Said who? As long as they have productive Dirk they are like a .500 ball team. Throw in Rick Carlisle turning Monta Ellis's career around and you have a low seed playoff team. If they had a defensive anchor, they'd be a handful.
Yeah but how many blocks and quadruple doubles does he have? Dirk is a great offensive player he deserves whatever spot he gets on all-time scoring.
Do you have any objective reason for that? 4 year span.. Hakeem 92-96 regular season 26.0 PER, .199 WS/48; playoffs 26.3 PER, .173 WS/48 Duncan 02-05 regular season: 27.0 PER, .250 WS/48; playoffs 27.1 PER, .232 WS/48 any pace adjusted stats will favor Duncan and his greatest contribution isn't even showed in boxscore since he is statistically 2nd most impactful defender behind Russell.
What happens when you mix Tim Duncan's offense with Dwight Howard's athleticism with Bill Russell's defense.....you get Hakeem Olajuwon. Hakeem is a two way player and Dirk is more offense. Note: Tim Duncan was way more mature then Hakeem at a younger age, that is his greatest asset over Akeem.
Is Hakeem a better player over all than Dirk, yes, but to say he can't even carry his jockstrap just shows your lack of knowledge for the game of basketball. The guy is going to end at the 6th or 7th all time scorer of all time. Don't insult yourself with stupid comments. The guy is going to finish with a championshp against one
You only put Duncan under a 3 year span. Besides the fact the competition was WAY heavier in Olajuwon's period. Barkley's Suns, Stockton and Malone Jazz, Payton and Kemp's Sonics, even Robinson and Rodman's Spurs on top of the bruising Knicks and Jordan's Bulls in the East (this is just in that 4 year stratospherical period of Dream's career, let alone the brutally physical 80s). Outside of Shaq and Kobe, who was a TRUE contender in that era? Who did the Spurs face in the finals? The Nets? Cavaliers?? 8th seeded Knicks? Even the Pistons had no superstars even if they beat the Lakers and pushed a stacked Spurs team to 7.
Here are the ESPN predictions from before the season: http://espn.go.com/nba/preview2013/story/_/page/5-on-5-1314dal/2013-14-outlook-dallas-mavericks
Between him and Durant, these guys give me nightmares as prolific scorers. Almost like they are cheating or something on offense.
Dream won 2 rebounding titles outside of '92-'96. Duncan won 0 his entire career. Win shares in any level is skewed heavily in Tim's favor due to better team mates and coaching. Dream also did his damage against better competition at C and PF. Nah, Dreams advantage is pretty clear. His defense was better than Dirk's great, great offense. And his offense trumps Dirk's defense so bad it's embarrassing.
Nothing surprising or interesting about this team. They will win 50 like most pundits predicted and be swept out of the first round easily. Dirk, although a prolific scorer, has benefited from a huge bankroll with an owner unafraid of the luxury tax. Except for resigning Nash lol. He's not comparable to Duncan or Hakeem. And Hakeem > Duncan because of on court impact and doing more with less. Forget pre zone d era stats.
And you are statistically one of the most uneducated posters. Actually, it shows your lack of knowledge for the game of basketball. Dirk cannot pick up his jockstrap because Dirk has never defended at even a mediocre level, um, ever. Don't forget about half of the sport. Spurs fan? <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/hW4uXlRGAF0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I do not think Dirk is as bad a defender as some make him out to be. He tries hard and uses his body well. But being white and clumsy with long hair has worked against his rep
The mavs had all the tools they needed. Tyson Chandler as the defensive anchor with Haywood and company off the bench. Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, and Caron Butler. Miami had basically Lebron, Wade was hurt on and off, and Bosh. A mobile 7footer like Dirk with foot speed and a deadly shot alone puts any team at their mercy. Miami were the underdogs that year.
Dirk is great. His offensive game might be Top 10 All-Time because there aren't many players better. Having said that.... He was the leader in 2 of the biggest flops in NBA history. -Golden State.. 1 seed losing to an 8th -'06 vs MIA... Up 2-0, then get swept A HUGE reason DAL f'd up both these series is Dirk wasn't physical enough and had no post game. As awesome as his offense was, that part of his game crumbled because he had no back-to-the-basket game. He didn't win until he got more physical (not that overly physical even now). Let that be a lesson to all of you young fans enamored with these exciting perimeter players with no post game. A huge reason they're "good" players to begin with is the lack of handchecking.
the insecurity in this thread is too damn high, Olajuwon is secured in his spot as one of the greats, no need to panic when another player surpasses him in the scoring list..... hate him all you want, but Nowitzki deserves credit, and is not a shot against Olajuwon..
