First off I'm a Spurs fan and can't stand the Mavs. With that said, i really enjoyed this interview with Zach Lowe from Grantland. Lots of great questions and honest answers. I'm sure Mavs fans will enjoy it, and I hope Lowe continues to do these Q&As with other players.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/50736/qa-dirk-nowitzki-on-the-mavs-struggles-his-favorite-shot-artist-and-refusing-to-watch-shark-tank

Also, as a Spurs fan I have to include this snippet:

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Dirk: Yeah. Duncan is probably the best power forward ever to play this game.

Lowe:You don’t feel like you have a place in that discussion?

Dirk: Oh, no, no. I'm not. He's got four rings.

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Edit: Removed typo.




[This message has been edited by 2008and1 (edited 2/14/2013 12:01a).]

Dirk is inarguably top 3. And Dirk should have more confidence in himself than that. He never had the elite supporting cast and coach like Duncan had.



[This message has been edited by TheMasterplan (edited 2/15/2013 7:47p).]

i won't argue about dirk never having anyone within the same stratosphere as coach pop, but duncan made everyone else around him better. i'm not sure ginobili and parker, which are his two greatest teamates outside of a broken down robinson, would be half of who they are without duncan.

dirk might be one of the 20 best players ever, but he didn't make anyone around him better as a player. he simply commanded all the attention of the other team.

Let's not act like Dirk played with slouches his whole career...he didn't. His knock is that he isn't a good defender or rebounder. He's a scorer. That's it.

Dirk > barkley or malone. Easily at this point.

How is he not a good rebounder? Have you not looked at his career playoff averages? 10.3 rpg. Averaged 13.1 back in 2002. What an asinine statement. Dennis Rodman's=9.9rpg in the playoffs.

And Obi Wan, I'm sure all the players that have ever played with Dirk would disagree with you.

Dirk's best teammate has been Josh Howard. Think about that for a second.

[This message has been edited by TheMasterplan (edited 2/16/2013 11:11a).]

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[This message has been edited by TheMasterplan (edited 2/16/2013 11:15a).]

DIrk has never averaged double digit rebounds in a season. And of course playoff numbers are going to be higher. He played significantly more minutes.

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Dirk's best teammate has been Josh Howard.

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Who's being asinine now?

Tim Duncan is definitively the GOAT at PF.

After him you have KG, Barkley, Malone and Pettit in any order you like to round out the top five.

After that you take your pick of Dirk, Elvin Hayes and McHale.

Personally I put Dirk as 8th all-time which means he was pretty damn good.

Playoff Averages > Season Averages. Who gives a flying **** about the season?

In the playoffs, he's playing the CORRECT amount of minutes.

And lol @ having KG > Dirk. Spin it how you want but Dirk never had talent like Manu and Parker around him during his career. And their play is attributed more to Pop than Duncan. The 2011 Mavs team has the most impressive title win since MJ. Deal with it.
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[This message has been edited by TheMasterplan (edited 2/16/2013 1:40p).]

KG and Barkley above dirk is comical.

dirk is better than KG, has OWNED KG in the playoffs, didnt have to go to another team to wina championship, has higher playoff averages than KG.

barkley is a great great player, but never got over the hump, even in houston playing with hakeem and clyde.

Just like to add that Manu lead argentina to an olympic gold medal so there goes the, "He wouldn't be anything without Duncan" argument.

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Who gives a flying **** about the season?

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Statisticians who record career numbers that are universally accepted as all-time stats.

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The 2011 Mavs team has the most impressive title win since MJ.

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No argument there.

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Deal with it.

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Ok.

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Enzo The Baker
posted 12:28p, 02/16/13



DIrk has never averaged double digit rebounds in a season. And of course playoff numbers are going to be higher. He played significantly more minutes.

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Dirk is punished because his numbers are so much better in the playoffs? You think a player's stats automatically go up in the playoffs? I've heard so many excuses from the Dirk haters over the years but this is one of the best. Dirk is a top 20 all-time (post-merger) playoff rebounder - http://bkref.com/tiny/BKLtn

And that's a great interview. I loved the Kobe discussion. I wish they would play another playoff series or even better if they teamed up in their final years.

As long as Kobe comes to Dallas not the other way around. I couldn't handle seeing Dirk in a Laker uniform.

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Dirk's best teammate has been Josh Howard

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Mike Finley, Steve Nash, Tyson Chandler, and Matrix would like a word with you...

Dirt

Career averages

Barkley: 22.1 points, 11.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 1.5 steals, .8 blocks. Bonus stat: 54.1 FG%
Karl Malone: 25 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.4 steals, .8 blocks
Nowitzki: 22.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, .9 steals, 1 block. Bonus stat: 38.0 3PT%

Nowitzki is the only one of those guys below 50% on FGs (47.4%), and he is just hitting the downhill slide in his career that Chuck and Malone have already passed through.

I tend to think Nowitzki should be compared to SFs more than PFs. He's not a top 3 PF.

[This message has been edited by Ulrich (edited 2/16/2013 10:29p).]

For fun, KG has/had 19.2 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 4 apg, 1.3 spg, 1.5 bpg, and averaged 49.9% on FGs.

Again with the regular season stats, completely ignoring the playoffs where legacies are made.

Dirk, Chuck, Karl compared:
full careers http://bkref.com/tiny/RKJNv
through their first 15 years http://bkref.com/tiny/y8EaP
through age 34 http://bkref.com/tiny/nw3jo

Notable:
-Dirk gets many more points and rebounds in the playoffs, while the others stay about the same
-Dirk shoots more free throws per game in the playoffs, and at a much higher %
-Dirk shoots a far superior 3P%, which is relevant because Barkley actually shot more 3Ps then Dirk for a large part of his prime vs a large part of Dirk's prime
-Dirk has a comparable DRB% and a sub-par ORB%, which accounts for the lower TRB.

Dirk holds his own in all comparisons, especially in the playoffs. Add in the intangible of winning and it's easy to put Dirk at 2nd Best All-time PF. 2 Finals, 1 Title, 1 Finals MVP - all as the only All-NBA player on his team. Malone is an all-time playoffs choke artist, and Barkley's loaded teams choked when he had them in position to win (vs HOU up 2-0 in 94, up 3-1 in 95)

[This message has been edited by InternetFan02 (edited 2/16/2013 11:58p).]

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I tend to think Nowitzki should be compared to SFs more than PFs. He's not a top 3 PF.

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Maybe instead you should consider comparing Duncan, Malone, Barkley, Garnett to Cs more than PFs. The PF position is evolving. Duncan hasn't played PF in 5 years. KG hasn't played it in 2 years. Pau Gasol was more effective as a C. Lebron plays a lot of PF. Perimeter shooting PFs are very common now. The NBA decided this year to merge the C and F positions on the all-star ballot to reflect the evolution.

Nowitzki's big post move is the flailing fadeaway. Yes, there are a lot of stretch 4s, and there have been for decades; that's why they are forwards and not centers. Maybe my perceptions are colored by those mid-00s Spurs/Mavs series, but Nowitzki always looked more like a tall 3 than a true 4 to me. There's a reason he never matched up against Duncan.

Oh, and if you don't think Duncan plays PF anymore you should watch a Spurs game or two. He's healthy again and all over the court these days.

Dirk is 2nd after Duncan, end of story.

Barkley or Malone with better defensive reputations than Dirk? Ha! Wow. Barkley was considered pretty terrible in that category which is expected for his size and Malone was VERY average.

The top PF's of all time right now should look something like this:

Duncan
Malone
KG
Dirk
Barkley

Barkley really had a great career but wouldn't be mentioned as such an all-time great if he weren't a lead personality for the NBA today. The idea that he had a more accomplished career than Dirk at this point is ludicrous.

Duncan is a center which puts him behind the dream eot

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Nowitzki's big post move is the flailing fadeaway. Yes, there are a lot of stretch 4s, and there have been for decades; that's why they are forwards and not centers.

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You really think there were just as many stretch 4s decades ago as there are now? No. Globalization and the perimeter friendly rules changes have affected the position. You can't just blindly criticize a PF for not getting ORBs.

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Maybe my perceptions are colored by those mid-00s Spurs/Mavs series, but Nowitzki always looked more like a tall 3 than a true 4 to me. There's a reason he never matched up against Duncan.

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Lol. The reason is because Duncan shifted to center.

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[This message has been edited by Internetfan02 (edited 2/17/2013 9:37p).]

Congratulations to Diet Cokehead for being the first human being on Earth to use Barkley, Malone, and defensive reputation in the same sentence.

Defense was opportunity to rest and think of next offensive move for 24 seconds. They didn't give a crap and never hid that fact.

No one says Duncan isn't the greatest PF. The first 8 years of his career where he was an exclusive PF are unmatched. Hell if he dropped dead in 2005 he'd still be the GPFOAT. Doesn't matter that Dirk has been a better player the past 8 years as Duncan has morphed into a center - those first 8 years are virtually untouchable (2 MVPs, 3 Finals MVPs, 8 first team all-nba/all-defense).

Why do Spurs fans continue to refuse to recognize that Duncan plays center? It's been so long now, you might as well keep up the charade.

[This message has been edited by InternetFan02 (edited 2/17/2013 11:09p).]

Splitter plays PF when paired with Duncan - he does have a more similar game to Duncan compared to the other PFs (Blair/Diaw/Bonner). But when sharing the floor with Duncan he is the more mobile player and typically guards the opposing PF. It's closer to a 2 C lineup than it is to listing Duncan as the PF.