Don't exactly know what you mean by thugs. Because if you mean on court play, you couldn't be more wrong. There are no teams like Detroit Bad Boys or Reilly's Knicks. If you mean attitude, the post Jordan group like Iverson, etc have moved on.
Wade, Labron, Durrant, Dirk, Griffin, Love, Aldridge, Williams, Kobe, Paul, either Gasol, Rose - it is ridiculous to call any of these guys thugs. These guys learned from the poor example of the group of wannabe hip hop artist hoopers. These guys now have top flight PR reps and they listen to them.
As far as the hit is concerned. Think the guy got caught in no man's land with Griffin and was really more bracing for the hit than anything. And the throwing the arms up looked more like a surrender than a celebration. If you were watching basketball before 1986, you would have seen Bill Laimbeer do this about 4 times a game.