Well, we already know that now... And VW is the most reliable brand ever made. LOL! Best player? More like the best player on the best team, but he is not even CLOSE to being the "best player in the NBA".
Wade os speaking nothing but the truth. Wade is a top/elite player that can carry his team. Dork is a good player on a Great team with a Great coach.
Look, I dislike the Mavs (and all things Dallas) probably more than most, but I think I'd have to side with NBA GM's, coaches, and players when they ROUTINELY talk about Nowitzki being one of the toughest matchups in the league, one of the best players in the league, and one of the frontrunners this year for MVP of the league. Let's not be so intellectually dishonest that we lose credibility. When players and commentators talk about stopping the Mavericks, the first person they talk about stopping is Dirk. Not Jason Terry. Not Jerry Stackhouse. They talk about Nowitzki. This guy isn't some media "creation". He's not "hype". He is what he is, which is a player every GM in this league would give his right nut to have on their team. Bottom line.
You saved me some typing ` He's on the Gilbert Arenas, Ray Allen level. Not great all around players. He's right below the super elite of Yao, Kobe, Wade, KG, Duncan, Lebron, Tmac
Fully agree. tigermission1 is letting his personal hate for the guy make him lose all objectivity. Terry was a loser with Atlanta, he is good, but he is not a franchise player. Stackhouse was on tons of losing teams, despite plenty of talent there. Croshere didn't exactly set the world on fire during his time in Indiana. Howard is good, but he is not a franchise player either. Devin Harris is an ok role player, but he is not the reason they win either. We have two franchise players - Yao and T-Mac. Dallas has one - Dirk. Yet, Dallas has a far better record (of course, we had the injuries), being led by Dirk. Don't fool yourself thinking that that team would go anywhere without Dirk. It is great because of Nowitzki's greatness.
Not at all, I already said he's a superstar in this league, but he is not the "best player in the NBA" as you put it, and he's nowhere near the likes of Wade or Kobe as an individual player.
Except he didn't struggle for an entire series. He had good to great games in 3 of the 6 games. In the game 6 loss, he shot 10-22 (8-8 from the line) for 29 points, and had 15 rebounds. Terry and Howard combined for 30 points on 12 for 41 shooting. Dirk only had two truly terrible games, and one of those was a win.
Even though Wade was the best player on the Heat championship team - neither Kobe nor Wade has gone as far without Shaq on his team as Dirk has.
I give credit more to Avery Johnson, he is maximizing the personnel he has. He's pushed Douchebag into more then just a 7ft jumpshooter (actually he still is but gets his points in other ways). It creates major mismatch problems when you have a 7foot sharpshooter that likes to spend majority of his time in the perimeter. Under Don Nelson they were perennial playoff fodder, under AJ they went up another level. Douchebag just happens to be the centerpiece of the team.
Is that all you have? It's silly to even compare the Mavs' overall roster to the Heat's...every single so-called 'expert' out there ranked the Mavs as the "superior team" and those who picked the Heat did so not because of talent, but because of certain 'intangibles' like Shaq's championship experience. But in case you forgot, the overwhelming assessment of the series was that it was over before it even began, that Dallas would simply overwhelm the Heat. After cruising with wins in the first couple of games, everyone started saying, "I told you so." All things being equal, Wade would have put that Dallas roster over the top. Shaq didn't amount to much the entire series, but he did get them past Chicago. Anyways, it's all hypothetical, but it's silly to make it sound like Wade or Kobe had anything REMOTELY similar to the current Mavs squad...only Dirk has that luxury, we will see what he does with it moving forward. But in case anyone thinks I am not being 'objective' about it, I have already called the Mavs the "best team in the league" and consider them the favorites to win it all this season. They're a great team with terrific players and a terrific coach. and I agree Dirk will probably win the MVP this season (two is enough for Nash). However, as Jordan and Dream showed us in the past, the MVP does not equal the "best player in the league". And I don't think any coach/GM in his right mind would pick the two-time league MVP Steve Nash over the likes of Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Yao Ming, Dwayne Wade, Tim Duncan, among others.
You are silly. The Heat had the guy who was at the time still regarded as the best and most dominant center in the league, plus several guys who had been all-stars. Nobody on the Mavs' roster was even an all-star. Going by name recognition alone, the Heat's roster would have had to be considered far superior.
Shaquille O'Neal - at least the NBA's second-best center Antoine Walker - three-time all-star Gary Payton - nine-time all-star Alonzo Mourning - seven-time all-star, two-time NBA defensive player of the year James Posey - good defender whom many wanted back on the Rockets Udonis Haslem - tough rebounder and definitely better than any PF player the Mavs would have, other than Nowitzki Jason Williams - probably at least better than Devin Harris Dallas? No present all-stars except Nowitzki and no past ones except Stackhouse (who is similar in age as some of those Heat guys), a crap center in Dampier. Terry and Howard are Dirk's sidekicks, but Shaq at the time and Walker/Payton/Mourning/Haslem were surely not less talented than Terry and Howard. Decline or not, old or not, to say that Nowitzki only got that far because of better teammates is just plain dumb. Wade was surrounded with a cast of perennial all-stars, Nowitzki had to carry his team at least as much as Wade had to.
No, some stars play well in losing series and the rest of their team doesn't step up. I wouldn't say T-Mac or Yao played poorly in our loss to the Mavs two years ago. Only one stage is the NBA Finals. You don't get labeled a champion for winning any other series. No one said Dirk had to play above expectations at all times. All he had to do was play like his normal self and the Mavs probably win the Finals. No one is ignoring anything. There is nothing wrong with saying Dirk stepped up agsinst SA, and nutted up against the Heat.
How did he play in the Finals? Was he even the Heat's best center that series? How long ago? How many all-star games has Mutombo been to? These players are cleary not as good as they were when they were in their primes. Payton hit big shots in the Finals and everyone was suprised. All of these players stepped up, but the only one that would see PT in Dallas is Haslem. Sorry, but the Mavs have more talent than the Heat. More talent does not always equal a better team. As a Rockets fan you should know this if you were alive in 94. We won because we had a stud no one could stop...and the Heat won because D.Wade was "that guy" in the Finals. Dirk is a superstar but no way in hell do I think he could succeed on a team like the Rockets, or the Lakers.
nobody's disputing the fact that the heat has many FORMER all stars. 'former' being the key word. they're way past their primes. hey, if former all-stars could win give you a superior team, why not grab MJ, Magic, and Bird, three former all-stars, not to mention MVP's. Oh, that's right. Because they're old shells of their former selves, just like Payton, Walker, and Mourning (though Mourning turned back the clock defensively). jason williams? probably a better shooter than devin harris, but nowhere near as quick because of his weak knees. Haslem? basically Chuck Hayes who can hit the open jumper. Mourning is a more muscular Deke, complete with the absence of offensive skill. Dampier is not a crap center, he's a solid defensive center. Diop was a good sub. Posey? Howard would school his fat ass all day long. Terry is a primetime scorer, and not a bad passing PG. Did you see how Shaq played in the Finals last year? obviously not the shaq we're used to. he did draw double teams and...wait, no, that's about it. the Heat were often much better with Mourning on the floor, because he was at least hustling and not going through the motions. Shaq was just not the Shaq of yesteryear. The Mavs were much deeper and had much more talent than the Heat. Sure, the heat had veteran experience, but that doesn't mean they had a superior team. Nowitzki did NOT have to carry his team like wade did. not even close. His supporting cast was/is far better than wade's, and they're showing it this season. The only thing they lacked was the ability to do anything right during crunch time, but that's another story.
Wow. Such haters. Wade has a point and shouldn't we all just be grateful he managed to keep the Mavs and Dirt, I mean Dirk, from getting a championship?
I have to agree with Wade. Dirk just goes to sleep in the playoffs. This was proven when Ryan Bowen shut him down in the Houston series two years ago. Luckily they had Jason Terry there to save their butts.
