Believe it or not, Dirk Nowitzki plays good D

[DirkNowitzki41]

[QUOTE]Here

[It's A VC3!!!]

He's not a lockdown defender, that's for sure. However, he is a solid team defender and opposing teams don't say "Dirk is on you, ISO, ISO". Because of that, he is a solid defender.

[andremiller07]

High IQ player, good size and wants to compete so yeah he will play good D no surprise.

[DirkNowitzki41]

Yep, well said. Just always though that his reputation for being a liability was unfair.

He had his trouble while playing Nellie ball, but that was over 8 years ago

[PickernRoller]

Shutting down Gasol doesn't qualify as good D anymore. Yes, dating back to 11'.

[get these NETS]

thread is huge pile of bull shit


Dirk is 7 feet tall with EXCELLENT footwork....and about average nba wingspan for his height

with those , he has the tools to be a good defender for his position

he just never had the desire to be a good defender


miss me with the racist code words

[DirkNowitzki41]

thread is huge pile of bull shit


Dirk is 7 feet tall with EXCELLENT footwork....and about average nba wingspan for his height

with those , he has the tools to be a good defender for his position

he just never had the desire to be a good defender


miss me with the racist code words

Uhh.. this thread is not only about Dirk being unathletic. So your post doesnt make that much sense.

It's about how in the last few years, he has actually been a solid defender.

Read the article. Dirk himself said it best... so him never having the desire to be a good defender is bull shit

[get these NETS]

For someone who has his athletic limitations, he holds his own pretty nicely.

[DirkNowitzki41]

Okay well, how is that wrong? Would you really consider Dirk to be athletic?
[QUOTE]

[get these NETS]

article is garbage

lack of defensive effort/understanding of defensive principles was the knock against euro-players for years

so i'm not gonna single dirk out

but article is garbage because i don't think it mentions any change in dirk's defensive stats and how they relate to nba rule changes involving zones which surely have helped weak center and power forward defenders

i skimmed article so if it mentions that i apologize

[TaLvsCuaL]

There are many stereotypes, if you're a big and white you must be soft, unathletic and good shooter. That's what I've heard

[get these NETS]

Okay well, how is that wrong? Would you really consider Dirk to be athletic?

dirk is a great scorer

post MJ...standards have been higher and people expect superstars to be great two way players or at least great offensive and good defensive player

dirk is great scorer and average to bad defender for his position

i blame it on lack of effort...not lack of athleticism

dirk is better athlete than kevin mchale by leaps and bounds but mchale was a better defender at the four spot

[get these NETS]

yeah, I read the article and although they use Dirk's last 5 years....NO mention that those five years coincide with zones being legal.

just like I thought....it's a puff piece..

objective fan can see it...

[The JKidd Kid]

I don't think any one ever called him a liability, it's just that when you do the whole Dirk to KG comparison it's like night and day.

[Pointguard]

yeah, I read the article and although they use Dirk's last 5 years....NO mention that those five years coincide with zones being legal.

just like I thought....it's a puff piece..

objective fan can see it...

They do say that he is guarding the lesser of the big positions which is kind of like a disclaimer. The guy who guards the better of the bigs isn't getting the attention and I think that's unethical. Since when does the healthy guy operating out of the handicap get credit, and the real muscle gets ignored?

Its like an artist who can't draw but is given co-artist that makes his work great and then acting like the co-artist doesn't exist, while saying this genius work is that of Dirk's.

Its incredibly misleading because his era had the two best defensive Power Forwards ever and Dirk is getting credit despite never guarding superstar PF like other good/decent defenders do. And guys who are obviously better like Ibaka aren't getting their just due.