If you watch a lot of HS sports you will see fat and slow fat and fast kids but typically it is more about a mixed skill level. My guess is the coach wanted them to intimidate the other players. Our coach did the same with us his saying was if they come in the paint he wanted them to leave in pain. If we did not use our fouls we had to run extra lines in the next practice. The weaker teams would resort to outside shooting and we would typically beat them. Larry Bird was just as dirty as Laimbeer and so was Jordan.