Hollinger's Nowitzki-Nash article

[DMOC]

Hi guys, can anyone who subscribes to ESPN post this article please?

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insid...PERDiem-101217

[Kante]

http://www.dallas-mavs.com/vb/showpo...0&postcount=32

[Zaknaf3in]

Dirk sure gets some love from the people over at ISH as well - have a look at the christmas MVP poll:
http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=201489

[Thespiralgoeson]

Dallas against Phoenix. Dirk Nowitzki against Steve Nash. Sounds very 2007, doesn't it?

Half a decade ago, they were on anyone's short list of the game's top players. In 2007 these two former teammates finished first and second, respectively, in the MVP voting. A year earlier, they were third and first. (Marc Stein had only one of the 129 votes, so it couldn't have been all him.)

Amazingly, however, this rivalry is still relevant even though both players are well into their 30s. In fact, both are playing at roughly the same level they did in their MVP seasons, and Nowitzki in particular stands a great chance of adding a second trophy to his shelf if he keeps it up.

Those two are just the tip of the iceberg in a fascinating meta-story in the NBA this season -- namely, the shockingly good play by many of the league's older stars in 2010-11.

By my count, there are a dozen players who are (a) at least 30 years old; (b) posting a better Player Effeciency Rating (PER) than a season ago; and (c) ranked in the top 50 in PER. All those players except one project to win at least 41 games with their respective teams this season -- Nash's defanged Suns are pegged for 39 at the moment -- and several have played roles on the league's top teams in the early going.

Revenge of the Old Guys
Player Age 2009-10 PER 2010-11 PER PER Rank
Kobe Bryant 32 21.95 26.01 2
Dirk Nowitzki 32 23.01 25.16 3
Manu Ginobili 33 22.54 23.9 11
Pau Gasol 30 22.97 23.96 10
Steve Nash 36 21.67 23.72 13
Kevin Garnett 34 19.51 22.30 18
Shaquille O'Neal 38 17.92 21.05 26
Luis Scola 30 17.22 20.90 29
Brad Miller 34 12.96 20.13 34
Lamar Odom 31 15.98 19.99 36
Elton Brand 31 15.72 19.65 43
Andre Miller 34 18.18 19.02 48
What started me thinking about this was Nash nor Nowitzki, but another foreign star just a few miles down the road. (Side note: Why is it that almost every great foreign-born player has suited up for one of the three Texas teams? Hakeem Olajuwon, Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Dirk, Nash, Yao Ming, Tony Parker ... even Detlef Schrempf did time in the Lone Star State. As did Uwe Blab, but let's skip that part.)

The exploits of 33-year-old Ginobili in the past 48 hours certainly have thrust him into the MVP discussion along with Nowitzki. "Manu the Magnificent" followed up a hugely-difficult fadeaway jumper to beat Milwaukee on Wednesday with an even more ridiculous game-winner in Denver Thursday night and then put the cherry on top of the sundae by taking a charge from Carmelo Anthony at the buzzer. His Spurs' league-leading 22-3 record owes much to his brilliance, with his career-high PER and career-high in minutes per game (31.9) being equally surprising facts given his advanced age and the number of dings he's taken along the way.

Nowitzki's Dallas squad, however, supplies a full quintet of ageless wonders. His team is 20-5, despite five of its top six players being on the wrong side of 30, and unlike a year ago they aren't just doing it with smoke and mirrors -- Dallas owns the league's fifth-best point differential. The 32-year-old Nowitzki has led the way, shooting a career-high 56.2 percent, and would be atop many MVP ballots if the voting were held today. He's third in the league in PER and, combined with Tyson Chandler's re-emergence, has been the main reason for Dallas' fast start.

The Mavs and Spurs are ahead of the Lakers as a result of Nowitzki and Ginobili, but the irony is that L.A. has three older guys playing better than expected too. Kobe Bryant ranks second in the NBA in PER, and his output is dramatically increased from a season ago, when a gimpy knee conspired to limit him over the second half of the season. So far this season, Bryant's 32.4 points per 40 minutes are the second-best of his career, and despite occasional bursts of brazen gunslinging he's accomplished this with reasonable efficiency overall.


Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images
Lamar Odom, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol aren't showing any signs of slowing down in L.A.
Teammates Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom are nearly as old and have seen similar production boosts. Gasol was arguably the league's best player in the first three weeks before running out of gas playing 40 minutes a game; Andrew Bynum's return should allow him to recover. Odom is having a career year at 31 years old that has helped offset Bynum's absence in the early season. Of particular note is his stellar 58.6 percent shooting, which has come with no offsetting cost in any other category.

Over in the East, mind you, the geezers are putting up quite a fight, too. Boston owns an East-best 21-4 mark, thanks in large part to a frontcourt that has somehow found the fountain of youth. The Celtics don't come longer in the tooth than Kevin Garnett and Shaquille O'Neal, but 38-year-old Shaq is shooting 68.7 percent (and should be back in the lineup soon). Garnett has shaken off knee problems to rediscover the joys of leaping. He's averaging 12.2 boards per 40 minutes and has his best rebound rate in four years. Despite their advanced years, those two have been linchpins of the league's top-ranked defense.

Those players are responsible for the league's four best records in 2010-11, while alleged up-and-comers like Portland and Milwaukee have had a rougher go of things. However, the revenge of the old guys goes much deeper than the top of the standings -- just check out the chart. Thirtysomethings Brad Miller, Andre Miller and Luis Scola all are having the best years of their careers in teams of PER, while Philadelphia's Elton Brand has performed dramatically better than at any other point he's worn the Sixers' togs.

Then there's Nash. At 36, he's threatening to post the best mark of his career, with a 23.87 PER that exceeds that of both his MVP seasons. He's had to take on a bigger scoring role in Amare Stoudemire's absence and swallowed it with ease, shooting 51.4 percent and averaging better than a point every two minutes while directing the league's top-ranked offense for a mind-boggling seventh consecutive season.

Unfortunately, he isn't earning the same accolades that Dirk and Manu have and probably won't at any point this season because his team is so amazingly bad defensively that Phoenix is likely to miss the playoffs entirely.

Once upon a time, Nash and Nowitzki met in the conference finals, but now other thirtysomething-led teams have surpassed the Suns and moved into the forefront. In that sense, Friday's meeting between the Suns and Mavs is likely to serve as a testament to how much sturdier the foundation around Nowitzki is than that surrounding Nash.

Nonetheless, this matchup is a fitting point to marvel at how the league's older generation has maintained its high standard of play, and in several cases improved it in 2010-11. No, it's not 2007 anymore, but watching these guys one can hardly tell the difference.

[DMOC]

Thanks for the article!

[kiddpg]

are nash and dirk really close friends?

[chumdawg]

Originally Posted by kiddpg

are nash and dirk really close friends?

Ian Mahimi what you think?