| 03 August 2009
Remember back in the day when everyone in the league seemed like the dirtiest player in the game?
I mean, you had Rick Mahorn, Bill Laimbeer and Dennis Rodman – and that’s just Detroit alone in the mid-8o’s. Outside of the Pistons, marquee guys like Larry Bird were said to play “dirty”. Even before that, Portland’s own Maurice Lucas was known to mix it up during his days in the ABA.
There’s the classic tale from Lucas’ St. Louis days where he got into it with Artis Gilmore and ended up dropping Gilmore with two quick punches, then proceeded to parade around him taunting Gilmore as he laid sprawled out on the ground.
But is throwing a couple haymakers or just playing physical really criteria for being tagged a “dirty player” these days?
Not sure how many now would call Lucas a "dirty player." He was an enforcer. Is that any different?
Or are we talking about Robert Horry hip checking Steve Nash into a courtside playoff advertising scroll, or Bruce Bowen occasionally – and professed accidently – sliding his foot under Jamal Crawford’s foot when the shooting guard came down after a jumper?
Once that labeled is slapped on you it's hard to rip it off.
Heck, I even open my Bowen story with that illustration.
For my money, I put a guy like Matt Barnes – now with the Orlando Magic – up there, even before Bowen, as the “dirtiest player in the game”.
It’s a total Catch-22 though. Guys like Barnes and Bowen are despised around the league for such suspect play, but their hometown fan base salute them nightly and speak often about them in hushed heroic tones.
Maybe every team needs a guy like that.
Or maybe we need to determine what makes for a “dirty player”.
pic via: bleacher report
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