Dirk Nowitzki Is One-Of-A-Kind, But He Just Thinks He’s ‘Weird’

There are few players more self-aware and self-deprecating than Dirk Nowitzki.

On Thursday, Dirk was asked to reflect on being only person in the history of the NBA to record 25,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 1,000 blocks, 1,000 3-pointers club. His response, as expected, was classic Dirk.

“That’s a weird club, obviously. With one weirdo in it. That usually means that big guys like that are not shot-blockers like me.”

Yes, it is a weird club, and it makes total sense that Dirk would be the only member.

In the NBA’s entire history, we’ve never seen anyone like him. There have been sweet-shooting bigs, there have been great passing bigs, there have been bigs that were decent defenders despite a limited vertical. But we’ve never had a player that’s put all of those different components together until Dirk. It’d be easy to say that Dirk is the archetype for the modern stretch-four, but not even that’s true. He’s simply Dirk.  He can shoot from any place on the floor, take the ball to the basket despite his massive frame, and rebound and defend at a high level despite a deteriorating athleticism.

The fact Dirk was never that athletic in the first place lends to his longevity. Some players rely too much on innate athleticism to defend, rebound and block shots. Dirk never had that luxury, and instead counted on his knowledge of angles and leverage to succeed in those areas. Others have borrowed aspects of his game, such as his patented step-back, turnaround jumper off one foot; others have tried to become the player he is, but there is only one Dirk, and there probably won’t ever be another. We could go on, but we think we’ll let his own coach Rick Carlisle sum things up.

(Dallas Morning News)

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