Monday, May 9th, 2011 at 4:54 pm  |  81 responses

Rick Carlisle Believes Dirk Nowitzki is in All-Time Top 10

by Sam Riches / @sam_riches

Heading into the postseason, many around the League regarded the Dallas Mavericks as too soft and lacking the killer instinct to be considered serious contenders. As the face of the franchise, Dirk Nowitzki felt otherwise and after his play in the first two rounds of the Playoffs, many of his skeptics are being forced to reevaluate their position.

On the heels of sending the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers back to Hollywood after a surprising sweep, Pau Gasol said Dirk is playing the basketball of his career.

And now Dallas head coack, Rick Carlisle, is calling him one of the top ten players in League history.

From ESPN Dallas:

In my opinion, he’s a top 10 player in NBA history because of the uniqueness of his game and how he’s carried this franchise on his back for over a decade,’ Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle told “ESPN First Take” on Monday. ‘He’s just right. He’s leading the team. His shot-making is great. He’s passing the ball great. He’s one of the guys that’s directing traffic for us defensively.’

One could make a strong case that Nowitzki has been the NBA’s MVP of the first two rounds of the playoffs. The 7-footer has averaged 26.5 points and has consistently come through as a closer, putting up double figures in the fourth quarter of half the Mavs’ wins this postseason.

He also twice hit go-ahead shots in the final two minutes against the Los Angeles Lakers, whom the Mavericks swept out of the playoffs with a 122-86 victory in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals on Sunday.

‘When he’s on the floor, we feel like we can beat anybody,’ Carlisle said. ‘He’s that good.’

Nowitzki is one of four players in NBA history with career postseason averages of at least 25 points and 10 rebounds.”

With a NBA Championship trophy-sized hole still sitting in his awards closest, Nowitizki has one more step to take to cement his place among the greatest of all time.

As the Mavericks aim to get back to the Finals for the first time since their loss to the Miami Heat in 2006, Dirk now has a legitimate chance at redemption and the opportunity to hoist the first championship in franchise history.

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  • Kid Dynamite

    C’mon now…….needs a few championships first to make it in there

  • price

    Sure. Top 10 non american players in league history.

  • max

    lol at all the commenters that will probably post their own top 10 lists that no one gives a sh!t about…

  • robb

    nope. But he’s playing awesome. Best foreign player ever.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    #1 European NBA player of all-time.

  • flipnoyce

    Maybe a player that you have coach passed and present or since Mavs became a franchise type of top 10, but not according to SLAM 500! Dirk is good but he doesn’t have an all around game to even break that top ten list.

  • http://www.dimemag.com Royal

    @Max: LOL I was really about to post mine but then I realized that no-one cares

  • SikhWitIt

    You can’t be top 10 if you don’t play defense. Sorry.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Top Ten “Power forwards” of all time right??? I mean, Dirk is one of my favourite players in the League of my generation – but ALL TIME rankings can’t have him within the top 10 without the hardware. There are too many all time players that have won for him to make it – Perhaps top 20. Surely top 25.
    _____
    I’m thinking by the time I’ve had lunch we would have seen Allenp or Jukai put together one of our trustworthy lists.

  • http://Philosophervision@blogspot.com The Philosopher

    Co-sign BlackPhantom.

  • http://slamonline.com The Ambassador

    Rick…Kobe is top ten of all time buddie.

  • HAMMER

    Yeah I heard this sometime last week. But no, he is not top 10

  • JTaylor21

    Rick’s doing peyote.

  • Enrique

    How about being more than a one-dimensional player. Blowing smoke up Dirk’s butt is what RC is doing.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Where exactly has Dirk been carrying Dallas?
    And I suppose we’re ignoring the Nash and Finley years now RC?
    The Diggler is balling and winning. That is more than enough.

  • http://www.google.com/news BETCATS

    hahahahaha ummmm no. He is maybe top 50, in the form he is currently in no doubt, but top 10 with no rings? HA.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    I’ll give Dirk Top 20, probably. I mean he’s like, the greatest shooting big man of all-time. It’s between him or Larry Legend, but can you consider Bird a big man? He played the 3 all of his career. I guess you can since he’s 6’9″, but so was Magic so….idk

  • http://slamonline.com BigBlockMopar+Basketball

    We all believe Rick Carlisle is completely insane.

  • Fat Lever

    Top 10 in almost marrying completely batsh!t crazy jawns, yes.

  • Drew

    Has Rick Carlisle seen the NBA All-Time Top 10? Each of those players has MULTIPLE championships. Without the hardware you’re just outside looking in. Right now I wouldn’t put him in TOP 50.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    C’mon Drew, there are some players in the Top 50 without a ring.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Bird actually played the four just as much as he played the three. He even kept mchale on the geng initially while he played the four.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Geng = bench

  • izzo

    He’s not even the best PF of his generation to play all of his career in Texas.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Phantom nobody in my top ten is ringless.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    Thanks for the info, Allenp. Larry retired before I was born so I wasn’t too sure. No one in my top ten is ringless either.

  • http://eyelovejerseys.blogspot.com bob

    As much as I love Dirk (no homo), he’s not top 10 of all time. He’s the best non american to play in L, that’s for sure. But to me he’s a top 35/40 player of all time. Top 10 player since 2000, though.

  • jarrett

    not even close. Great Player though. IMO he not better than Karl Malone

  • S_kemp

    awesome player.However, not even one of the top ten centers ever.I’d love him to beat the Heat in the finals, getting his revenge on Miami and stopping Lebron from getting his first ring, that’d be sweet.

  • BostonBaller

    There are at least 20 HOFers from The Lakers & Celtics alone that would beg to differ. lol

  • Coney Islander

    Lay off that. C’mon son.

  • http://Www.fiba.com Darksaber

    Come on Coach Carrey, leave the comedy and insanity to your canadian twin.
    No need for this rubbish statement.
    I am the biggest Dirk fan i know of but top 10 Nba player in history; nope.
    Top 10 playoff performer, 4th quarter scorer, high percentage shooter, power forward, you had more realistic zitles to chose from, Rick.

  • http://www.pablasso.com pablasso

    @S_kemp: maybe because he’s not a center

  • Cecil

    Dirk is the most misunderstood player of all time… anyone that doesn’t think Dirk is one of the top 10 players ever doesn’t understand the game.. and doesn’t understand WHY Dirk’s makes the players around him so great year after year even without optimal teams.

    This is why he is so undervalued.

    Shaq was a complete defensive liability and couldn’t hit his freethrows.. yet he is arguably the most impactful player ever.

    Dirk has just as much if not more of an impact.. Carlisle knows because he is using it to dominate using a bunch of castoff players all around him. If Avery Johnson hadn’t been such an awful coach for the prime years of Dirk’s career this wouldn’t be in question the way it is now. If the league wasn’t based on highlights and the media wasn’t so stupid people would have realized how great dirk was long ago. Really Dirk should be more impactful than Shaq because Dirk does it with skill rather than brute force. BBall is supposed to be about skill..

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    He isn’t in the Top 10, because he’s choked in the past.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    …and that choking has cost him a ring

  • http://slamonline.com biged

    not to say you are wrong Cecil but your comment still doesnt add up to him being top ten. He is not the top ten best skilled players. Yes he has a jumpshot. but No dominating defense and no dominating post game, no physical play, no legendary moments, no signature moves. what makes him so hard to guard is the fact that he is seven foot and shoots we the ball behind his head so its impossible to block him. thats why he is so good. if he was six inches shorter……

  • Vince5

    Even if he had win a NBA Championship in ’06 he wouldn’t be top 10. Top 30, sure, but nowhere close from the top 10.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Now Avery can’t coach and that is why Dirk didn’t win.
    Man I liked it better when Darksaber was the only Dirk and Mavs fan on here. At least he kept it 100.

  • http://Zogs.com Zogs

    Maybe top ten questionable NBA mvp s
    or perhaps top ten soft pf or maybe even top ten greatest players who were to Garbo to lead their team to a ring, but definatly not top ten all time!!!!!!!

  • dirkalicious

    if someone like dirk can be considered top 10 then brian scal should be considered top 50

  • Tyrant56

    Well he aint won much yet so we can hold off on that noise and I personally think its a tie between him n manu for best international player ever.

  • http://slamonline.com tealish

    Love Dirk. Underrated. Underappreciated. Great, great player.
    But this is crazy talk.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Dirk is top 50 without a doubt–top 10 is a stretch. Top 10 Power-forwards for sure.

  • MikeC.

    @Zogs – You’re calling Dirk soft? C’mon man. Dude has 41 games for his entire career. Some dudes miss that every over a couple seasons and nobody questions their toughness. Dirk has played, and played well, on some pretty bad ankle sprains. He took an elbow to the face, spit his teeth out, hit the free throws, then got stitched up. Dude is not soft. He’s probably the most efficient scorer still playing.
    @biged – No signature move? The stepback rainbow off the wrong foot is pretty signature since nobody else can do it. Dirk does have a post game. Just because he doesn’t finish with dunks doesn’t mean he has no post game. He’s the absolute master of the mid and high post game. The Mavs’ pick and roll that forces the switch that lets Dirk shoot over point guards is one of the most unstoppable plays in the NBA.
    What Dirk has needed all this time is a high-energy Center to lead the defensive effort. To me, the Mavs are the most impressive and well-rounded team in the playoffs this year.
    All that being said, I disagree with Dirk being top-10 all time. If the Mavs win a ring this year, and he dominates the WCF and the Finals, then he can get into the conversation.
    I also disagree with Dirk being the greatest foreign-born player in NBA history. Hakeem Olajuwon might have something to say about that.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    @ biged: “if he was six inches shorter…” is a terrible argument. If ALL Hall of Fame big men were six inches shorter would they even be All-Stars? Would Shaq and Patrick Ewing and Tim Duncan even be in the league if they were six inches shorter? Makes no sense. Being tall is an advantage, not a disadvantage, and as such it shouldn’t be held against someone. That’s like saying “If Allen Iverson wasn’t fast…” or “If Reggie Miller couldn’t shoot…”

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Man I always forget about the Dream. Tim Duncan was born in the Virgin Islands too.

  • Ken

    Who are the other 3 players with 25/10 averages? I’m guessing Wilt. Hakeem?

  • http://dsjkflf.com Jukai

    I love lists. Me and my brother were debating whether Dirk had now moved up to a top-5 all-time power forward.
    If we have to debate THAT fact, then Dirk isn’t top ten.

  • http://nba.com EJ

    Some people don’t even put Kobe on the top 10, so no way Dirk should even be on the discussion.

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