DIRK DIGGLER IS DEAD
Oh how times change....
Once an MVP, oh how the mighty have fallen. Like most nights, Dirk Nowitzki has to be asking himself where did the magic go? Pro Basketball Scoop has been driving this bandwagon since last year's embarassing playoff exit when Golden State gave the rest of the league the blueprint for how to defend the once-proud Hasselhoff fan club president.
So how come this story doesn't have legs yet? Probably because he's averaging 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assisstss per game. That alone should justify his all-star selection this year and should indicate a player dominating the games he's playing in. But PBS believes that this is not the case and it makes the acquisition of Jason Kidd look like a desperate owner's inexperienced wet dream. After all, trading Devin Harris and DeSagana Diop (AKA, the future) to rely on Dirk and Kidd (AKA, the past) implies that you've got a lot of faith in the old guys, and you think you can win now. Now all of that is good and fine considering you've got a serious player in Josh Howard and some nice complementary players who just 2 years ago nearly won the NBA title.
And now for the big but....
Dirk Diggler is dead.
Exhibit 1: 14 points in the 3 point shootout final round. When the spotlight is on Dirk puckers up.
Exhibit 2: down by 3 in the waning moments of Sunday night's All-Star game he's given the rock with plenty of time outside of the 3 point line and proceeds to get Spalding tattood on his forehead because Dwayne Wade (and everyone in the building) knows he's not going around anyone, yet he still shoots the shot. Dirk doesn't know that he's lost his step.
Now one might say that these are 2 isolated incidents, but we here at PBS don't think so. What the Warriors did last year was show the league that Dirk can't put the ball on the ground under pressure. You basically body him up with a shorter defender (Bruce Bowen was the first to expose this) and stay underneath him, pressuring the dribble. Even though Dallas goes to great lengths to feed the ball to Dirk in the high-high-post, he rarely generates anything of value because he's about as quick as Shawn Bradley was (well maybe not THAT slow). The result: A back to the basket, 2 or 3 dribble, step-back shot attempt with a hand in his face. In other words, he can't get his shot off anymore. We think that it would be wiser to shift the offensive focus to a slashing Josh Howard while spotting up the big Germ.
Ultimately, we think this trend is going to continue and for that reason we hate the trade for Kidd. Don't get me wrong, Jason Kidd certainly increases their chances of winning. But we would have rather moved Dirk during the offseason while he still has value to bring talent in around a core of Devin Harris and Josh Howard. Loading up around Nowitzki is asking him to perform in the clutch—and he simply isn't going to get it done. It seems that Cuban and Avery are going to stick by their MVP though, because it's a safe choice probably devoid of immediate criticism. And give Cuban credit for not sitting on his hands, but it's easy to see how his emotion drives his decisions. For that reason we ask you to put a note in your Outlook calendar for 2 years from now when Nowitzki draws more comparisons to Keith Van Horn than Larry Bird, and the Dallas franchise officially announces that it's rebuilding.
Once an MVP, oh how the mighty have fallen. Like most nights, Dirk Nowitzki has to be asking himself where did the magic go? Pro Basketball Scoop has been driving this bandwagon since last year's embarassing playoff exit when Golden State gave the rest of the league the blueprint for how to defend the once-proud Hasselhoff fan club president.
So how come this story doesn't have legs yet? Probably because he's averaging 22 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assisstss per game. That alone should justify his all-star selection this year and should indicate a player dominating the games he's playing in. But PBS believes that this is not the case and it makes the acquisition of Jason Kidd look like a desperate owner's inexperienced wet dream. After all, trading Devin Harris and DeSagana Diop (AKA, the future) to rely on Dirk and Kidd (AKA, the past) implies that you've got a lot of faith in the old guys, and you think you can win now. Now all of that is good and fine considering you've got a serious player in Josh Howard and some nice complementary players who just 2 years ago nearly won the NBA title.
And now for the big but....
Dirk Diggler is dead.
Exhibit 1: 14 points in the 3 point shootout final round. When the spotlight is on Dirk puckers up.
Exhibit 2: down by 3 in the waning moments of Sunday night's All-Star game he's given the rock with plenty of time outside of the 3 point line and proceeds to get Spalding tattood on his forehead because Dwayne Wade (and everyone in the building) knows he's not going around anyone, yet he still shoots the shot. Dirk doesn't know that he's lost his step.
Now one might say that these are 2 isolated incidents, but we here at PBS don't think so. What the Warriors did last year was show the league that Dirk can't put the ball on the ground under pressure. You basically body him up with a shorter defender (Bruce Bowen was the first to expose this) and stay underneath him, pressuring the dribble. Even though Dallas goes to great lengths to feed the ball to Dirk in the high-high-post, he rarely generates anything of value because he's about as quick as Shawn Bradley was (well maybe not THAT slow). The result: A back to the basket, 2 or 3 dribble, step-back shot attempt with a hand in his face. In other words, he can't get his shot off anymore. We think that it would be wiser to shift the offensive focus to a slashing Josh Howard while spotting up the big Germ.
Ultimately, we think this trend is going to continue and for that reason we hate the trade for Kidd. Don't get me wrong, Jason Kidd certainly increases their chances of winning. But we would have rather moved Dirk during the offseason while he still has value to bring talent in around a core of Devin Harris and Josh Howard. Loading up around Nowitzki is asking him to perform in the clutch—and he simply isn't going to get it done. It seems that Cuban and Avery are going to stick by their MVP though, because it's a safe choice probably devoid of immediate criticism. And give Cuban credit for not sitting on his hands, but it's easy to see how his emotion drives his decisions. For that reason we ask you to put a note in your Outlook calendar for 2 years from now when Nowitzki draws more comparisons to Keith Van Horn than Larry Bird, and the Dallas franchise officially announces that it's rebuilding.
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