Former Pistons enforcer Bill Laimbeer has a reputation for being one of the dirtiest players — due to all the cheap shots he put on his opponents — the NBA has ever seen, but he was, to his credit, a tenacious defender.
Laimbeer made life difficult for everyone he played against, and always gave 110 percent. He didn’t necessarily play by the book, within the rules, but he quickly learned what he could and couldn’t get away doing — using that grey area to be extremely effective on the court.
He was the perfect example of what the “Bad Boys” Pistons resembled, and played against some of the greatest players the NBA ever saw, such as Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and others.
And yet, he doesn’t believe any of them are the GOAT. Instead, he thinks LeBron James is the greatest player to ever suit up and play in the NBA.
“I’m very vocal, I think LeBron [James] is the best player that has ever played the game,” Laimbeer said on ESPN’s “First Take.” “He’s 6-foot-8, 285 pounds, runs like the wind, and jumps out of the gym. More importantly, when he came into the league from day one, he knew how to involve his teammates to win. That’s something Jordan had to learn for a long time.
“Now if you go by championships, obviously Michael Jordan has more championships. But I think LeBron in any generation would be doing what he’s doing right now all these years. At the end of the day, I firmly believe that he is the best basketball player in the history of the game.”
We believe it’s actually MJ, but LeBron is certainly in the top five.
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