Nowitski is a chump.

[Matt]

the only player of equal value to Garnett = Duncan

Mavs should have traded Nowitzki + Jamison or whoever for Shaq last season. They would now be printing Finals tickets, especially if they would of managed to keep Nash too.

[Drex]

If Cuban didn't pay the 30 years-old Nash, how could he pay Shaq?

[got philk?]

Back on Dirk. Talk to me when he learns anything about defense. Till then, he's just another good scorer.

[Andrew]

Defense is an area in which he improved this season, though he's still nowhere near guys like Duncan and KG.

[air gordon]

yeh i think dirk is a chump for letting his emotions getting the best of him and he did have some bad plays down the stretch...

but man.. it's all of the team's fault for blowing a double digit lead that they had for almost the entire game

dallas on paper doesn't have enough perimeter players to compliment shaq if they make that trade

[J@3]

Dirk, more than anyone, seems to blast his teammates a fair bit. At least in the play offs. It's kind of strange considering he's a foreigner and I can't really see players from another country taking charge like that, but at least it shows leadership I suppose.

[Alvin]

well, Olajuwon was a foreigner and led his team. I suppose that if Nowitzki wants his team to have at least the same success as Olajuwon's ROckets, he has to assert himself, being the best player of the Mavs.

[Null17]

Dirk, more than anyone, seems to blast his teammates a fair bit. At least in the play offs. It's kind of strange considering he's a foreigner and I can't really see players from another country taking charge like that, but at least it shows leadership I suppose.

you're probably just programmed to think like that because of Yao's "softness"

[vc_nets15]

Dirk is a great player no dought and i dont agree that hes a chump but hes not the greatest player

[Drex]

Nobody said he's the greatest player

[maes]

I'm fairly certain Avery was asking Dirk to verbally take charge of the team. Players rarely listen to coaches, but they do listen to All-Stars.

But yelling at Terry is just wrong...Terry is the only reason Dallas was even in the 2nd round...Houston outplayed Dallas, and owned Dirk especially. Game 7: Terry: 31 points on 8-14 shooting, Dirk: 14 points on 5-14 shooting, nuff said.

As good as he is, i don't think Dirk has the aggressive personality to be the main man on a team like MJ. I think he's a lot like VC, very talented but works better as a soldier, not a general.

[Drex]

Terry was the reason Dallas was on the 2nd round, but he made the worst mistake in the series: He let Nash shoot a 3-pointer when he could've fouled him or put a little pressure on him.

[fgrep15]

Yes, but he was also the reason they were even in the position to win that game against Phoenix, what did he have, 34 points in that game. Just how Dirk handled it, screaming at your teammates on the court, especially when you don't step up never does anything positive.

I know many have played basketball here, and if one of you teammates who let's say is better than you screams at you for making a mistake but he is having a fairly bad game and made mistakes himself, how would you react to that?

[J@3]

I had it happen a fair bit when I was younger (playing in a much older age group)... it depended on who the person was, but it actually made me less determined. As I got older and took more of a leadership role I found that you can say the exact same things in a quieter tone and people will respond to it better. Being screamed at doesn't help anyone unless they have a Ron Artest-ish personality.

[shadowgrin]

Being screamed at doesn't help anyone unless they have a Ron Artest-ish personality.

Screaming at a person who's nuts as Artest?! There will probably be a brawl amongst teamates.

[J@3]

What I meant, is that on the occassions that he doesn't run into the crowd bashing people it'd fire him up

[fgrep15]

I had it happen a fair bit when I was younger (playing in a much older age group)... it depended on who the person was, but it actually made me less determined. As I got older and took more of a leadership role I found that you can say the exact same things in a quieter tone and people will respond to it better. Being screamed at doesn't help anyone unless they have a Ron Artest-ish personality.

Exactly, being a leader is also about knowing when and when not to things, lashing out when the game wasn't even over was letting out anger as opposed to showing leadership, and it definately did not help anything.

[Colin]

The worst is the tools that blame you if they screw up. They miss a shot, "Where are the offensive rebounders?" They get beat, "Where's the helpside?" Yeah I'm talking about you Alex.

I understand none of you know who Alex is.

But yelling at another player is pretty much one of the stupidest things you can do. It just made me not care at all.

[fgrep15]

So I think it's settled, yelling at people like that accomplishes nothing....

[J@3]

Yeah, especially if it's Alex

[maes]

Which is why PJ's teams get rings.

[Drex]

I have to agree there. If Dirk screamed at Terry in a "leadership" way (you know, like "Let's go, we can still win") it's a good thing. But he was screming in frustration adn shit

[Ming-Mac]

He's an allstar player,but still not a superstar.......

[Sauru]

Bill Walton called Steve Nash the best player in basketball during the ESPN broadcast of Game 6, which I found rather interesting. Forget the fact that such an assessment is made because of a couple of playoff series, or to be fair a single season, it's also ignoring the fact he's not much of a defender. The best players excel at both ends of the floor.

As far as Nowitzki is concerned, it depends whether you're summing up his career in general or his play in this year's post season, specifically the series against the Suns. While it might have been his place as team leader to react to Terry's play the way he did, he did come apart himself in overtime. As the saying goes, sometimes you're the hero and sometimes you're the goat.

But on a larger scale, if Nowitzki's shortcomings in this series warrant the chump label, then Kevin Garnett's string of first round exits surely warrants the same tag. And we better slap it on Oscar Robertson too - he failed to lead the Royals to the playoffs four times in his prime.

this is the best post in this thread. if you wanna call dirk a chump for bad post season play then you could, as you have said, slap that label on kg and probably 50 other good nba players(more if you go back in history). i mean atleast dirk got his team to the playoffs. if he is a chump for not performing in them then what is kobe and lebron who could not even get thier teams to the dance?

[maes]

Actually KG ups his performance is virtually every category except steals in the playoffs, he's considered a playoff performer.

5-19, 8-21, 9-22, 5-22, 5-14...Sorry KG, would never be so ineffective against Ryan Bowen.

Vs Phoenix he didn't shoot much better. and in game 7 when Amare fouled out and the game should have been over at that point, 6' 7" Marion goes for 38 points, 16 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 blocked shots.

And people are noticing that Tim Duncan completely crushed the same Phoenix frontcourt, with a less talented Center backing him up.

Now TD is a pretty high bar for a PF, which is why we're saying Dirk is definitely a star, but perhaps not a superstar like Duncan.