Who are your craziest NBA players (on court) in history?

Ale Xander

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Not including off court stuff (Arenas, Rodman, Latrell), and not counting skills on court.

I got:

Backcourt
Jason Williams (White Chocolate)
Ricky Davis

Frontcourt
Ron Artest
Rasheed Wallace
Bobby Portis (recency bias)
 

Tony C

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Latrell Sprewell deserves a spot in that lineup.
PS: Kevin Garnett should at least be on the bench.
 

nighthob

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I mean there’s Marvin Barnes at #1. Everyone else is competing for #2 and it’s not particularly close.
 

nighthob

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And, Jaysus, how have we forgotten Javaris Crittenden who nearly murdered Gilbert Arenas in the Wizards’ locker room before murdering someone in real life (while out on bail on federal drug distribution charges). I guess I can forgive people forgetting Luther Ticky Burden.
 

jon abbey

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Besides those mentioned so far, Rick Mahorn and Anthony Mason.
 

HomeRunBaker

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When I played at Guilford College (NC) in the late 90’s we had the best closed pickup games in the area one summer. Local D-1 players, good D-3 players (weird but there was no D-2 in that area), then Stackhouse and Jeff Freakin McInnis. Let me tell you.....you cannot name an All-Insanity team, on or off the court, without including McInnis. The A-hole caused so much trouble that one time the school President was touring a couple suits when they witnessed one of his obscenity-laced barrages on players. That was it....the best pickup games in the state put to an end thanks to McInnis. I mean....the guy banged his Asst Coaches (Phil Ford) wife! There’s Nuts and then there is Jeff McInnis I Don’t Give A F#%* Nuts!!
 

Hoya81

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This is from the ABA days, but John Brisker:

-Had such a fearsome reputation as an enforcer that the team media guide depicted him wearing a pair of revolvers.
-A teammate once said "“He was an excellent player, but say something wrong to the guy and you had this feeling he would reach into his bag, take out a gun and shoot you.”
-Got into so many fights that he was named "heavyweight champion of the ABA".
-Got ejected 2 minutes into one game for a flagrant elbow and attempted to return to the court 3 different times to get the guy he elbowed before being threatened with arrest for trespassing.
-The Dallas Chapparals coach once put up a bounty of $500 for anyone that took Brisker out of the game. One of the bench guys volunteered, got put in the starting lineup and knocked Brisker out while the refs were distracted with the opening tip.
- And to top it all off, it's alleged that he was invited by Idi Amin in '78 to setup an import/export business in Uganda and promptly disappeared. His teammates speculated that he died either fighting as a mercenary or as the result of having upset Amin somehow. He was legally declared dead in 1985, but the State Department isn't even sure he traveled to Uganda in the first place.
 

bankshot1

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I'm not sure what crazy means here, (insane, eccentric, neurotic, etc.) but under most definitions, Darryl Dawkins (Chocolate Thunder) was one strange guy. He said he was from Lovetron, and liked to obliterate backboards, for shits and giggles. Dude was crazy.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Let’s not forget Brian Willams aka Bison Dele. Best known for:

1. Winning Championship with the Bulls
2. Trying to open the Emergency Exit on the Pistons team flight only to, thankfully, be restrained.
3. Being son of Singer of The Platters.
4. Disappearing at sea on his boat in Tahiti. His brother returned, nobody noticed Bison missing as he would randomly disappear for stretches, then his boat being found later on altered to extreme to disguise it. Then his brother killed himself later.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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If we’re not including off the court stuff, I think KG has to be in the starting lineup. The man used to get on his hands and knees and bark at guys. That’s crazy.
 
Sep 1, 2019
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edit delete. did not read thread title carefully....

This would be a good topic for the other major sports as well. Bill Lee and Mark Fidrych would certainly rank near the top in baseball, I'd nominate Otis Sistrunk from the University of Mars in the NFL, and perhaps any number of '70's era NHL goons like Dave Schultz.
 
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Jimbodandy

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I'm not sure what crazy means here, (insane, eccentric, neurotic, etc.) but under most definitions, Darryl Dawkins (Chocolate Thunder) was one strange guy. He said he was from Lovetron, and liked to obliterate backboards, for shits and giggles. Dude was crazy.
Man I fucking loved Darryl. What a character. Named his dunks. My favorite was In Your Face Disgrace.
 

worm0082

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Rodman, although I always thought it mostly an act that started once he got to San Antonio. He was basically normal in Detroit, then when he realized what being outrageous could do (money/fame) he dialed it up to 11.
 

Ale Xander

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Rodman, although I always thought it mostly an act that started once he got to San Antonio. He was basically normal in Detroit, then when he realized what being outrageous could do (money/fame) he dialed it up to 11.
/Checks username
Fits
 

cardiacs

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I have Sistrunk's Topps card from 1977(ish) and it was one of my most prized possessions back in the day. I would take the card out and marvel at his magnificence pretty regularly.
 

Smokey Joe

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Kliq

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I think the OP wanted us to more focus on pure "on-court" craziness as opposed to someone who had a lot of personal problems due to their behavior.

Artest is number one, just couldn't control himself at times. Draymond. Worm. Rasheed. Marvin Barnes. Those were guys who were all very good players but were also loose-cannons on the court.
 

Sam Ray Not

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Was Laimbeer crazy though? I think the sinister thing about him was he knew exactly what he was doing and each little cheap move was extremely calculated.
Yeah, I don’t think Bird loathes him (even today) because he was “crazy.” I think he loathes him cos he’s evil.
 

Jimbodandy

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Was Laimbeer crazy though? I think the sinister thing about him was he knew exactly what he was doing and each little cheap move was extremely calculated.
Damn right. He was a savvy cheap shot artist. Most fans wouldn't even know until someone retaliated. He'd jam an elbow in your ribs just to get you off your game, but not flagrantly.
 

HomeRunBaker

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Did you ask who it was? Or did you just ask “Was it Delonte West?”

I feel so bad about that guy sometimes.
Actually I said, “It was Delonte West, wasn’t it.”

Had no idea he lived here. Last I heard he was in Dallas where Cuban was trying to help him.
 

Bozo Texino

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Kermit Washington punched Rudy Tomjanovich so hard HE TASTED HIS OWN SPINAL FLUID.

And that shit happened at half-court.
 

dcdrew10

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Kermit Washington punched Rudy Tomjanovich so hard HE TASTED HIS OWN SPINAL FLUID.

And that shit happened at half-court.
That wasn't necessarily a case of Kermit being crazy. Rudy T was running up on a scuffle where Kermit had already been punched and there had been a brawl in an earlier in the season where Kareem got hurt and the rumors are that Kermit got chewed out for not stepping in to protect Kareem. In the Rockets game Kareem got into a scuffle with a JAG on the Rockets, Kermit stayed around to make sure Kareem didn't get hurt and got elbowed and punched by the JAG. Then Rudy came running in Kermit's periphery and Kermit reacted like someone was rolling up on him. Rudy didn't help himself; running at full speed into the punch of a 6'8 230 pro athlete multiplies the force and the angle were just bad news. It was a 1 in 100 punch.
 

Bozo Texino

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That wasn't necessarily a case of Kermit being crazy. Rudy T was running up on a scuffle where Kermit had already been punched and there had been a brawl in an earlier in the season where Kareem got hurt and the rumors are that Kermit got chewed out for not stepping in to protect Kareem. In the Rockets game Kareem got into a scuffle with a JAG on the Rockets, Kermit stayed around to make sure Kareem didn't get hurt and got elbowed and punched by the JAG. Then Rudy came running in Kermit's periphery and Kermit reacted like someone was rolling up on him. Rudy didn't help himself; running at full speed into the punch of a 6'8 230 pro athlete multiplies the force and the angle were just bad news. It was a 1 in 100 punch.
I'm familiar with the story. Still - SPINAL FLUID.

It's incredible to me that Rudy T actually got up from that punch.
 

nighthob

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I'm familiar with the story. Still - SPINAL FLUID.

It's incredible to me that Rudy T actually got up from that punch.
Kermit wasn’t crazy at all, he was just a guy that got to the NBA by bleeding the most from pretty marginal talent. (And before you yell out that he was a top ten pick, you should have a look at the cosmic wasteland that was the ‘73 draft, I think that George McGinnis got drafted that year, he’d be the best player from the pool.) Tough to call him a head case for being caught up in something that he felt horrible about.