Once Considered Soft, Dirk Nowitzki Was Ahead of His Time

Let’s go back 15 or so years to when Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki were best-bud Dallas Mavericks teammates establishing their excellence in the NBA and always hanging out to shoot in the gym together at night.

For lunches, they would swing through EatZi’s Market & Bakery, the ahead-of-its-time semi-supermarket that, at the turn of the century, gave Dallas cultured, ready-made, healthy eating—and even cultured classical or opera music playing inside its sliding doors.

Not exactly the stereotypical NBA hotspot.

But Nash and Nowitzki have long since proved how they transcend stereotypes.

Nash reluctantly retired in 2015. He didn’t go kicking and screaming, if only because it’s not his style—and his broken-down body wouldn’t allow such gyrations anyway.

Nowitzki, 38, is at that doorstep now.

And while he’s still playing, it’s time to appreciate how—same as Nash—Nowitzki has changed us and our game more than we and our game changed him.

What it boils down to is this: People called Nowitzki soft at the start of his career and for a long time after.

No one does anymore.

And that reflects the greater understanding we have in valuing his fundamental game, not just his historic accomplishments.

To see the way he habitually adjusts the collar of his jersey like a nervous tic, settles for all those fadeaway jumpers and closes out on shooters as if he were dragging a concert piano, hefty opera singer or even supermarket behind him…it still seems soft in a sense.

Except we know there’s a lot more to it.

We better understand the more powerful impact of the three-point shot, no matter that it’s so much “softer” than a dunk. And we better understand Nowitzki’s diligent training and competitive fire that happen to be teamed with a self-deprecating humor rather than self-aggrandizing personality.

This is how Nowitzki, in at least one way, has made a greater mark than either Kobe Bryant or Tim Duncan, both of whom retired in 2016.

Bryant and Duncan mostly had skills we could easily comprehend and we knew winners should possess. Nowitzki was unconventional enough as a shooting …

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