Thread: Is Dirk the best player in the league?
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Old 11-16-2004, 03:29 PM   #61
V2M
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Default RE:Is Dirk the best player in the league?
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Originally posted by: razap
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Originally posted by: V2M
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Originally posted by: grndmstr_c
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There's no doubt that Dirk can score with the best of them. And though it's important, offensive firepower is not the complete game. He can handle the ball extremely well for a 7' player. It'd be nice to see him develop the all-court sense and passing ability like Bird had. Man, that would really be something!

But I tend to agree with 4cwebb. Until Dirk can consistently make opposing players take bad shots or force them into making bad passes (or even pass up shots), and then come up with that key block or steal with the game on the line, you just can't put him up against KG or TD. Until he takes his game to that next level, he'll probably never be seriously considered among the best in the league. In fact, Duncan's inexplicable mediocrity at the foul line (59% so far this year -- it costs him 2 points a game) is the only thing that keeps he and Garnett neck and neck. If Duncan were a 75% FT shooter, I believe Garnett would still be looking for his first MVP.
A couple things need to be said here. One is that the way Dirk is playing offense right now would be enough to overcome a sizeable advantage for any MVP competitors on the other side of the ball. He's averaging just over 1.28 points per scoring attempt, as compared to 1.07 for KG, and 1.045 for TD. Granted, that spread may or may not hold up, but that's still just a massive divide when you're talking about all-nba caliber players. Second, Dirk actually has quite a knack for making the game-breaking defensive play. He's not as consistently good on defense as TD or KG, not as versatile as KG, and not as good a post-defender as TD (who is IMO tops in the league in that respect), but it's hard to knock him too much when the Mavs' team defense with Dirk on the floor is holding opponents to ~100 points per 100 posessions, a figure that is identical to the number for the Spurs when Duncan is on the floor this year, and superior to the 104.6 pp100 the Wolves are allowing with Garnett on the floor. None of that is to say that I think Dirk is the best player in the league, because I don't think he's earned that distinction, but I do think it's fair to say that there's not a player in the league who's playing better than him so far this year.
Thanks for the research, gmc. Just validates my view that Dirk's the MVP so far. He's easily the best player on the best team and then of course, your numbers just show that he's also statistically the best player in the league so far.


best player on best team? the season is not even a month old yet so don't you think it is a bit early to start calling any team the best team yet?
Razap, I've ended both the sentences with a "so far".
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