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Originally Posted by Murphy3
Dirk plays in a major market...it just happens to be a market that's more than capable of ignoring basketball at times...
But you're right.. Dirk will be a Hall of Famer once he's gone. But, judging by what's said by most of the local media, you'd never know...
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We wont really know the full impact of Dirk on basketball until he's been retired for 5-6 seasons and a whole new crop of tall, athletic forwards come into the league trying to imitate Dirk's moves at the elbow.
Dirk has set the standard for that demographic of players, and given the growth of basketball overseas, I would expect more of them to come into the league. Bargnani was the first pick in the draft because of Dirk. Every one of those guys will be compared to Dirk because of Dirk's greatness. Every one of those players will have to live up to Dirk's competitiveness, work ethic, and how he was able to lead an anually contending team over the giants of his era. It's the same way that the media compares players to Bird, Magic, and Jordan. Dirk will be one of those guys.