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If you like NBA scorers, Dirk Notwitzki is and has been one of the best.  He is currently 6th in all time scoring and only the 6th player to score over 30,000 points.  Rarified air. He is also a horse.  He is currently ranked 11th in all times games and 8th all time in minutes. He is still active.  He has played a lot and scored a lot.  He is a scorer, he shoots a lot and hits a lot, currently 11th in total field goals, 9th in attempts, 14th in total 3 pt shots, 13th in attempts and 7th in foul shots made.  Completely a high production horse.  Currently in his 19th season  all for one team, The Dallas Mavericks.  He is their all time star of stars. He is still effective. The other night in his 19th season he contributed to a Mavs victory at the Wizards scoring 20 points in 32 minutes. including some devastating 3 pointers.  In his freaking 19th year!!

Nowitzki has high value offensive attributes.  He is the prototype "stretch 4" or big man that can shoot effectively from the outside.  If he didn't invent the position he clearly defined it.  He isn't just big, he is 7 feet tall.  His outside shot is both deadly and unblockable.  Put a tall guy on him, he can still shoot the fadeaway over the tall guy, or invariably drive by him.  Put a shorter guy on him and the shot never gets blocked.  Nowitzki has one of the games all time iconic shots. 

Interestingly Nowitzki's career virtually completely overlaps with that of Tim Duncan.  Two guys with long careers for a single team, and coincidentally they played in the same state (Texas) in the same division, and matched up frequently:  57 times in regular season, 33 games in the playoffs.  Personal statistics against one another pretty similar and characteristic of their strengths.  Duncan has a big edge in regular season wins; its much closer in the playoffs.  It is one of the league's all time rivalries if somewhat understated.

Nowitzki has also been a winner, if not to the same degree as Duncan, still remarkably successful.  During his time in Dallas the team had 11 consecutive seasons with 50 wins or more.  11 consecutive seasons.  Phenomenal.  Other teams have similar or even better streaks (Duncan's Spurs) and yet teams such as the Wizards haven't won 50 or more games since 1979.  Nowitzki gave his team sustained excellence, including one NBA championship, two times in the finals, and endless times in the playoffs.  Nowitzki is a scorer and a winner.

During his "reign" Dallas never had another super star; accompanying good to excellent players but no superstars who played with Nowitzki at their primes.  He carried the team.  He essentially made Dallas "unmatchable".  How do you cover a 7 foot guy who shoots from the outside and the far outside?   You can't.  Its been the defining element of the Dallas Mavs offense for most of the last 19 years.  Quite a streak. 

Here are a paltry 4 minutes of some of his best and game winning plays:

 

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Here's an interesting debate about Nowitzki's place in the NBA pantheon (and I realize the above post is primarily about scoring). I am in agreement with both of these guys that Nowitzki is not a Top-10 player, but he's in the argument for 10-20 (again, this is all-around, and not just scoring).

He's also probably the best European player in the history of the NBA, but it's a damned shame Arvydas Sabonis didn't have a chance to prove himself, because I think Sabonis was one of the greatest basketball players to ever live, and I mean he's in the Top 10 conversation, and I don't entirely discount the possibility that he could have been #1.

I also haven't forgotten about Dražen_Petrović (who was no Nowitzki, but man his tragic story reminds me of Vitas Gerulaitis), and of course Hakeem Olajuwon is from Africa. But you want to talk about just scoring? Yes, Dirk is in the Top 10 conversation - the year Dallas beat Miami for the championship, I knew they were going to win before the series started - it was fated, and I would have bet a *lot* of money on Dallas straight-up.

I"ll probably split half my post into a Sabonis thread, but people laugh at me when I say he could pass like Bird (but not as well), shoot like Nowitzki (but not as well), and dunk like O'Neal (though not quite as well) - and he was almost 7'4". Apologies for the gladiator music, but this guy could have been mentioned alongside Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan, take your pick - in fact, he was responsible for the Dream Team.

 

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I don't watch dualing "talking heads"  these days.  Not in sports/not in politics.   They are often antagonistic and its often for show not substance.  I watched that piece.  They agreed.  They both present in an "angry" manner.  Whatever.    I agree with them.  For the same reasons.  You can list more than 10 players better than Nowitzki.

Now some additional trivia (detail) about Nowitzki.   Our trusty nerd guide (the basketball-reference site) full of statistics, has a table for players since about 2000 that tracks shooting data.  Amazingly its called Shooting. :D   It basically assigns distance to every shot a player takes.  Its fundamental to advanced analytics in this sport and others, with every move being filmed, analyzed and crunched.

Nowitzki's shooting distance averages about 15 feet over his career.  By comparison, (now citing from memory)  Duncan is about 8 feet; Lebron and Anthony about 11,12 feet or so, 3 pt specialists such as Korver or Redick are up around 20 feet or so, Dwight Howard, a true old time center around 3-4 feet, and Curry and Klay Thompson high volume 3 pt shooters average something close to Nowitzki (they shoot long distance and drive)

Nowitzki a 7 foot power forward/center spent his whole career shooting from long distance.  A game changing kind of shot.  Bully for him.  That skill, talent, his production and his team's success vaulted him into rarified air, if not the top ten.

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As to Sabonis:  He was good.  Too bad he was badly injured.  Too bad for us he didn't play more in the NBA where we could have seen more of him.  Besides amazing size and bulk he had an excellent long distance shot and was a great passer--a renaissance kind of talent.  If healthy possibly a top ten talent.  We'll never know.  In the NBA even with his reduced mobility he was one of the only players that gave Shaq problems when Shaq was in his prime.

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Back to Nowitzki contemporaries:  Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace:

The talking heads referenced Kevin Garnett as a comparable player to Nowitzki.  They were contemporaries, similarly tall, talented and stars.  Very different in terms of emphasis though:  Garnett was a defensive hawk and Nowitzki an offensive center piece.  One could argue forever about which was better.  I don't know.  Both were good and fun to watch.

Now Rasheed Wallace is an interesting comparison in my mind.  According to the "Nerd Bible/Basketball-Reference" Wallace shot from an average of about 16+ feet.  He was another of the earliest stretch forwards.  Wallace's depth of shooting really focused on 3 pt shots; Nowitzki split those long shots between "long shots" and 3 pointers.  Both were very tall guys who could and did play center who liked to and were capable long distance shooters...and among the earliest in the game as it evolved.  Nowitzki was far more of a main offensive threat; Wallace was always a support or secondary offensive player, putting more effort into the defensive side.  Nowitzki was healthier, played longer, and was a centerpiece.  But both presaged a change in the game.

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