Inspired by bearister's comments about Matt Barnes in another thread, who do you think are or were the dirtiest players to ever play basketball? Here are a few of the ones I didn't like:

Bill Laimbeer

Rick Mahorn

Jim Luscotoff

Matt Barnes

Hard to determine how dirty a player is. They are either dirty or they're not. Some players are just more physical or agressive, but not dirty - as that seems more of an attitude. Also, some players do dirty things when frustrated or desperate, but aren't dirty players. Most dirty players are contributors, but not primary players on their teams.

Didn't see Locscutoff play, so can't comment. But he's not known as a primary part of the Celtics run, so he must be dirty to get coverage

Of the other three, Laimbeer and Barnes were dirty, I would call Mahorn physical (and sometimes desperate)

Laimbeer probably gets more credit, since he was more critical to Pistons championship runs than Barnes ever was to any team.

As I said, hard to remember dirty players, because they aren't that important.

A related question: Has Cal ever had a player that you considered "dirty"?

Chapman_is_Gone said:

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A related question: Has Cal ever had a player that you considered "dirty"?

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I don't consider him a dirty player - but didn't Mr. VanderLaan have an incident? Or am I misremembering?

ncbears said:

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Chapman_is_Gone said:

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A related question: Has Cal ever had a player that you considered "dirty"?

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I don't consider him a dirty player - but didn't Mr. VanderLaan have an incident? Or am I misremembering?

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I recall he gave Dan Gadzuric? a bloody nose. He was a physical player and swung his elbows alot, but not what I would call dirty.

Cal's dirtiest player in recent memory might be Monty Buckley. But most of his shenanigans were more in the line of gamesmanship - not really dirty. His best move was body contact after play had ended with his hands up in order to piss off the opposing player. Worked well.

I'm sure P12 opponents thought Jorge was dirty, but opponents often feel that way about good defense.

I loved Taylor Harrison. He got in guys' heads. Players were always throwing punches at him. He must have been sneaky.




The 25 Dirtiest NBA Players in League History

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1176326-the-25-dirtiest-players-in-league-history

SFCityBear said:

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Inspired by bearister's comments about Matt Barnes in another thread, who do you think are or were the dirtiest players to ever play basketball? Here are a few of the ones I didn't like:

Bill Laimbeer

Rick Mahorn

Jim Luscotoff

Matt Barnes

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I remember Loscutoff's rep as the designated enforcer for the Celtics but I don't think I ever saw him play. Most teams of that era had a designated hit man. Laimbeer was probably the dirtiest player I ever saw but he had lots of company on that Pistons team. One of the reasons I was lost interest in the NBA was the "Hockey in Sneakers" era epitomized by the Detroit Bad Boys.

I'll go with John Brisker, the former ABA star/enforcer. Disappeared in Uganda on a visit to see Idi Amin and was never seen again. Declared legally dead 7 years later

any list must be headlines by Barnes who was a thoroughgoing jerk on and off the court.

Chapman_is_Gone said:

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A related question: Has Cal ever had a player that you considered "dirty"?

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A Cal player? Never.

59bear said:

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SFCityBear said:

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Inspired by bearister's comments about Matt Barnes in another thread, who do you think are or were the dirtiest players to ever play basketball? Here are a few of the ones I didn't like:

Bill Laimbeer

Rick Mahorn

Jim Luscotoff

Matt Barnes

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I remember Loscutoff's rep as the designated enforcer for the Celtics but I don't think I ever saw him play. Most teams of that era had a designated hit man. Laimbeer was probably the dirtiest player I ever saw but he had lots of company on that Pistons team. One of the reasons I was lost interest in the NBA was the "Hockey in Sneakers" era epitomized by the Detroit Bad Boys.

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Me too.

59bear said:

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SFCityBear said:

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Inspired by bearister's comments about Matt Barnes in another thread, who do you think are or were the dirtiest players to ever play basketball? Here are a few of the ones I didn't like:

Bill Laimbeer

Rick Mahorn

Jim Luscotoff

Matt Barnes

---

I remember Loscutoff's rep as the designated enforcer for the Celtics but I don't think I ever saw him play. Most teams of that era had a designated hit man. Laimbeer was probably the dirtiest player I ever saw but he had lots of company on that Pistons team. One of the reasons I was lost interest in the NBA was the "Hockey in Sneakers" era epitomized by the Detroit Bad Boys.

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I only saw Luscotoff on TV, and in those early days of NBA on TV, there were not many closeups. Here is an interesting article about Jungle Jim Luscotoff: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-06-09-sp-10006-story.html Maybe he was more of a physical player than dirty.

Tom Meschery of the Warriors was a similar player, an enforcer like Luscotoff. Meschery once said after a game where the Warriors were losing, but rallied to win, that he went back into the game and purposely started a fight to fire up his team.

Agree. The NBA sucked back then.

SFCityBear said:

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Inspired by bearister's comments about Matt Barnes in another thread, who do you think are or were the dirtiest players to ever play basketball? Here are a few of the ones I didn't like:

Bill Laimbeer

Rick Mahorn

Jim Luscotoff

Matt Barnes

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I think you've gotta' add Kermit Washington ... 1977 ... and how about Kurt Rambis ?

Kermit was an Enforcer, which doesn't mean he was necessarily dirty. I believe his defense was he thought Rudy T was charging him from the blind side to attack him during a court melee and Kermit turned and threw a punch and it had the force of two runaway freight trains colliding. The article below was written before The Punch:

'Nobody, but nobody, is going to hurt my teammates' | Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com


https://vault.si.com/vault/1977/10/31/nobody-but-nobody-is-going-to-hurt-my-teammates
https://www.google.com/amp/s/vault.si.com/.amp/vault/1977/10/31/nobody-but-nobody-is-going-to-hurt-my-teammates

sonofabear51 said:

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Agree. The NBA sucked back then.

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Depends on what you mean by "sucked". I think the game was just physical, and teams had to have an enforcer to protect star players, in case things went too far.

My dad played a year for Cal in 1931, and when I was growing up in the 1950s, he and I would play hunch, or one on one, for hours, and I always came home pretty banged up, especially my hands and arms. Black and blue all over, and was sore for a couple days afterward. Back when he played, almost nothing was a foul. I played some hunch with one of my dad's teammates, and it was the same thing. The 1950s and 1960s were a gentler time in basketball. I remember watching a lot of basketball in those years, all the great Cal teams, Wooden's UCLA teams, and the Celtics and the Warriors. I much prefer the game of that day to today, because I like more physical play, and more defense, but I don't like dirty play, like Laimbeer, actually trying to hurt a player and get him out of the game. If someone like Luscotoff had been on the Celtics when Laimbeer clotheslined Larry Bird, it would have been Laimbeer who would have paid a price later, maybe targeted for some serious hurt. Tough defense often gets the stars upset, and sometimes fights erupt. I don't think fighting is dirty, but the stuff guys like Mutombo is credited with doing, is unacceptable, and that is why enforcers used to be needed. Nowadays, defenders aren't allowed to put hands on another player, so there are fewer fights.

SFCityBear said:

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Inspired by bearister's comments about Matt Barnes in another thread, who do you think are or were the dirtiest players to ever play basketball? Here are a few of the ones I didn't like:

Bill Laimbeer

Rick Mahorn

Jim Luscotoff

Matt Barnes

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Others:

Ron Artest

Rasheed Wallace

Charles Oakley

#1 is Bruce "Kung Fu" Bowen

Edit: How could I possibly forget Danny Ainge?

bearister said:

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I loved Taylor Harrison. He got in guys' heads. Players were always throwing punches at him. He must have been sneaky.




The 25 Dirtiest NBA Players in League History

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1176326-the-25-dirtiest-players-in-league-history

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Yeah. Don't know if he was dirty, but he had more than one guy take a swing at him for some reason--maybe sharp elbows. He definitely got under the skin of opposing players.

John Stockton wasn't a Princess Buttercup.
He was a Prince Humperdinck.

I'll ad Matthew Delavadova to the list.

UrsaMajor said:

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I'll ad Matthew Delavadova to the list.

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Draymond is dirtier. Steven Adams should have throat punched him.

ncbears said:

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Chapman_is_Gone said:

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A related question: Has Cal ever had a player that you considered "dirty"?

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I don't consider him a dirty player - but didn't Mr. VanderLaan have an incident? Or am I misremembering?

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During Vanderlaan's time at Cal, I was working for a healthcare company handling outside medical claims, and one of the claims that came across my desk was for an ER visit by an opposing player (WSU??). I can't recall exactly what the injury was, but at the time I was very amused by reading the ER notes explaining the cause of injury, since I had been at the game and remembered the incident that had sent the player to the ER! (Did it involve biting or scratching maybe??)
In general, I thought that Vanderlaan and Taylor Harrison were more about getting under opponents' skin (not literally) and causing opponents to take T's, not actually making very many dirty plays. At least not so many obvious ones!

joe amos yaks said:

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SFCityBear said:

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Inspired by bearister's comments about Matt Barnes in another thread, who do you think are or were the dirtiest players to ever play basketball? Here are a few of the ones I didn't like:

Bill Laimbeer

Rick Mahorn

Jim Luscotoff

Matt Barnes

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I think you've gotta' add Kermit Washington ... 1977 ... and how about Kurt Rambis ?

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I see you're a Celtics fan

bearister said:

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UrsaMajor said:

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I'll ad Matthew Delavadova to the list.

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Draymond is dirtier. Steven Adams should have throat punched him.

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I've never seen Draymond repeatedly dive at anyone's knees with his shoulders.

bluesaxe said:

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bearister said:

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UrsaMajor said:

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I'll ad Matthew Delavadova to the list.

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Draymond is dirtier. Steven Adams should have throat punched him.

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I've never seen Draymond repeatedly dive at anyone's knees with his shoulders.

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Correct, he is more of foot to ball sack man.

Matt Barnes

SFCityBear said:

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Inspired by bearister's comments about Matt Barnes in another thread, who do you think are or were the dirtiest players to ever play basketball? Here are a few of the ones I didn't like:

Bill Laimbeer

Rick Mahorn

Jim Luscotoff

Matt Barnes

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Conrad Dobler. Yes, I know he was a football player, but he was so dirty you just have to mention him in every conversation no matter what sport.

I never heard that John Stockton was a dirty player. Was he actually?

Bearprof said:

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I never heard that John Stockton was a dirty player. Was he actually?

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I don't know where these people get this fake news.

OaktownBear said:

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SFCityBear said:

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Inspired by bearister's comments about Matt Barnes in another thread, who do you think are or were the dirtiest players to ever play basketball? Here are a few of the ones I didn't like:

Bill Laimbeer

Rick Mahorn

Jim Luscotoff

Matt Barnes

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Conrad Dobler. Yes, I know he was a football player, but he was so dirty you just have to mention him in every conversation no matter what sport.

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What about Lloyd Dobler, kickboxer?

bearister said:

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bluesaxe said:

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bearister said:

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UrsaMajor said:

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I'll ad Matthew Delavadova to the list.

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Draymond is dirtier. Steven Adams should have throat punched him.

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I've never seen Draymond repeatedly dive at anyone's knees with his shoulders.

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Correct, he is more of foot to ball sack man.

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He missed his calling as an NFL punter.

But seriously, it's been many trophies since he last kicked someone sqa' in the nuts.