Official Dirk is Great Thread

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Pudge has to be in that conversation. He's clearly top five at his position all time.

Nolan's not in that conversation regardless of his time spent with the Rangers.

nolan is THE most overrated athlete in history.

[Five-ofan]

but to get this thread back to where it should be, Dirk is throwing up a 27.9/9.2/2.9/1.7/1.1 with 1.0 turnovers per game on 46% shooting with 43% 3pt shooting and 91% ft shooting statline in november. BEAST

[Nowitzki4President]

Greatest PF when it's all said and done, anyone?

And more likely, greatest foreign born player ever.

And most definitely, greatest player to ever be boo'd when he was drafted.

[badfish22]

Originally Posted by Nowitzki4President

Greatest PF when it's all said and done, anyone?

And more likely, greatest foreign born player ever.

And most definitely, greatest player to ever be boo'd when he was drafted.

Hes already the best European player ever that much is for sure. Best pf ever is stretching and probably not likely at all.
If he can win a championship his name will be mentioned when talking about the top 3 maybe (still think Duncan is a Center)

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by Five-ofan

nolan is THE most overrated athlete in history.

Myself and this guy disagrees with you.. I don't actually think you give Nolan as much credit as he deserves for the mere fact of introducing weight training to pitchers. One of the greatest imo and well deserving of any an all accolades.

[Nowitzki4President]

Originally Posted by badfish22

Hes already the best European player ever that much is for sure. Best pf ever is stretching and probably not likely at all.
If he can win a championship his name will be mentioned when talking about the top 3 maybe (still think Duncan is a Center)

Well lets see... Dirk, Malone, Duncan?, Garnett, Bird?, anyone else?

Duncan might be a 5 and Bird maybe a 3...

[dude1394]

Bird was definitely a 3 I thought with McHale and the Chief out there.

[chumdawg]

Yeah, Bird was definitely a 3. As for the 4, I don't think you can make a meaningful distinction anymore. Malone would be a 5 if he played today.

As for local players, I think you all are forgetting the great Tatu.

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by Nowitzki4President

Greatest PF when it's all said and done, anyone?

And more likely, greatest foreign born player ever.

And most definitely, greatest player to ever be boo'd when he was drafted.

i doubt he passes olujawon for greatest foreign born player.

[CadBane]

http://www.82games.com/0910/0910DAL.HTM

This is flat out uncanny. Dirk leads the NBA with a +43.2 net for the season.

The Mavs are -27.5 with Dirk off the court. -27.5.

Do you realize how insane that is for someone that plays heavy minutes?

For comparison Net's.

Dirk: +43.2
Wade: +23.4
Kobe: +20.4
LeBron: +16.4
TD: +0.2
D12: +18.6

+20 better than the next best superstar.

[grndmstr_c]

The off-court is going to be less reliable for someone who plays heavy minutes. Still, it's a pretty damn striking number. I've been hoping that the eventual (fingers crossed) concurrent availability of Marion, Josh, Damp, Gooden, and TT will help move that up.

[dude1394]

Nothing needs to be said...Photos #9.

http://www.nba.com/mavericks/communi...dunk_2009.html

[GermanDunk]

The MVP award being relayed to the (medieval) Dirk !


( New uniform )
( and somehow the horse managed to get on the picture )

[dude1394]

No wonder that dude is nearly unblockable. I never really noticed how far above his head he shoots it.

Posted by Stephen Rhodes under NBA Game Recap

[dude1394]

So I heard Ortegal and Followill(sp) talking about the dirkster being top 20 in blocks this year (2 last night it appears). They said that the dirkster has noticed that and yakked about getting into the top 10.

Now the dirkster is probably kidding, BUT it would be an extremely significant achievement for himself and would directly translate to W's imo. I hope he was only half joking about it.

[dude1394]

More greatness.
http://www.nba.com/mavericks/communi...rsonaward.html
All Stars Helping Kids
Buzz up!

vote now

All Stars Helping Kids Announces Ten Athletes For 2010 Jefferson Awards For Public Service

World Champions Venus Williams and Lauryn Williams, MLB star Curtis Granderson, NBA All-Stars Dwight Howard and Dirk Nowitzki, NFL star Justin Tuck form core “Dream Team For Public Service” for prestigious Jefferson Award

SAN FRANCISCO (November 23, 2009) – Ronnie Lott, NFL Hall of Famer and founder of All Stars Helping Kids, today announced the ten “Dream Team For Public Service” winners from 53 nominees selected for the Jefferson Awards for Public Service, which will recognize the top athletes who have given back to their community. The ten will be officially recognized in New York City at the third annual Sports Business and Philanthropy Luncheon on Tuesday, December 8. In addition, two top winners will be honored at the national Jefferson Awards ceremony June 22nd in Washington, D.C. Past Jefferson Awards winners include four Supreme Court Justices, seven Secretaries of State; as well as Oprah Winfrey, Alan Greenspan, Peyton Manning, Colin Powell, Lance Armstrong, Barbara Bush and Bill and Melinda Gates.

The ten “Dream Team For Public Service” winners (whose capsule accomplishments are attached) were selected by the prestigious Jefferson Award board and public voting:

· Nnamdi Asomugha (Lafayette, La.) defensive back, Oakland Raiders, NFL
· Curtis Granderson (Chicago, Ill.), all-star outfielder Detroit Tigers, MLB
· Stuart Holden (Houston, Tx.) forward, Houston Dynamo, MLS
· Dwight Howard (Orlando, Fla.), all-star forward, Orlando Magic, NBA
· Dirk Nowitzki (Wurzburg, Germany), all-star forward, Dallas Mavericks, NBA
· Tyrus Thomas (Baton Rouge, La.), forward, Chicago Bulls, NBA
· Justin Tuck (Coosa County, Ala.) all-pro defensive end, New York Giants, NFL
· Lauryn Williams (Rochester, Pa.), Olympian and World Champion sprinter
· Venus Williams (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) Olympian and Grand Slam champion, WTA
· Ryan Zimmerman (Washington, N.C.) all-star outfielder, Washington Nationals, MLB

[left texas]

Now that is greatness!!

[Underdog]

Just more proof that Dirk is soft - you don't see Kevin Garnett doing public service for children!

[GermanDunk]

Originally Posted by Underdog

Just more proof that Dirk is soft - you don't see Kevin Garnett doing public service for children!

He probably prefers playing Basketball on Wii or such

[sefant77]

Originally Posted by GermanDunk

He probably prefers playing Basketball on Wii or such

Nah, he is yelling at the Nintendo Support Hotline where the hell the damn taunting button is.

[Sportstudi]

Originally Posted by sefant77

Nah, he is yelling at the Nintendo Support Hotline where the hell the damn taunting button is.

[fluid.forty.one]

dirk is the f*cking man

[GermanDunk]

Originally Posted by sefant77

Nah, he is yelling at the Nintendo Support Hotline where the F**k the taunting button is.

Kg would put it that way

[fluid.forty.one]

Dirk is now 36th on the all-time NBA career points list.

[Kidd Karma]

Originally Posted by fluid.forty.one

Dirk is now 36th on the all-time NBA career points list.

Just sliding up that HOF list.

[GermanDunk]

I´m not 100 % sure, but i believe Dallas Mavericks made the CNN world sport " play of the day " for two consecutive days.

[dude1394]

The blond giant! I like that...Fun inside look at the latest mavs/nets.

http://www.slamonline.com/online/blo...cks-at-nets-2/

It’s around this time when the blonde giant crashes into the locker room. Dirk Nowitzki throws the door open with a crash, inadvertently demolishing the flimsy partition that keeps prying eyes from glimpsing, well, James Singleton. Dirk pauses to assess the damage, then strides through the locker room, loping like a bodybuilder, arms held far from his sides. He enters the bathroom and—thanks to his new, wider profile—crashes into the doorframe. We decide that his new moniker is “The Incredible Goldilocks.” He coincidentally re-emerges from the back just as the locker room is closed to the media, and heads out into the hall with us, where he puts both feet into a large rubberband to do lateral drills. Together with another member of the national media, we begin to compose imaginary leads: “All-Star Dirk Nowitzki, his ankles bound by a rubberband, scored 36 points last night as his Dallas Mavericks defeated the New Jersey Nets 112-76…”

[fluid.forty.one]

Dirk is now 35th on the all-time NBA career points list.

[nashtymavsfan13]

I heart Dirk.

[badfish22]

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/spor...words.php#more

*On his relationship with the Dallas media:

"I always did a pretty good job of keeping my private life and everything out of the media. I was doing fine with that the first 10 years of my career. Obviously, this summer was a different animal with the stuff that went on and what happened. I also understand we have to play along with the media. It's part of our job. Some of it is fun, (but) sometimes it gets a little much with all the photo shoots for the millionth time. Most of the time I'm just trying to have fun and be me and do everything with a smile on my face. Usually that was a good way for me the first 10 years. I understand this summer was hard. I understood the media had a job to do, even though I didn't like some of the stuff, but that's just part of the business. I'm glad it's over and I can move on."

*On last summer's ordeal:

"I don't think I changed that much. Honestly, I'm going to try to get my private life out of the media again for the rest of my career. I'm still trying to do the same things I did before, and that's have fun. I don't want to be miserable and think about what happened the last couple of months. I don't want to think about it all the time. I want to move forward and have fun with people again. Not only with my teammates, but with everybody like I did before. That's important to me."

*On the aftermath:

"After everything went down, I went on a binge there where I ate and drank everything in sight, probably all of May and June. I was almost 265 pounds, the heaviest I've ever been in my career. Once I started to work out again I definitely had to lose some weight. I lost about 20 pounds and am now at 245."

*On his sense of humor:

"I can be pretty sarcastic. I like to think I'm pretty funny. It's weird with the media sometimes. It started with my first year. Once the camera is on, I'm not 100 percent comfortable with English not being my first language. Sometimes I concentrate too much on not making a mistake talking or saying the wrong things that could be interpreted the wrong way. I'd rather not say too much or not even try to do a joke before it comes off the wrong way and then I'm the idiot. But once the camera is off, I love to have fun all the time. I'm always joking around in practice. I'm trying to loosen things up and have fun. Sometimes it's a little too much for coach (Rick) Carlisle or Avery (Johnson) back then especially. Everything I like to do, I like to do with a smile on my face."

*On his celebrity status:

"Enjoy is a bit much since I'm sort of laid back and relaxed. Sometimes I just like to be at peace. It's fun sometimes. Obviously, it's an honor. If people know who you are that means they respect and accept what you do and what you've done for this city and for this franchise. That's obviously the fun part, but sometimes I'm ready to go somewhere else. Even on vacation I'd like to go somewhere and not be recognized, but those days are over."

*On finally winning an NBA title:

"At this point really that's all I play for. When you're young it's nice to see stats and All-Star games pile up. That's great, but at this point it's all about the championship. It would be nice to play in (this season's) All-Star game since it's here in Dallas, but I don't really care about it that much anymore. It's all about winning the championship. That's way more important at this point in my career. If I look back in like 20 years, I'm still going to say I was the MVP of this league once and that's something nobody can ever take away from me. Individually, it was a decent career, but I've got to win that championship."

[sefant77]

Cuban wont like to hear that:

Germany got today the wildcard to play the worldcup next year.

Guess Dirk gonna play, Kaman probably too. Let them bound a little bit more.

[fluid.forty.one]

Dirk is now 34th on the all-time NBA career points list. He just passed Stockton.

[tcat075]

For those of you wondering, Dirk is great.

[Spurred1]

Dirk turns me on like no one else.

[twelli]

Dirk's field of work: Delivery

I start hating the fact that he's retiring sometime in the not-so-far future.

[DirktyBlue]

Not sure if this was posted already. Dirk finishes 1st in NBA.com top 10 plays for sat.

http://www.nba.com/video/games/maver...dal_play1.nba/

[greensborohill]

http://dallasbasketballdotcom.yuku.com/topic/33329


passed John Stockton. Will probably pass Tom Chambers next.

[badfish22]

In the last 4+ years, who has hit more game winning shots with under :02 to play in the NBA?
Kobe? LeBron? Wade? Carmelo?


Nope, it's the one few think is clutch and even fewer think is one of the greatest to ever play. Dirk Nowitzki has done this eight times, including four in the last two seasons. Wade has done it five, no one else has done it more than four. Dirk, just do what you do.


We sometimes forget the greatness of who we are watching.

[mavErika]

Originally Posted by badfish22

In the last 4+ years, who has hit more game winning shots with under :02 to play in the NBA?
Kobe? LeBron? Wade? Carmelo?


Nope, it's the one few think is clutch and even fewer think is one of the greatest to ever play. Dirk Nowitzki has done this eight times, including four in the last two seasons. Wade has done it five, no one else has done it more than four. Dirk, just do what you do.


We sometimes forget the greatness of who we are watching.

Espn now discovered that fact as well and MacMahon wrote a nice article around it: http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/col...tim&id=4747343

Updated: December 16, 2009, 12:29 PM ET

Nowitzki relishes role in crunch time

MacMahon By Tim MacMahon
ESPNDallas.com

DALLAS -- The German kid who used to stand in the corner with the game on the line has grown up.

Dirk Nowitzki has developed into one of the NBA's most dominant clutch players. That's not an opinion. It's fact, and it's backed by a bunch of statistics:

# According to Elias Stats Bureau, Nowitzki has knocked down an NBA-best eight game-winning shots -- three this season -- in the final two seconds since 2005-06. Dwyane Wade ranks second with five.

# Nowitzki has hit 10 game winners in the final 10 seconds during that span, which also leads the league, one ahead of Kobe Bryant, David West and Chauncey Billups.

# Nowitzki annually ranks among the league's top clutch scorers, as calculated by 82games.com, which defines "clutch" as less than five minutes remaining and neither team ahead by more than five points. Nowitzki has averaged more than 40 points per 48 minutes in those situations in five of the past six seasons (39.3 in 2005-06 is the exception). He's averaging a career-best 47.1 points per 48 clutch minutes this season.

As a 7-footer with shooting guard skills, Nowitzki has always been a matchup nightmare. However, a maturation process had to take place before he had the mentality to be the Dallas Mavericks' go-to guy in game-deciding moments.

Early in his career, Nowitzki knew his place in the crunch-time pecking order with the Mavs' Big Three. Michael Finley was the first option. Steve Nash was next. Nowitzki was the perimeter threat who spaced the floor.

Dirk Nowitzki
Ronald Martinez/Getty ImagesThe Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki has updated his celebratory arsenal, which once consisted of this scrunched-face punctuated by an uppercut. But now ...

"Now he wants that shot," Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said. "There's like no doubt in anybody's mind that he's taking that shot -- and you can't stop it."

Nowitzki, who might be the most humble superstar in the NBA, has even cultivated a crunch-time swagger. His array of celebratory (often goofy) gestures is approaching the depth of his arsenal of offensive moves.

There's the classic Dirk dagger face, an eyebrow-scrunching/tongue-wagging look usually accompanied by an uppercut fist pump and displayed after drilling a win-sealing shot.

Last season, he added a routine of tugging the bottom of his jersey with one hand and extending his index finger on the other overhead, which he went with late in his franchise-record 29-point fourth quarter against the Utah Jazz and after both of his overtime buzzer-beaters.

And he debuted the Double Guns -- a flexing of both biceps that earned him great grief in the locker room -- after an and-1 drive that highlighted his 11-point overtime period against the San Antonio Spurs.

The emotional displays are simply an extension of the mentality a player must have to thrive in such situations.

"We all know this league is a lot about confidence," Nowitzki said. "That's really it. Once you get the ball, your teammates believe in you and you believe in yourself that you can make that big play down the stretch. For the team, I've got to keep coming."

It doesn't matter what Dirk has done for the first 45 minutes or so. He still expects to deliver when Dallas needs him most. For example, take a look at his late heroics in the Mavs' past two games.

Dirk Nowitzki
AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez... Dirk has added the "Double Guns," for which he caught much grief from teammates after beating San Antonio earlier this season.

Nowitzki had an awful night against the Charlotte Bobcats ... until he scored the Mavs' final 10 points in regulation, forcing overtime with a personal 6-0 run in the final 1:16. He followed that up in the extra frame by hitting a pair of go-ahead fadeaways in the final 24 seconds, including a 10-footer off the dribble with 1.7 seconds left that stood as the game winner. He made seven of his final 11 shots in a game that he started 1-of-11.

A couple of nights later, the New Orleans Hornets held Nowitzki to a season-low 10 points. Eight of those came in the fourth quarter of the 94-90 win, including four in the final minute.

"The definition of a franchise player is that he wants the responsibility for winning and losing," said coach Rick Carlisle, who compared Nowitzki's clutch demeanor to ex-Indiana Pacers star Reggie Miller's. "He wants the ball in his hands when the game is being decided, and the only thing he thinks about when he gets the ball in his hands is finding a way to win the game."

Added Jason Kidd: "He loves that stage. When we need a basket, he loves to have the ball, to make the play. He just loves the atmosphere. He doesn't panic."

Nowitzki notes that he isn't the only accomplished clutch shooter on the Mavs. He often calls Jason Terry one of the best in the league. Kidd is also a cold-blooded spot-up shooter. Nowitzki won't hesitate to give up the ball and get one of them a wide-open look if he's double- or triple-teamed. Dirk just wants the opportunity to make the decision.

It's not a coincidence that the Mavs have been so successful in close games (18-5 last season and 8-1 this season in contests decided by five or fewer points). Nor is it a coincidence that Nowitzki has become better with age in clutch situations.

"I think once you get older, more experienced, the game slows down for you down the stretch," Nowitzki said. "Early [in a career], you might rush and be like, 'Hey, the game's on the line; gotta do something quick.' Whereas now, you take your time, you're more poised and you're just more confident.

"If I take my time, I feel like I can get a good shot up."

... and we just witnessed it again!

[iella]

Good read, but I made the mistake of reading some of the comments left by ignoramuses... now I want to go beat my head against the wall.