Official Dirk is Great Thread

[twelli]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

In case anyone missed Dirk on Conan last night...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN27...ature=youtu.be

thanks for sharing, boy those teeth are white...

[twelli]

Originally Posted by dude1394

Seriously, Dirk is an amazing amazing individual

I think he's just normal (or like normal should be) despite being a pro athlete with loads of money.

[GermanDunk]

Originally Posted by twelli

I think he's just normal (or like normal should be) despite being a pro athlete with loads of money.

LOL, but that's uberhuman !!!

[Murphy3]

Originally Posted by dude1394

A post over at db.com..
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=268&f...o=MS_155998637

"Nominate | Report
Posted: Today 8:03 PM
Dirk: Yahoo! Article & Awesome Story of Dirk
Was reading an article from Yahoo! About Dirk and his upcoming FA. Mostly stuff rehashed from other articles.

sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-bal...-221906520.html

Was reading the user comments and came across this awesome story of Dirk.

By Andy:
Dirk is not someone that just talks about being apart of the community, he really is out there to make DFW a better place... My cousin's niece was in Children's hospital here in Dallas for 3-4 months towards the end of 2012 waiting for a "match" for a new heart, it is something she had been dealing with since birth. Dirk came and visited her in the hospital and the two really hit it off - not long after Dirk came and visited her, she received a match for a new heart - Dirk sent prayers her way and checked to make sure everything went okay with the operation... (Side note - her birthday was just two days before the transplant)... This season, my cousin received tickets to a mavericks game and the little girl and her family were able to go with her - somehow Dirk was notified that she was going to be there and he made it a point that they come and visit him in the locker room after the game... Dirk not only spent an hour after the game (in a losing effort) with her and the family, but he took pictures and he just hung out with them - the best part of the story was Dirk remembered her, it happened to be around the same time as her birthday and he actually said "You're turning 8 in a couple weeks aren't you? Isn't it December 22nd?" (He was exactly right)... Dirk is a super star basketball player that has changed the power forward position forever, but he's also an immaculate person that is a terrific role model for kids to look up to! Obviously, he's a team first guy too, because he could request making $24 mil a year and making the franchise suffer, but he wants another ring before his run ends! All class!

Seriously, Dirk is an amazing amazing individual. You can't explain how great he is to Dallas and the Mavericks & to the NBA.
Last edited Today 8:04 PM by HEYWOODjablomi
"

I read that in the comments section also.... cool little story

[Sportstudi]

Dirk is awesome

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...getting-better

Is Dirk Nowitzki Somehow Getting Better?
By Grant Hughes , National NBA Featured Columnist
Apr 2, 2014

Most assumed Dirk Nowitzki's German-engineered jumper would age well, but nobody expected this.

Playing in his 16th season, the nearly 36-year-old first-ballot Hall of Famer is having one of his best years ever. And no, the qualifier "considering his age" isn't necessary. Nowitzki has been phenomenal in 2013-14 by any standard.

At a time when most players are thinking about packing it in, Nowitzki is cranking it up. Incredibly, he seems to be getting better.

High Volume, High Efficiency

We'll begin with what is perhaps the most startling visual representation of Dirk's greatness this year—his red-hot shot chart:

From literally every spot on the floor, Nowitzki converts shots at an accuracy rate well above the league's average—hence all the red. You might think those numbers are propped up by Dirk's selective approach to offense, but the opposite is actually true.

He's shooting threes more frequently than ever, and that's not a shot that typically lends itself to higher efficiency rates as volume increases. At present, Nowitzki is averaging 4.5 triple attempts per 36 minutes, according to Basketball-Reference.com.

That ties a career high.

As he's aged, Nowitzki has retreated farther from the basket. But that backpedal hasn't negatively affected his accuracy. At 39.2 percent from long range, Nowitzki's three-point mark is well above his career average, and we've never seen him shoot this many threes with this high of a conversion rate.

In that sense, he's providing more per-minute value from long distance than ever before.

And consider this: Nowitzki isn't even taking advantage of the NBA's most popular high-percentage spot on the perimeter. On the season, only nine of his 296 three-point attempts have come from the corners. Thanks to Dallas' desire to station other wings in those spots, Nowitzki doesn't even get to bolster his field-goal percentage with those relatively short triple attempts.

Considering all those factors, it's fair to call this Dirk's most impressive three-point shooting season ever.

More Than Long Bombs

There's another area in which Nowitzki is, incredibly, exceeding his previous career bests: two-point range.

More specifically, the 7-foot forward leads the NBA in made field goals from 10-14 feet by a huge margin, per NBA.com. He's converting those attempts at a 47.6 percent clip, meaning opposing defenses that typically beg offensive players to shoot mid-range jumpers have to completely readjust their principles for Nowitzki's game.

He's also third in the league in buckets from 15-19 feet, trailing only LaMarcus Aldridge and Carmelo Anthony, per NBA.com. However, he's far more accurate than either of those high-volume gunners, outpacing Aldridge (42.6 percent) and Anthony (46.2 percent) handily with a conversion rate of 51.7 percent.

Long twos aren't bad shots for Nowitzki—they're great ones. That forces opposing players to defend spots they don't normally have to while causing coaches to frustratedly tear up their typical defensive game plans.

With those numbers in mind, it shouldn't be a surprise to learn Nowitzki is hitting 52.4 percent of his two-point shots this season, which is the second-highest rate of his career.

Overall, Nowitzki's effective field-goal percentage of 54 percent is also the second-best figure he's ever posted, and his true shooting percentage is his fifth-highest ever at 59.8 percent.

There's little mystery to how he's done it; Nowitzki is a notoriously diligent worker, and nothing improves shooting accuracy like countless reps in an empty gym. But there's also the matter of his patented one-legged fallaway. That shot, unblockable from any angle and one he's able of getting off with or without a live dribble, is as responsible for Nowitzki's growth as anything else.

Essentially, Dirk went into the tool shed of NBA greats a couple of years ago, constructed a hybrid fadeaway shot nobody had ever seen before and used it keep himself dangerous as his limited mobility disappeared.

Nowitzki built himself the kind of hard-to-contest, timeless weapon only the all-time greats feature. No wonder he's occupying rarefied air alongside them, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas:

The only players in NBA history who averaged more points while playing the majority of games in a season at age 35 or older are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Alex English, Michael Jordan and Karl Malone.

At 35, Dirk averages 21.6.

Good Enough?

Remember, Nowitzki has an MVP award, a championship ring and six seasons with a player efficiency rating above 24.0 (he's at 23.5 this year, per Basketball-Reference.com), so it's not realistic to expect him, at 35, to be a more impactful player than he's ever been.

But Nowitzki is doing a few things more effectively this year than he ever has before. So in a very real sense, he truly is getting better.

Tragically, Nowitzki's late-career heroics, though undeniably impressive, might not be enough to get the Mavs where they need to go this year. A heartbreaking April 1 loss to the Golden State Warriors dropped Dallas out of the West's top eight, and there's no guarantee it'll make it back into the postseason mix.

Don't blame that defeat on Nowitzki, though; he dropped 33 points (including 16 in the second quarter) and hit six of eight from downtown. He was good enough.

Looking further ahead, Nowitzki should remain "good enough" to attract the kinds of star free agents the Mavericks will need to keep their run going. And that matters more than anything else.

According to Nowitzki's influential trainer, Holger Geschwindner, the big man can play another three or four years. Or, you know, maybe longer (via MacMahon of ESPN): "So play until you die and they drag you off the court. Then it's over. Then you really know it's over and you can live with it."


If we've learned anything in this, perhaps Nowitzki's most impressive season, it's that he's got plenty of life left in his still-growing game.

[Underdog]

Like fine wine.

[Underdog]

dp

[dude1394]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[EricaLubarsky]

Total points

5 Wilt Chamberlain 4,768
6 Shaquille O'Neal 1,948
7 Moses Malone 758
8 Elvin Hayes 662
9 Hakeem Olajuwon 295
10 Oscar Robertson 59
11 Dominique Wilkins 17
12 DIRK NOWITZKI ---
-----------------------------------


Games at current pace (21.6 ppg) to pass. (6 games left this season)
-----------possible, but unlikely--------------
5 Wilt Chamberlain 221 games
6 Shaquille O'Neal 91 games
----------plausible next year if he plays 82 games and averages 19ppg this year and next--------------
7 Moses Malone 36 games
8 Elvin Hayes 31 games
9 Hakeem Olajuwon 14 games
----------plausible this season at current pace---------------------
10 Oscar Robertson 3 games
11 Dominique Wilkins 1 games
12 DIRK NOWITZKI ---

Passed this season - Alex English, Kevin Garnett, Reggie Miller, John Havlicek, and Jerry West (started the season at 25,051)


18pts tonight and Dirk makes it to sole possession of #11. 61 more points to be top 10 alltime. 10ppg in the remaining 6 games would do it.

[Murphy3]

Erica, time for you to change where Shaq falls. He should not be in an "unlikely" category at this point.

[spreedom]

I don't think Wilt should be there either... I think Dirk has at least two more All-Star/borderline MVP candidate type of seasons left in him, and I think he'll play at least two more as a #2 or #3 scoring option... Fully expect him to end his career at #5.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

Erica, time for you to change where Shaq falls. He should not be in an "unlikely" category at this point.

Totally agree... Even with a slight decline in Dirk's overall game, he's still on pace to score the most points in a season since 09-10.

Originally Posted by spreedom

I don't think Wilt should be there either... I think Dirk has at least two more All-Star/borderline MVP candidate type of seasons left in him, and I think he'll play at least two more as a #2 or #3 scoring option... Fully expect him to end his career at #5.

Gotta take these predictions one season at a time. Right now Shaq looks doable, but a lot can change in the time it would take to catch Wilt.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by EricaLubarsky

Passed this season - Alex English, Kevin Garnett, Reggie Miller, John Havlicek, and Jerry West (started the season at 25,051)

Add another skin to the wall... Dominique Wilkins.

[DevinHarriswillstart]

Dirk is just f***ing ridiculous. We need to start a perma ban on anyone who thinks we owe it to Dirk to let him go to another team or trade him.

[Five-ofan]

Dirks total regular season points=26678, dirks playoff total points =3321. Dirks total nba points total 29999. Found that funny(I know it doesn't put him any higher on the list because the other guys have playoff points too but still interesting IMO.

[dirt_dobber]

Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart

Dirk is just f***ing ridiculous. We need to start a perma ban on anyone who thinks we owe it to Dirk to let him go to another team or trade him.

agree totally.

[Lestat_1795]

So we are talking about passing Shaq and ESPN is talking about passing Jordan.
http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/maver...g-30000-points

[Vinsanity]

Dirk won the western conference player of the week!! 25ppg 8rpg

http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/...ek-honor.html/

[Vinsanity]

Dirk won the western conference player of the week!! 25ppg 8rpg

http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/...ek-honor.html/

[Vinsanity]

Dirk won the western conference player of the week!! 25ppg 8rpg

http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/...ek-honor.html/

[Kante]

Really worth the three posts...?

But deserved for Dirk!

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by Vinsanity

Dirk won the western conference player of the week!! 25ppg 8rpg

http://mavsblog.dallasnews.com/2014/...ek-honor.html/

Not bad for a geezer.

[j0Shi]

...

[j0Shi]

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/RPM

ESPN has adopted their own version of adjusted +/- aaaand Dirk comes in 5th this season.

On a related note:
Somebody has to explain to me some time why a guy like Shawn Marion gets little love from +/-. He seems to be a perfect "do all the little things" guy that should profit from this kind of stat, but does not and has never ranked anywhere near the top. He's 188th and a net minus according to their metric.

More Marion (http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/):
10/11: -1.8
11/12: -1.9
12/13: -0.7

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by j0Shi

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/RPM

ESPN has adopted their own version of adjusted +/- aaaand Dirk comes in 5th this season.

On a related note:
Somebody has to explain to me some time why a guy like Shawn Marion gets little love from +/-. He seems to be a perfect "do all the little things" guy that should profit from this kind of stat, but does not and has never ranked anywhere near the top. He's 188th and a net minus according to their metric.

More Marion (http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/):
10/11: -1.8
11/12: -1.9
12/13: -0.7

The new +- basically tells us how well someone does what the coach asks them to do. Carlisle asks Marion to do too much and thus that stat makes him look bad.

[jthig32]

Originally Posted by j0Shi

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/RPM

ESPN has adopted their own version of adjusted +/- aaaand Dirk comes in 5th this season.

On a related note:
Somebody has to explain to me some time why a guy like Shawn Marion gets little love from +/-. He seems to be a perfect "do all the little things" guy that should profit from this kind of stat, but does not and has never ranked anywhere near the top. He's 188th and a net minus according to their metric.

More Marion (http://stats-for-the-nba.appspot.com/):
10/11: -1.8
11/12: -1.9
12/13: -0.7

Spending half your minutes as Dirk's backup is not a recipe for a great +/-

[Jproxursoxoff]

I can't believe it's gonna happen tonight. Ive been waiting for this for years!! I had hoped it would happen at a home game so the moment would get the appreciation it deserves from the crowd but OH WELL.

[Jproxursoxoff]

I can't believe it's gonna happen tonight. Ive been waiting for this for years!! I had hoped it would happen at a home game so the moment would get the appreciation it deserves from the crowd but OH WELL.

[Jack.Kerr]

Originally Posted by Jproxursoxoff

I can't believe it's gonna happen tonight. Ive been waiting for this for years!! I had hoped it would happen at a home game so the moment would get the appreciation it deserves from the crowd but OH WELL.

I doubt the NBA will make any note of Dirk entering the Top 10 list, but 30 years ago when Kareem passed Wilt for 1st place, they stopped the game and Utah fans gave Kareem a HUGE ovation. (Or maybe they were just applauding the sight of Mark Eaton in short shorts.)

I'm not a big admirer of Utah fans generally, but I would be a little surprised if they don't at least acknowledge Dirk with polite applause.

[spreedom]

Top 10!

[Jproxursoxoff]

Im almost in tears right now.

[Underdog]

Debate settled... Dirk is a top-10 scorer.

[sike]

[dude1394]

Wonderful homage by Mark Stein... Dirkster you are the best...

http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/p...road-to-top-10

Nice turn of phrase by Avery as well.

"There's a reason why Tim Duncan and Dirk have become pretty decent pals after all these years and all those battles. Rest assured that all of the longtime Spurs have the ultimate respect for the only dude who's ever gone into San Antonio's building and bossed a Game 7 on their floor.

Most of all Timmy.

"He's the German Tim Duncan," my ESPN colleague Avery Johnson likes to say, after playing with Duncan and coaching Nowitzki.

Which probably sums it up -- in terms of what Nowitzki means to the Mavs' franchise and the city of Dallas in general -- better than I ever have."

[dude1394]

Damn...this one is great as well. With comments from little Nicky!!

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/...-top-10-points

From Del Harris..

"DEL HARRIS, Mavericks assistant coach, 2000-07: "He got a tooth knocked out [in Game 4 against the Spurs]. He just threw it on the floor and kept playing. Ah, he was tough."

[Jproxursoxoff]

Of course Nash has to steal some of Dirk's glory.......

[twelli]

Originally Posted by dude1394

Wonderful homage by Mark Stein... Dirkster you are the best...

http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/p...road-to-top-10

Love the van Exel quote. That was a fun guy. Making free throws two yards from the free throw line and who does not remember his "F em" statement.

Interesting how many people mention Dirk's work ethic. That's the one thing young players should take to heart, no matter what their skill level is.

[jthig32]

Yesterday on the radio Skin was talking about Dirk and reminiscing about when he first got here. He mentioned seeing Dirk for the first time on Dale Hansen's Sunday night sports special. That got a smile from me because I distinctly remember that being the first time I saw Dirk playing basketball as well. I remember seeing draining jumpers from 17 feet and I distinctly remember how he would draw his feet up at the peak of his jump shot (something he used to do when he was younger).

[Five-ofan]

Originally Posted by jthig32

Yesterday on the radio Skin was talking about Dirk and reminiscing about when he first got here. He mentioned seeing Dirk for the first time on Dale Hansen's Sunday night sports special. That got a smile from me because I distinctly remember that being the first time I saw Dirk playing basketball as well. I remember seeing draining jumpers from 17 feet and I distinctly remember how he would draw his feet up at the peak of his jump shot (something he used to do when he was younger).

Was that the one with Samaki walker guarding him and him shooting with both hands? Because I remember that if so. I also remember mike fisher on the radio the day after the draft telling don Nelson that fish thought Nellie would be fired if dirk didn't come over and dominate right away.

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by twelli

Love the van Exel quote. That was a fun guy. Making free throws two yards from the free throw line and who does not remember his "F em" statement.

Interesting how many people mention Dirk's work ethic. That's the one thing young players should take to heart, no matter what their skill level is.

As I've learned in my many years, greatness requires an almost maniacal focus on hard work. Few get "lucky" in life. Sure some hit the lottery, but greatness never falls in your lap.

The dirkster is a fantastic role model for all. Love ya swish.