15 Most Abusive Players in the NBA

The NBA is no longer a league of tough guys.

Gone are the days of the enforcer, the guy who is on the roster to commit six fouls a night or a hard-nosed team like Detroit's "Bad Boys" of the 80's.

Also not in the league are players like Dennis Rodman, Charles Oakley, Karl Malone or Bill Laimbeer, who would not hesitate to dish out a hard foul.

Even the former Ron Artest has now turned into a good guy who changed his name to Metta World Peace.

So who are the tough guys in the league?

While some are mentally tough and many will play through pain, this list will discuss the guys who dish out the most fouls, pick up the most technicals and are ejected the most often.  

Players are not ranked in any particular order.

DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings

Fouls per game: 4.1
Fouls per 48 minutes: 6.9
Technical Fouls: 14
Flagrant Fouls: 0
Ejections: 3

Sacramento's DeMarcus Cousins may be the most frequent fouler in the NBA. He commited 332 last season

While he is one of the more talented young players in the league, Cousins needs to do a lot of work next season to decrease his fouls, stay on the court and control his emotions.

If he can find a way to do those things, he will have time to continue to develop the talent that he has and will become a great NBA player.

Derrick Favors, Utah Jazz

Fouls per game: 3.2
Fouls per 48 minutes: 7.7
Technical Fouls: 0
Flagrant Fouls: 0
Ejections: 0

The Utah Jazz are going to rely heavily on Derrick Favors to be a big part of their future. If it is going to work, he must learn to play strong defense without fouling.

As the youngest player in the league last season, he played for two different teams which did not help him out much in this area.

With a little bit of consistency he should be able to drop his total fouls per 48 minutes.

To his credit, he didn't have any flagrant or technical fouls.

Nikola Pekovic, Minnesota Timberwolves

Fouls per game: 2.8
Fouls per 48 minutes: 9.8
Technical Fouls: 0
Flagrant Fouls: 0
Ejections: 0

The only statistic that puts Nikola Pekovic on the list is his high number of fouls per 48 minutes.

Perhaps it is a bit unfair as he played in only 65 games last season, but at 9.8 the number is still high for that many games.

Pekovic is going to have to decrease that number if he is going to stick around in Minnesota where they have several big men who can easily take his minutes.

Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic

Fouls per game: 3.3
Fouls per 48 minutes: 4.2
Technical Fouls: 18
Flagrant Fouls: 1
Ejections: 0

There is no question that Dwight Howard is one of the most dominant players in the NBA, so maybe the fact that he had a high amount of technical fouls last season is easily overlooked.

His scoring and rebounding ability far outweighs the fouls per game and his one flagrant foul, and he will be one of the most talked about players in trade rumors this season.

His technical foul number of 18 is one of the highest last season and is what landed him on this list.

Ryan Hollins, Cleveland Cavaliers

Fouls per game: 2.8
Fouls per 48 minutes: 8.1
Technical Fouls: 4
Flagrant Fouls: 2
Ejections: 2

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a few more pressing issues to deal with, but if Ryan Hollins wants to stay in the league, he may have to drop these numbers or increase his scoring average.

It is true that an athletic seven footer is hard to come by, but two flagrant fouls and two ejections in less than a full season last year does not help him out much.

Andray Blatche, Washington Wizards

Fouls per game: 2.8
Fouls per 48 minutes: 4.0
Technical Fouls: 11 
Flagrant Fouls: 1
Ejections: 0

In the 64 games that Andray Blatche played last season, he actually had a pretty low foul per game number.

The thing that qualified him for this list was the 11 technical fouls and the one flagrant foul. One could assume that those numbers would be higher had he played the additional 18 games last season.

Blatche is a good young player who is set to have a breakout season. He just needs to be a little more careful to avoid the technical fouls.

Elton Brand, Philadelphia 76ers

Fouls per game: 3
Fouls per 48 minutes: 4.2
Technical Fouls: 4
Flagrant Fouls: 3
Ejections: 1

It is no secret that Elton Brand is frustrated in Philadelphia, but three flagrant fouls and an ejection is not a good way to express it.

Brand's foul numbers are not too high, but his flagrant foul total was one of the highest in the league last season.

Andrew Bynum, Los Angeles Lakers

Fouls per game: 2.6
Fouls per 48 minutes: 4.5
Technical Fouls: 4
Flagrant Fouls: 1
Ejections: 2

Andrew Bynum's foul totals were not too high in the 54 games that he played last season.

He also had a flagrant foul and two ejections, and will have to sit out the first five games of this season for his hit on J.J. Barea in last year's playoffs.

Amar'e Stoudemire, New York Knicks

Fouls per game: 3.5
Fouls per 48 minutes: 4.6
Technical Fouls: 15 
Flagrant Fouls: 0 
Ejections: 0

Like Dwight Howard, other parts of Amare Stoudemire's game outweighs any foul problems that he has.

With those two guys, this negative statistic is one that is easily swept under the rug. 

Stoudemire's per game averages are not too high, but like Howard, his total number of technical fouls is among the higher in the league.

Stephen Jackson, Milwaukee Bucks

Fouls per game: 2.4
Fouls per 48 minutes: 3.2
Technical Fouls: 15
Flagrant Fouls: 1
Ejections: 2

Stephen Jackson does not foul much, but makes the list due to his technical fouls.

Add in a flagrant foul last season and a couple of ejections, and he qualifies to be here.

Perhaps that now he is out of Charlotte, he will be able to keep a level head and decrease his technical fouls, but Jackson is a guy that has always played with a lot of emotion.

He did accomplish all of this while missing 15 games of the season last year.

Amir Johnson, Toronto Raptors

Fouls per game: 3.7
Fouls per 48 minutes: 6.8
Technical Fouls: 3
Flagrant Fouls: 0
Ejections: 0

Amir Johnson was second only to DeMarcus Cousins in the frequency with which he committed a foul last season.

Johnson played only about 25 minutes per game and averaged 6.8 fouls per 48 minutes played. Unlike Cousins, Johnson was able to keep his cool and only had three technical fouls all season.

Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers

Fouls per game: 3.1
Fouls per 48 minutes: 3.9
Technical Fouls: 12
Flagrant Fouls: 1
Ejections: 1

Blake Griffin is another All-Star who is so valuable to his team that a few fouls will be overlooked.

Despite all of his offensive abilities, he had a high amount of technical fouls last season. Add in a flagrant foul and an ejection, and Griffin has found a part of his game that he can work on.

Nick Collison, Oklahoma City Thunder

Fouls per game: 3
Fouls per 48 minutes: 6.6
Technical Fouls: 1
Flagrant Fouls: 2
Ejections: 0

Nick Collison of the Thunder is not called on to score much and is looked at more for his defense.

Last season he only played a bit more that 21 minutes a game and averaged a foul about every seven minutes on the court. He averaged a foul-out for every 48 minutes that he played.

He also picked up a couple of flagrant fouls but avoided any ejections.

Tyrus Thomas, Charlotte Bobcats

Fouls per game: 2.8
Fouls per 48 minutes: 6.3
Technical Fouls: 8
Flagrant Fouls: 1
Ejections: 1

At 6.3 fouls per 48 minutes, Tyrus Thomas has a fairly high number. This statistic is a bit misleading as Thomas only played in 41 games.

The reason he makes this list is despite playing only half of a season, he still managed to pick up eight technical fouls, a flagrant foul and an ejection.

If he had played the other half of the season, it is projected that he would be among the league leaders in each of those areas.

Marc Gasol, Memphis Grizzlies

Fouls per game: 3.3
Fouls per 48 minutes: 4.9
Technical Fouls: 5
Flagrant Fouls: 1
Ejections: 1

Marc Gasol was a very important part of the Memphis Grizzlies last season, and he was also the team's player that was most likely to foul.

He played in 81 games and averaged 4.9 fouls per 48 minutes. He committed a total of 265 fouls with a flagrant and an ejection.

While alone none of these stats are high, they all add up for him to be on the list.

Foul Statistics found on www.espn.com