Must read on Dirk

[jthig32]

This is an absolute must-read. Disagree with some of the points if you want, but the overall article is very well done.

Evolution Of Dirk Nowitzi: Reflecting On A Career That Defies Narrative

By Mike Prada - Editor

Dirk Nowitzki is on the doorstep of ending the Los Angeles Lakers' dynasty and changing the perceptions of his NBA career. But how did we get to this point with him? Is he really what we think he is?

May 6, 2011 - The shot that may have provided the final dagger in the hearts of the Los Angeles Lakers' dynasty probably didn't come the way you expected. You figured it would come thanks to Kevin Durant's pure stroke, Derrick Rose's lightning-fast darts into the lane or maybe even from an emphatic LeBron James slam dunk. But on this night, with the Lakers making one final charge to prevent a second straight home loss, it came instead from a man born two months and four days before Kobe Bryant.

And yes, it was spectacular. How else can you describe the shot Dirk Nowitzki hit to stave off the Lakers' final rally in Game 2 of their NBA Playoffs second-round series on Wednesday night? The Lakers had scored on two straight possessions and were poised to stop Dallas again as the shot clock wound down. Nowitzki was in trouble, and tried to dribble to his sweet spot at the free-throw line. This time, Pau Gasol was ready, reaching his arm as high as he could to contest the shot. But undeterred, Nowitzki lifted his front foot in the air and summoned as much lift as he could, launching a typical moonball in the air. The end result? Nothing but net, a foul, and a potential crisis averted.

So here we are, with the Lakers' mini-dynasty crumbling not at the hands of a hungry young challenger, but rather, at the hands of a survivor that has been to the brink, failed, and is back. It's confusing.

Then again, everything about Nowitzki's career arc is confusing. He entered the league as an unknown entity, one of the very first random skinny perimeter-oriented international big men before a flood of random skinny perimeter-oriented international big men entered the league. He's lived with the soft label for so long, despite the way he methodically remodeled his game from the long-range gunner he was early in his career to someone who fights tooth in nail in the pinch post for the half-inch he needs to get his shot off. He's never been a champion, but he's been the best player on one of the league's best teams for a decade. He isn't overly arrogant, humble, personable or prickly. The closest thing to a defining personality trait is his quirkiness, but even that has been overshadowed the quirkiness of a former teammate with one more MVP award than him.

So Dirk really defies classification. Nowitzki's biggest strength -- his consistency -- is also his biggest weakness. It's caused everyone to misunderstand him, because they want to run him through the gauntlet of peaks and valleys we subject star athletes to these days. If the Mavericks end up topping the Lakers, there will undoubtedly be a sentiment that he's overcome the demons of the 2006 Finals and the 2007 upset loss to the Golden State Warriors. But that's only by our subjective goalposts of athlete narratives. For Dirk, things are a little trickier.

If I had to find a coherent flow to Nowitzki's career, I'd focus on three different eras. Not coincidentally, they overlap with his three professional coaches. Here now is a brief summary of the three eras of Nowitzki's career.


Dirk Nowitzki would not be the player he was without so many things falling into place. Let's start with him as a teenager in Germany. Nowitzki started playing when he was 13 years-old, but experienced enough of a growth spurt to encourage him to play for a second-division German pro team in his hometown of Wurzburg. There, he met trainer Holger Geschwindner, whose unconventional methods sculpted Nowitzki in a legitimate NBA prospect. He punctuated that by dropping 33 points and 14 rebounds in the 1998 Nike Hoops Summit in leading the international squad to the upset, and suddenly, he was being lusted after. The Mavericks acquired him for Robert "Tractor" Traylor, and the rest is history.

Ultimately, it took the NBA's resident mad scientist, Don Nelson, to get Nowitzki on the path to stardom. It didn't look very good early, when Nelson idiotically proclaimed Nowitzki a Rookie of the Year candidate in 1999, setting his lottery pick up to fail. Nowitzki was anointed too early and fell into a deep depression that clouded his rookie season. But luckily, two forces rescued him. The first was Steve Nash, a fellow quirky lost soul that took Nowitzki under his wing and helped him feel more comfortable. Once that confidence returned, suddenly Nelson's mad schemes allowed Dirk's unconventional game to thrive. No other coach then would accept a seven-foot perimeter player, but Nelson encouraged it. Nowitzki was such a lethal matchup that he became a star and Dallas became Dallas.

Unfortunately, Nelson's idiosyncratic style pushed further and further into madness. Duplicate parts eventually surrounded Nash and Nowitzki, to the point where things spiraled out of control (relatively speaking) in 2004 when Nash, Nowitzki, Michael Finley, Antoine Walker and Antawn Jamison were on the same team. This was where Nowitzki got his soft label, but his team around him did no favors. Nowitzki had the league's ultimate Lord of the Flies situation surrounding him, so he got dealt a lot of their labels. Nevertheless, 2004 brought the first real fork in Nowitzki's road, one that shaped the rest of his career.

Dirk Nowitzki needed Steve Nash to leave to become who he is today. This was not something anyone felt at the time, but it became reality very quickly. Nash's departure culminated a tumultuous summer of 2004 for Nowitzki, when he was mentioned in trade rumors for Shaquille O'Neal and ultimately lost his closest friend. Those two moments provided a major lesson for Dirk that would stick with him: basketball is a business, and things change.

This also coincided with another huge shift for Nowitzki: the switch from Don Nelson to Avery Johnson as head coach. The two men could not have been more different. Nelson preferred a free-wheeling style that placed Nowitzki on the perimeter. Johnson was a Gregg Popovich-type who preached defense and toughness, almost to a fault. That is how we got to the point where a 5'10'' guy was demanding his 7-footer develop a bit of a mean streak. Whether losing Nash played a role or not, Nowitzki did just that, and suddenly, the free-spirited Mavericks were now the meanest SOBs in the league. We talk a lot about how true superstars buy what their coach is selling, but we forget that no player bought more into what his coach was selling at the time than Nowitzki did. Johnson didn't make Nowitzki tough, because Nowitzki was one tough hombre going all the way back to his pro days as a teenager in Germany. He just convinced Nowitzki that his toughness needed to show.

Of course, we all know how this era turned out. The Mavericks blew their two best chances to win it all, squandering the 2-0 lead to Miami, then exiting to the Warriors the next year. As the narrative goes, Dirk was blitzed first by Dwyane Wade, then by crazy Stephen Jackson. But there were a lot of forces at play. The 2006 Finals was a wacky one, and as good as Nowitzki was, Wade was better. The 2007 first-round series was a little stranger, and one that ultimate led to Stage 3 of Nowitzki's evolution. Nowitzki clearly had his worst playoffs, but there was also a larger problem: his teammates couldn't get him the ball. Chicken (they couldn't pass) or egg (he couldn't get open), that was the reason the Mavericks lost. Combine that with his old coach playing tricks to take away his tendencies, and it was clear a change was needed.

The Jason Kidd trade was unpopular, but it may have helped saved Dirk Nowitzki's state of mind. Even the great ones need some help, and by the end of 2007, it was clear a culture change had to be shepherded again. Avery's band of goons was starting to fray at the edges. Devin Harris and Josh Howard wanted more shots and more recognition, and the masses were getting worn down by Johnson's yelling. It was a repeat of what Nowitzki had to deal with in 2004, only this time, he was dealing with a bunch of young, hungry up-and-comers, not established stars that played his position.

It was all growing on Nowitzki's shoulders, and so, Dallas made a massive change. In came Jason Kidd, in a deal Nowitzki himself advocated. A short while later, out went Johnson, and in came Rick Carlisle. The Kidd move was needed in order to help Nowitzki have some order offensively. The Mavericks had become an isolation-heavy team, and Nowitzki was increasingly required to fend for himself. But the addition of Kidd brought some fluidity back into the Mavericks' offense and allowed for whatever was left of Nowitzki's offensive creativity to resurface. Kidd brought many of the things Nash once did without the threat (or crutch) of being the leader. It was a necessary shift.

Carlisle then completed the transition when he was hired before the 2007/08 season. Nowitzki had learned everything he was going to learn from Johnson by this point. The genius of Carlisle is that he found a happy medium between his predecessors. With Kidd as the engine, Carlisle managed to reopen the offensive playbook and make life easier on Nowitzki. Meanwhile, he preached enough defense to carry over the important wisdom Johnson imparted. It took a little while for Carlisle's methods to show up in the win column, because it required further roster changes that took some time to make. But now, Carlisle has the Mavericks humming along, with the offensive creativity of Nelson combined with the defensive toughness of Johnson. That balance is best exhibited by Nowitzki, who has taken the lessons of his two previous coaches and thrown them into a database of wisdom that comes out at the perfect moment during big games.

And now, Nowitzki's Mavericks are once again legitimate threats to win the NBA title.

Has Dirk Nowitzki really changed? It depends on how you evaluate "change." If it is by mere performance, then he's mostly been the same superstar he's always been. Over the past 11 seasons, Nowitzki has posted a PER between 22.5 and 28.1 every year. He's missed a total of 38 regular-season games, or less than four per season. He's played in nearly 970 games (including playoffs, not including ones he left early to injury), and has scored in single digits 17 times. It's a run of excellence that is matched only by the very best in NBA history.

If it is by attitude, then I think Nowitzki has changed a lot. Each of these three eras has shaped him and made him the player he is today. Without any of them playing out the way they did, Nowitzki would be a very different player and person. Few have been more adaptive to their surroundings than the big German.

If it's by team success? Inevitably, this is always what it turns into. Nowitzki mirrors the Mavericks in one way: he's been consistently great, but never a champion. If the Mavericks get by the Lakers and win the title, it'll be seen as a seismic shift in his legacy. But if there's any lesson we should have learned from Nowitzki's journey, is that none of it is conventional. There are three separate points where Nowitzki could have been defined by what he isn't, and instead, his will to be consistent, his adaptability and the circumstances around him ensured that would not happen. Now, at age 32, Nowitzki is on the doorstep of ending a dynasty and sticking a new fork in the road of his NBA career.

Let's hope we can all appreciate the journey he has taken before applying a circumstantial label to his name.

[Underdog]

Excellent article.

[kenny_817]

WOW...amazing

[Funkman]

He entered the league as an unknown entity, one of the very first random skinny perimeter-oriented international big men before a flood of random skinny perimeter-oriented international big men entered the league.

He was the reason for the flood. Teams were trying to find the next Dirk. Fortunately we got, and still have, the original.

[iella]

Good article, would read again.

[dude1394]

I thought this was beautifully done. Thoughtful, respectful, cogent...Wonderful..thanks for posting it. Only quibble might be nashie having to leave...I think that one's overplayed. And good grief we needed a decent coach rather than the little napoleon.

I also have forgotten how big a cluster-**** the 'twan year was. Only time I actually recall the dirkster speaking out publicly about a coach. Nellie/Donnie should have been fired then.

[Murphy3]

The Antoine Walker year... Dirk was just coming into his own as one of the handful of best players in the league when Don Nelson got his ultimate wish.. A point forward.

The season before, post all-star break, Dirk averaged 28 points a game (including over 30 a game in April) compared to just 23 points per game before the break.. So what does Nellie do in the off season, they bring in Antoine Walker and Antwan Jamison and set Dirk and the Mavs back a year. Dirk went from playing like perhaps the best player in the league to barely being a third team all-nba guy thanks to that awful season.

And yeah, I might have been a little too hard on NVE from time to time.

[endrity]

Originally Posted by Murphy3

The Antoine Walker year... Dirk was just coming into his own as one of the handful of best players in the league when Don Nelson got his ultimate wish.. A point forward.

The season before, post all-star break, Dirk averaged 28 points a game (including over 30 a game in April) compared to just 23 points per game before the break.. So what does Nellie do in the off season, they bring in Antoine Walker and Antwan Jamison and set Dirk and the Mavs back a year. Dirk went from playing like perhaps the best player in the league to barely being a third team all-nba guy thanks to that awful season.

And yeah, I might have been a little too hard on NVE from time to time.

I think the Mavs FO will tell you that they accumulated assets, which in turn created the 2006 NBA Finals team.

[Kirobaito]

Originally Posted by endrity

I think the Mavs FO will tell you that they accumulated assets, which in turn created the 2006 NBA Finals team.

The big pieces of those trades were:

Nick Van Exel and change becomes Antawn Jamison and change becomes Devin Harris and Jerry Stackhouse.

Raef LaFrentz and change becomes Antoine Walker and change becomes Jason Terry.

Mavs certainly came out on top, long term. But I think they kind of lucked into that. I think they were legitimately trying in '03-'04 with that kind of a set up.

[LetsGoMavs]

Great find

[nikeball]

jthig, you and I alway see the same articles.. are you hacking my RSS feed?

Another Dirk article:

http://hardwoodhype.blogspot.com/2011/05/dirk.html


Dirk Nowitzki- Prime, Interrupted

Dirk Nowitzki is an exquisite basketball player. He’s drawn comparisons to both the greatest shooters and the most versatile big men in history, but in reality Dirk is a one-off prototype. A seven-footer that’s not only comfortable putting up a one-legged 24-foot fadeaway, in his hands that shot is a legitimate weapon. He can also get out on the break and is as good as any player ever at his size at putting the ball on the floor.

I should probably admit that the creation of this article was fueled by a somewhat selfish need to make amends. Not only have I never taken the time to write an article whose sole purpose is to sing the praises of Dirk Nowitzki, the first thought that comes to mind on the subject of writing about Dirk is my evisceration of the man following the Mavericks’ 2007 first round loss at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. In the aftermath of that defeat, which arrived on the heels of a devastating collapse in the 2006 Finals, I referred to the Mavs as “damaged goods,” boldly proclaimed that Dirk would never be a “true superstar” and (I swear this made more sense at the time! C’mon, you remember!) described the gap between Dirk and Mehmet Okur as negligible.

While he was already the best player in franchise history and a likely Hall of Famer on May 15, 2007, when he accepted his trophy at the second-most awkward MVP ceremony of my lifetime- I still give a slight nod to David Robinson accepting the award mere minutes before being smeared on the bottom of Hakeem Olajuwon’s shoe- there seemed to be a cloud of inevitable disappointment hanging over Dirk. That he was an absolute nightmare matchup and perhaps the most offensively versatile seven-footer of all time was undeniable, but equally undeniable was the perception that fate was conspiring against him, and that history was more likely to group him with the likes of Alex English than with Karl Malone and Larry Bird.

Now, to be fair, I’ve not dogmatically maintained that same position for the past four years. Dirk’s evolved since those back-to-back debacles, and my assessment of his career has done the same- and we’ve come a long way. Dirk, whose legacy I (and I was not alone) massacred and left for dead in May 2007, has managed to navigate the minefield of 2006-07, while maintaining a level of statistical excellence that’s allowed him to mount an assault on the upper echelon of the NBA record books:

- His 22,792 points are good for 28th all-time (ABA/NBA combined) and fourth among active players (he trails Shaq and Kobe by ~5,000 and is 529 behind Kevin Garnett). With another three 78-game (his career average) seasons averaging 22 points per game (21.8 is his worst over the last 11 years), he’d be the ninth-most prolific scorer in history.

- According to Basketball Reference, he’s posted a PER of at least 22.5 in each of the last 11 seasons, including four seasons of 25+ (that matches the career totals of Magic and Bird, and tops those of Kobe Bryant, Moses Malone and Elgin Baylor).

- His career PER of 23.7 ranks 15th on the NBA’s all-time list, and is good for sixth among active players. Immediately behind him on the all-time list? Hakeem Olajuwon, Julius Erving, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird, Kevin Garnett and Oscar Robertson.

- Only 11 times in NBA history has a player shot at least 50% from the field, 40% from 3 and 90% from the free throw line. Four of those seasons belong to Steve Nash, two to Larry Bird and one each to Dirk, Mark Price, Reggie Miller, Jose Calderon and Steve Kerr. Of the 11, only three came in a season in which the player posted a PER of 24 or better- both of Bird’s (27.8 in 1987-88, and 26.4 in 1986-87), with Dirk’s 27.6 in 2006-07 in between.

- Over his first 13 NBA seasons, Dirk has made 47.6% of his field goals attempts, 38.1% of his 3s and 87.7% of his free throws. Five other players in history- Nash, Price, Miller, Calderon and Jeff Hornacek- can make the same claim. Not only is frontcourt representation missing from this crew, not one of Dirk’s fellow sharpshooters has a career rebounding average that’s within five of his career mark of 8.4 per game.

- Wondering about other guys with at least 22,000 points and 8,000 rebounds? That a solid lot too.

Although Dirk is 32 years of age and wrapping up his 13th NBA season, his exceptional conditioning and easy-on-the-knees style suggest he’ll tack on quite a few miles to his odometer before calling it a career. As genuinely great as he’s been, and for all accolades he’s received, it seems as though he’s still under-recognized for having a resume as impressive as that of all but a select few in history. When Dirk Nowitzki retires, he will likely do so as one of the 15 or 20 greatest players in NBA history.


As great as he’s been by the numbers- and those are some pretty sweet stats- what’s striking about Dirk’s game is how, four years after the heartbreaks of 2006 and 2007, it’s simultaneously undergone significant change, while remaining nearly identical. In terms of simple visuals, little has changed with the experience of watching him play. If, for all these years, Dirk had been forced to play in a shower cap (the hair would be a tipoff), it’d be tough to pinpoint the period in his career from which a given highlight originated. This isn’t Michael or Kobe becoming more ground-bound as they entered their 30s, or Magic quietly becoming more postup threat than king of the fast break, or Patrick Ewing becoming almost exclusively a perimeter threat in the second half of his career.

And statistically, while he’s receded from his peak production of 2006, Dirk is every bit the player he’s been throughout his career. While his rebounding average has dropped from its peak (it’s worth noting that while his rebound rates are down as well, they still compare favorably to his career averages), he’s shot the ball more effectively across the board, and based on his Usage Rates, has actually managed to assume an even larger role in the Mavs’ offense.




With ALL of that said, the numbers actually play a relatively small role in explaining exactly why Dirk Nowitzki is playing at level comparable to his MVP best. After a tough rookie year and a mini-breakout (17.5 points, 6.5 rebounds per game) as a sophomore, Dirk’s put together an 11-year run that’s as remarkable for its consistency as it is for its incredible productivity. Since 2000-01, he’s averaged 24.3 points and 8.8 rebounds- with no season worse than 21.8 points or 7 rebounds- and has produced six seasons of 24+ points and had a streak of nine years with at least 8.4 rebounds per game. During that run, he’s made 10 trips to the All-Star game, been selected to the All-NBA 1st and 2nd Team four times each (one of these tallies will rise to five this season) and won the 2007 MVP award and led the Mavs to within 55 minutes of the 2006 championship.

What's different now? In short, Dirk has become the badass that he frankly wasn't in 2006 and 2007. This isn't to suggest that he's assumed some sort of testosterone-soaked Kobe-MJ alpha dog role, but rather that his on-court confidence has soared to a level only attainable to those that are a) prodigiously gifted and b) have overcome devastating adversity and answer critics (and maybe some self doubt?) as to the true potential of those gifts. The guy that shot 10-33 (1-9 from 3) with seven turnovers in Games 4 and 5 of the 2006 Finals, as the Miami Heat seized the series' momentum? That dude's gone! Dirk Nowitzki has elevated his game to a level not seen in at least four years, if ever, not because he's improved his jumper or added a new move to offensive arsenal, but because he's re-ascended to the top of his profession after staring down the worst adversity (I'm talking on-court, although we should probably not forget the crazy chick that used to live at his pad) the sports world had to throw him.

Given his aforementioned conditioning and low(-ish) impact style, the next few years may not give us an aging Dirk, but the second phase of an incredible prime that was in danger of being lost.

[nowhereman]

wrong thread

[nikeball]

http://nbaplaybook.com/2011/05/09/th...dirk-nowitzki/