There’s a certain element to being named the “dirtiest” in any given sport that’s almost flattering. Particularly if it just represents a knack for scrapping and clawing, rather than any outright malicious behaviour.
Hell, some athletes have built very successful careers around that. They embraced it. They were the dirtiest players in the game.
And for Australians playing in the NBA, that’s less a moniker as it is a necessity. We’re not exactly known for our fluent skills or technical prowess, so we make our way in the only way we know how – playing hard, fair, and refusing to take a backwards step.
So it’s probably not going to come as much of a shock to any of you that in a recent “informal” poll of NBA players and coaches taken by the Los Angeles Times, it was Melbourne attack dog/Cleveland Cavaliers backup guard Matthew Dellavedova who topped the list as the Dirtiest Player in the NBA.
In fact, Australians comprised slots one and three on that particular list, with Andrew Bogut coming in third. And if you count Oklahoma City Thunder centre/New Zealand man mountain Steven Adams, who came in second, the list becomes total ANZAC domination.
Of the 24 people that anonymously responded to the poll, Delly nabbed 13 votes, Adams polled 7, and Bogut scored 5. Matt Barnes and Serge Ibaka rounded out the top 5.
Delly, of course, drew controversy and the ire of opposition players and fans throughout the Cavs’ run through last season’s NBA Playoffs, en route to an unsuccessful NBA Finals appearance.
Three seperate incidents in particular drew negative attention – one which saw Chicago Bulls‘ Taj Gibson ejected from a game, one which injured the ankle of Atlanta Hawks‘ Kyle Korver, ending his playoffs campaign, and one with fellow Hawk Al Horford, who responded by dropping one of the all-time great elbow drops onto the back of Delly’s head.
So the debate rages: Is Delly a “dirty” player? Or is he merely a hard-nosed, fearless scrapper?
The “official” opinion on the matter seems to be somewhat split. The LA Times cites a “Western Conference coach,” who stated his case for Delly’s dirtiness.
“He’s as dirty as they come. When you’re hurting people, that is not OK.”
But in that same anonymous style, it was an apparently “old school” Eastern Conference assistant coach who gave this more considered assessment.
“He ain’t dirty. He just plays hard. See, guys resent people that play hard because they don’t want to play hard. So if a guy plays hard, he’s dirty. He’s not dirty. He just plays hard. People question the play he made in the playoffs against Korver. I just think it was poor judgment.”
But this “West” coach arguably had the best say on the overall matter, stating that in the modern game there really is no such thing as a true “dirty” player anymore.
“I don’t think there are any dirty players anymore. Back in the ’80s and ’90s, you could cheap-shot guys. But now it’s a fine, it’s a suspension, it’s a points system. There’s no enforcer like there used to be. Who’s an enforcer like Charles Oakley? There’s no enforcer because of the rules. How much can a little guard get under your skin? And Dellavedova is a backup. He ain’t dirty. None of these guys are dirty.”
As long as he keeps making buckets like these, I get the impression that very few people on the Cavs coaching staff will care whether he’s dirty or not.
