Dirk Nowitzki’s Unique Shooting Drills


Dirk’s unconventional game is by no means an accident — every strange (yet incredibly effective) move he pulls off in a game is a result of hours and hours of practice and repetition. Here’s a snippet from the Star-Ledger, but be sure to read the entire thing: “On the morning of May 21, the ESPN crew working inside the TV truck on the loading dock at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City looked up at their monitors to behold an extraordinary sight. They were there to merely test their cameras for the third game of the Dallas-OKC series that night, but their focus was now on a 65-year-old man with a gaunt face and humorless eyes, silver patches on the sides of his head, and freakishly long arms. Holger Geschwindner took off his pants without any concern for who was watching, then pulled on his sweats, and when he was done he and Dirk Nowitzki began their workout … ‘And then, it just got crazy,’ said Bob Salmi, whose pals rolled cameras and captured it from every angle. ‘It was a 50-minute workout, and one of the most bizarre things I ever saw in basketball.’ … Geschwindner had him doing stuff like this: • A pirouette at the foul line, spinning 360 degrees off one shoulder and shooting; then reversing the spin and shooting. You get dizzy just watching it. • One-footed jumpers — both right and left, both with leg extended and knee bent — from every mid-range angle, with or without glass. All of it is the kind of up-the-ladder stuff you pull out to finish a game of H-O-R-S-E. • Something we’ll call the Groucho Marx: He’d take two long strides while still in a crouch, pick up a rolling ball, then shoot. Going both ways. • The Eiffel Tower: Dirk spreads his legs as far as they can go (say, 2½ feet beyond his shoulder width), reach over to touch a foot with both hands, and then catch-and-shoot from that very awkward, open position. This is the one that makes every male shield his eyes.”