Dallas Mavericks: Looking Back at the Forgotten Dirk Nowitzki

Every year when the NBA Draft comes around, it seems like we hear about yet another “Next Dirk”. Despite the fact that people didn’t even care about Dirk Nowitzki for the first 10+ years of his career, it is still insulting, because no one remembers the old Dirk. It’s time to remember.

In the NBA, there are debates that break out on a regular basis that people will never be able to answer. When you talk about the greatest dunker of all-time, you get a bunch of different answers. People will make the argument for an array of players, including Vince Carter, Shawn Kemp, Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins, Julius Erving, or even younger players like LeBron James, Blake Griffin, or Gerald Green. Why can’t there be a best dunker of all-time?

Well, the main reason is because we don’t have criteria to base it off of. If you say who is the craftiest dunker of all time, the answer is likely going to be Dr. J. If you ask who the best in-game dunker is of all time, players like Dominique Wilkins and Vince Carter separate themselves a little bit more. The point is, no one can decide because no one knows what to base it off of.

When you talk about the greatest player of all-time, the first two names you will hear are Michael Jordan and LeBron James. However, players who could easily be included in that conversation are Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or Bill Russell. You may ask how those players are on the same playing field as the first two, but again, it depends on criteria. Bill Russell has the most rings, Kareem has the most career points, Kobe is a mix of the two, and Magic is considered maybe the most versatile player in NBA history. The debate is not an easy one.

I bring these points up because of how people will want to relate them to the Dirk Nowitzki comparisons. When players are compared to Dirk, it is for a few simple reasons: they are tall, they are white/european, and they shoot the ball well. For some, these few facts are enough to make that comparison. For MFFLs, this is an insult to the man who almost single-handedly built the Dallas Mavericks empire.

There are two reasons these comparisons will never hold any truth to people who have actually watched Dirk play. First, Dirk is one of the best players to have ever stepped on a basketball court but he is also one of the best off the court as well. Second, people really just do not remember how good Dirk was in his prime.

In response to those who forget to include Dirk’s off the court activity, it is important to note that this doesn’t stop with just charity work. Dirk is also well-known for being a leader in the community of Dallas, something that he is proud of and that we as Mavs fans and citizens of Dallas have seen. This is evident especially when you look at Dirk’s Celebrity Baseball game that he hosts every year where sports stars from all the major Dallas teams show up to support the event.

For the second part, well, let’s just look at some highlights.

Or this one…

And finally…

The reasons I post these videos are one, to show you that Dirk in his young days was very accomplished at driving the ball, rebounding, dunking, and even blocking some shots, and two, to see that he also had his signature fadeaway from the beginning.

This second point is interesting for a lot of reasons, but the one that sticks out to me is that Dirk was honing his craft at an early age. This shows that he likely knew that his agility and ability to attack the rim would fail him at some point (being 7-feet tall usually does that earlier rather than later) and he would need something to fall back on. It has definitely done that.

Next: Where Has Maxi Kleber Been the Most Impactful?

No matter what the case is, we all know that there will never be another Dirk Nowitzki to grace the basketball court again. Although there will be great players with similar styles of play, we are seeing the tail end of one of the greatest careers in NBA history.