Michael Jordan Called Larry Bird And Bill Laimbeer Two Of The Dirtiest Players In The NBA In 1990

The level of physicality has certainly gone down in the NBA over the years. Nowadays, the referees are much stricter at officiating games as compared to during the 1980s or the 1990s. Evidently, the older generation saw some pretty dirty players in the league. The said players would try underhanded tricks to get the better of opposing superstars such as Michael Jordan.

Michael Jordan was the face of the league during the prime of his career, and obviously, every player wanted to stop Jordan from scoring with ease. Arguably Jordan's biggest obstacle during his career was the Bad Boys Pistons and the dirty tricks they used against him.

So much so that during a 1990 interview, MJ even called Bill Laimbeer of the Pistons the dirtiest player in the NBA. Surprisingly, the Chicago Bulls superstar also labeled Larry Bird as a close second to Laimbeer when it came to playing dirty.

Michael Jordan Explained How Bill Laimbeer And Larry Bird Were Different

In 1990, MJ made an appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show. It's the same episode when Isiah Thomas called Jordan the best player in the world by far before even winning an NBA Championship.

Anyway, further ahead in the episode, Mike was asked about his thoughts on who were the dirtiest players at the time. Well, Jordan gave the names of Bill Laimbeer and Larry Bird.

(Starts at 9:09)

“If you had 273 professional athletes, professional basketball players and you say who is the dirtiest player in the NBA. I say 95 percent will say it’s Laimbeer or Larry Bird. ... Holding, pulling, hard fouls - Laimbeer is very dirty in terms of he doesn't jump well, he can't block a shot. If we were on the fast break, he is not going to block my shot. To see him coming at me full steam ahead, it's only to knock me over, knock me out of balance. I already said he couldn't block my shot. That is the type of thing he does, and people don't appreciate it because we know he can't block shots."

He added about Bird, "Larry is good with playing you kind of slow, but all of a sudden, he will grab you by your pants, get open for a layup, or a three-point play. That is smart. It's not really cheating, but it's smart. He overcomes a lot of the things regarding natural ability that he doesn't have. He is not the quickest guy, he can't jump, but he overcomes it really well."

After calling Bird and Laimbeer the dirtiest players in the NBA, Jordan explained his point and stated the differences between them as well. While MJ believes Laimbeer is straight-up dirty, Bird used his IQ to outsmart his opponents and made up for what he lacked in his game.