For 90 days gets to know more about the International faces of the NBA, Day 63 brings...
Dirk Nowitzki (F, Dallas Mavericks), Germany
Height: 2.13 m, 7 feet | Weight: 111.1 kg, 245 pounds | Born: 19 June 1978
The greater the heights, the fewer the words.
Over the 16-plus years that Dirk Nowitzki's jumped and swished -- with that famously unguardable, single-legged fade-away -- his way up the NBA's all-time charts, he's made a sort of verbal voyage. In each step, he's nixed an asterisk.
Dirk's gone by a lot of names over the years. Greatest German Player Of All Time gave way to Greatest European Of All-Time, and finally to First European MVP (2006). Best Player Never To Win A Title fell when he won Finals MVP in 2010-11, leading the Mavs over the Heat. Now, after a 2013-14 season in which he moved into the NBA's Top 10 scorers, one more name's starting to fit.
One of the greatest. Ever.
Nowitzki's coming off another in 2013-14, one in which he bounced back from a slow 2012-13 campaign to put up 21.7 points, 6.2 boards and 2.7 assists a night for the Mavs, on 49.7 percent shooting (and a 39.8 percent clip from behind the arc).
Now, after signing an extension with the Mavericks, he'll come into 2014-15 just 161 points from passing Hakeem Olajuwon – arguably Dirk's only competition left for Best International Player Of All-Time – into ninth place on the scoring list, and well within range of seventh place by year's end. And with a team loaded with talent after acquiring Chandler Parsons and bringing back Tyson Chandler in the offseason, he'll chase yet another title:
Two-Time NBA Champion.
Awards
- 12-time NBA All-Star
- 4-time All-NBA First Team
- NBA MVP (2007)
- NBA Champion, NBA Finals MVP (2011)
Season Highlight
He passed Oscar Robertson into 10th place on the all-time scoring list on (26,712) on 8 April, but saved his best performance of the year for another milestone: on 29 Jan, he became the 13th player in NBA history to record 26,000 points when he went for 38 (and 17 rebounds) against Houston.
Key Stats
GP: 80 | MIN: 32.9 | PTS: 21.7 | REB: 6.2 | AST: 2.7 | FG%: 49.7
Five Things to Know
1. Nowitzki's shooting coach, Holger Geschwinder, discovered Nowitzki at 15. As the story goes, Geschwinder asked Dirk to decide if he wanted to be a world-class player, or a local hero. Dirk chose the first option, and the two reportedly practiced each day for the better part of two decades – until Holger gave Dirk the day off after the Mavs won the 2011 title.
2. He's a huge football fan.
3. Dirk nearly followed his father into a career in team handball, but switched to basketball when he grew too tall.
4. In his spare time, Dirk plays the saxophone. Seriously. (Dallas Morning News)
5. Nowitzki, with 26,786 points, needs 161 to pass Hakeem (26,946). After that, Elvin Hayes stands at No. 8, with 27,313. No. 7? Moses Malone, at 27,409. Dirk would need to average 22.1 points over 82 games this year to pass Shaquille O'Neal at No. 6, with the Shaq finishing his career at 28,596.
Check out Nowitzki's photos and video in the LEAGUE section of NBA Game Time.
Previous: Andrew Nicholson (Orlando Magic, Canada) | Next Up: Kelly Olynyk (Boston Celtics, Canada)