Laimbeer doesn't regret refusing to shake hands with '91 Bulls: 'They're whiners'

It's been nearly 30 years but Bill Laimbeer hasn't softened. Instead, his Bad Boys reputation is living on -- as Laimbeer indicated he has no regrets for refusing to shake hands with the Chicago Bulls after Laimbeer's Detroit Pistons were swept in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals.

“They whined and cried for a year and half about how bad we were for the game,” Laimbeer told Rachel Nichols on The Jump. “We weren’t bad people. We were just basketball players, winning. … They’re just whiners. They won the series, give them credit. We got old, they got past us.”

Along with Laimbeer, those Pistons featured star point guard Isiah Thomas, lively forward Dennis Rodman, high-scoring forward Mark Aguirre and underrated shooting guard Joe Dumars. They won two titles and invented "The Jordan Rules," to keep Jordan at bay and Chicago from advancing. 

Those Pistons won two championships, dispatching of the Bulls along the way. (Incidentally, Rodman later played for the Bulls, but wasn't nearly the difference-maker he was in Detroit.)

But that all changed in 1991, the Bulls finally outclassing the Pistons. And for many who have seen ESPN's "The Last Dance," the Bulls outclassed the Pistons in more ways than one.

Watch Laimbeer’s complete interview in the video below.

Sam Amico covers pro basketball for Sports Illustrated. Follow him @AmicoHoops.