p>Laimbeer has been rumored to be a candidate for the general manager's job with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but strongly denied that again on Thursday.</p><p>"You know those false stories about me and Cleveland," he asked. "It's true _ they are all false. It's not happening."</p><p>Still, Laimbeer recognized that hiring a high-profile assistant was only going to feed the speculation.</p><p>"People are going to wonder if that's what this is all about, but it isn't," he said. "That said, if I get hit by a truck someday, I hope that Rick would be seen as a logical person to succeed me."</p><p>Mahorn joins the Shock just in time to help with the free-agent signing process. Teams can begin to sign players starting on Feb. 1, at which point Cash is expected to sign a maximum contract. Laimbeer is not allowed to comment on individual players, but hinted strongly that Detroit will be pursuing shooting guard Kedra Holland-Corn, who played for them during the 2003 championship season.</p><p>In the meantime, Mahorn's toughest questions came from his eight-year-old son, Derrick.</p><p>"Why did the Pistons fire you?" he asked, after raising his hand.</p><p>When his father explained that the team hadn't fired him in 1989, just left him unprotected in the expansion draft, Derrick had a follow-up ready to go.</p><p>"Well, I know Atlanta fired you," he stated, producing laughter from Laimbeer, Cash and most of the press conference's attendees.</p>
