Reliable German Engine
Deutschland goes Naismith Hall of Fame, Springfield. NBA Hall of Fame will add an overused high performing, extremely loyal German engine into its premises. Dirk Nowitzki entered NBA in 1998 as a rather 19-20 year old who kind of flew under the radar and his only tryst with fame was the McDonald’s game in San Antonio where he single handedly got the World team over the hump and beat hugely favored US team. When he entered NBA, drafted by Dallas Mavericks he was paired with Steve Nash, another international (Canada is international for US) who was a trade import from Phoenix and Michael Finley thus forming a team of sorts – super team wasn’t a word then.
Dirk did not have great baptism in NBA and was schooled by number of NBA players and had a rather lukewarm year especially when you put his entire career on a reel. He was adjusting to living in America away from his parents, keeping him company was his mentor father figure Holger Geschwindner who had taken the big German Dirk under his wing and treated him like his own son. Holger is a coach from Dirk’s native Wurzburg who had a coaching academy called Institute of Applied Nonsense where he used the principle of Math and Physics to calculate the ball’s release time and such. He was also a hard taskmaster who made Dirk practice and to the credit of Dirk, he practiced even more. Holger treated sports as a form of art and Dirk’s one legged fadeway is actually a form of art just look at the number of contemporary basketball players who have imitated the shot to not-so-great success and this list of imitators include number of biggest names in the business.
Someone would be dubbed clairvoyant if they thought Dirk would end up in the top 6-7 all-time NBA scorers and his finish amongst the greats of the game as an offense minded power forward especially when there were two other big names – Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett In the same era as him. Not even Dirk’s biggest fans could have claimed that they saw this coming. Dirk achieved this or I want to even say overachieved what he did based on his career numbers. Dirk finished as the sixth highest scorer ever (maybe he got pushed to 7th now) but amongst seven men who conquered 30K points peak, thus becoming only European, only Caucasian player in that list.
Dirk was never a supremely gifted athlete, instead he blended method to Holger’s madness and results were astounding. Dirk had main traits in reliability, perseverance, loyalty which were still old school especially in era where the players jumped the teams for better payday. There have been multiple stories of Dirk turning down millions of dollars to remain with Dallas Mavericks. In an era, where the players have changed jerseys, Dirk remained with Dallas Mavericks for a whopping 21 years, beating the record held by Kobe Bryant who finished with 20 and Duncan with 19 with the same teams. Each of those guys are icons in their own rights and had a career envious of others.
Holger was a big believer in breaking the patterns and treating the sport as an art. He groomed the 16-year Dirk from his own town and took him under the wings and what unfolded was the sheer magic. If Holger was a great teacher, Dirk was more than an able ally as a student who matched step for step even few more with his practice habits was a torch bearer and changed and enriched the game of basketball for the better. Dirk knew his limitations and was well aware of the fact that he learnt his sport in a different setup and system and would have to work harder to meet his aspirations of having a decent NBA career.
Dirk started slow while adjusting in NBA so much so that he was touted as another failed prospect from Europe who promised a lot but failed to deliver. Dirk himself thought about ending his NBA dream and returning back to Germany. But then again, he was fortunate to be blessed by two rather unconventional men who coached him, mentored him and what transpired from 1999 to 2019 was pure magic. The two men, Holger and Dallas Mavericks coach Don Nelson and his son Donnie, GM of Mavs were responsible for pulling off a coup de grace to bring Dirk to North Texas. Nelsons especially Donnie had some serious scouting in Europe.
Dirk went on to have such a stellar career that he finished amongst handful of men who not just won the regular season MVP but also NBA Finals MVP alongwith being crowned NBA champion. The soft white one dimensional offensive power forward reached the NBA finals twice, suffered heartbreak in his first outing, almost got robbed off the championship due to some questionable calls, but had the sweet redemption and revenge against the same Miami Heat, albeit much stronger who debuted the era of glitterati super team where some of the biggest names in the business “collaborated” to win the championship – a trait unheard of in older day NBA where the players would not win a championship instead of partnering with their biggest rivals on the court. Those couple of years were tough for Dirk – 2006 when he lost the championship despite being up 2-0 and 2007 when they started the season 0-4 and then won 67 out of remaining 78 games to finish with 67-15 record, only to trip again and became the top seeded team to lose to the 8th seed Golden State Warriors who had Dirk’s former coach Don Nelson at the helm and exposed few chinks in Dirk’s armor.
Post 2006/2007, Dirk was called “soft white target” who couldn’t compete against the tough NBA brethren who could play a much more skilled and aggressive and athletic sport compared to Dirk. But then again, Dirk had the strong German mind and body who had points to prove that he wasn’t soft; he meant business and he had the skills and wills and could do the drills to succeed in the NBA. 2011, he was crowned the champion by beating the same Miami Heat and during the course of his NBA finals journey, beat out the who’s who of NBA, starting with Portland Trail Blazers, sweeping Kobe Bryant and LA Lakers in Phil Jackson’s last hurrah, beating the young trifecta of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden in the divisional finals and Lebron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in NBA finals. No one, and I mean no one possibly would have been an underdog in 3 of those 4 series at least and came out triumphant.
What set Dirk apart was how humble he was even after winning the biggest coveted price of any sportsmen’s career, immediately after winning the championship, he left for the locker room to have few private moments away from the confetti and glitterati to catch a breath and let his own emotions loose as that soft white man from Wurzburg Germany had achieved the extraordinary summit of conquering Mt. NBA with a supporting cast which was truly that – supporting cast and role players number of them who were on their last legs or at least in the twilights of their own successful careers.
Dirk played another 8 seasons after winning the championship and though he could not replicate the team success, he did have very good numbers and team success is dependent on the team and his motley crew got disbanded after 2011. Dirk had some legendary battle royale with Chris Webber, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and other power forwards of the era. Tim Duncan obviously was a better player especially defensively and won five championships to Dirk’s one, biggest critics of Nowitzki would agree that Duncan had much superior cast as evidenced by Dirk’s fellow entrants in HOF – Point guard Tony Parker who won four and NBA’s winningest Coach Popovich and even Becky Hammon who redefined coaching in men’s sports all from San Antonio Spurs. Dirk more than held his own against Duncan and upstaged Kevin Garnett and Chris Webber.
Dirk had an extremely stellar career – 14 all star experiences, 12 all NBA selections, NBA champion, regular season, and NBA Finals MVP, even won the citizenship award, he was also part of 50-40-90 club where he shot 50% from field, 40% from 3-point, 90% from free throw and was among another 8-9 players who achieved that. Dirk also won the three-point championship at an all-star game and was compared to none other than Larry Legend (Larry Bird). Dirk was also voted to NBA’s 75th anniversary team.
Dirk after winning in 2011 also had number of top $$$ contracts offered to him, but the man was one of a kind, didn’t care about money, lived a rather simple, frugal life, even drove mini van when number of his peers had the best in class wheels at their behest. Dirk refused those big contracts and stayed loyal to the city of Dallas. There have been countless stories of Dirk being always accessible to fans, have had personal privilege of seeing him talk to fans, have heard stories of his volunteering at NTFB and putting food in people’s trunks, carrying his own lunch to and leftover from Mavs facilities and one just wonders whether if there has been a simpler superstar and yes, he has been nothing short of superstar.
Reserving the last for loyalty. No other athlete would have given up on so much money, adulation, maybe even opportunities to win more championships by teaming with other superstars than Dirk. The Greatest of All Time Michael Jordan when asked which players he thought would have been successful in his era when the scoring was tougher and rules were stricter, he singled out Dirk alongwith Kobe, Duncan and Lebron who are absolute legends. A boy from Wurzburg who had arrived onto scene in 1998 as a young 19-year-old, never would have thought to receive such effusive praise and such august company to be put in by the man who was touted as the greatest ever to don basketball jersey. Ask any sportsmen and they would say getting praise from fans is always great but receiving shoutout and accolades from the ones in their business – players, coaches, sports journos, is even more as they know the nuances and the hard work it takes to succeed as a professional.
Dirk created his own move, one legged fadeway which has become the signature in NBA and has its own space in the pantheon of “patented” NBA moves is now enshrined as a bronze statue outside the Mavericks arena and another feather in the cap for DFW tourism. Most importantly, he redefined the game for big men and displayed his repertoire that got enhanced and augmented to the entire gamut of opportunities for the big men to succeed in NBA. Dirk played with finesse over force and preferred to practice smoothness over strength.
