Back in the 1998 NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks acquired the draft rights to an unknown forward from Wurzburg, Germany who after a rough start to his NBA career put together a Hall of Fame career where he not only turned the Mavericks from cellular dwellers in the NBA into perennial playoff participant and into eventual champions. Along the way he changed the perception of foreign players as well as changed the way power forwards can be more than just post up players who can rebound and score mostly in the paint. This journey of 21 seasons, all with the Mavericks, this future Hall of Famer earned the respect from NBA greats, the city, the plethora of teammates and coaches, which he talked about and more back on Apr. 25 via video interview with NBA on TNT studio host Ernie Johnson on NBATV’s “#NBA Together.”
Nowitzki, who retired after the 2018-19 season after earning 14 All-Star selections and 12 total All-NBA selections in an NBA record 21 seasons in “Big-D” told Johnson that prior to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic that he had been doing a lot of traveling as well as spending more time with his wife of soon to be eight years this July Jessica and their three kids in seven-year-old daughter and five-year-old and four-year old sons.
“It’s been fun, but obviously we’re going through these tough times and hopefully we’ll get through this here soon,” The 40-year-old Nowitzki said to Johnson.
Nowitzki said to Johnson that his family here in Dallas, TX as well as in his home of Wurzburg, Germany, where he has been doing a lot of checking in via video conferencing and telephone calls nearly every day during this pandemic and just trying to stay positive.
He also said that spending time with his family is something that he looks forward to, especially after dealing with an injured ankle the final two seasons of his career that took a lot of his joy away from playing.
Nowitzki has relished and enjoyed before the COVID-19 Pandemic of dropping off and picking up his kids to school and bonding with his family in other ways as well.
He also has used this time to use his foundation “The Dirk Nowitzki Foundation” where according to his magazine “FortyOne” has donated in recent weeks $100,000 to the North Texas Food Bank, which has provided food to families with children who have been affected by the pandemic to where they got two of the three most important meals of the day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) at school.
Nowitzki’s foundation also made a donation of $25,000 to CitySquare and $10,000 to Hope Supply Co.
Before he made for himself in the NBA for a little over two decades, a 19-year-old Nowitzki participated in the Nike “Hoops Heroes Tour,” where he played two games in Paris and one in Germany against future Hall of Famers and now NBA studio analyst for ESPN and TNT respectably in six-time NBA champion with the Chicago Bulls and 11-time All-Star Charles Barkley.
Barkley, who Johnson said tells the story very often that in that 30-minute show match said that he scored 25 in the first half and over 50 for the game, where Nowitzki was outplaying Barkley to the point that he even dunked on him as well as outplayed Pippen, one of the best defenders in NBA history.
Nowitzki said that he was not sure how many points he registered but he called that experience “fun,” he said to Johnson that the part of Barkley exclaiming: “The boy is a genius. If he wants to enter the NBA, he can call me.”
Barkley even said to him that if he wanted to attend his alma mater Auburn University that he can get him in.
Nowitzki passed on the offer because at that time he was finishing up his commitment in the Germany Army and that he was planning his next step of attending college saying that he paid visits to Stanford University; the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Kentucky.
He was also thinking what to do with basketball career, checking out teams in Barcelona and Italy.
Any thoughts about playing in the NBA never entered Nowitzki’s mind, until he was chosen to play in the premier watches in men’s hoops in the U.S. “Nike Hoop Summit” on Mar. 29, 1998 in San Antonio, TX. In that match of the best basketball players in the states against the talents from across the globe, Nowitzki had 33 points, 14 rebounds and three steals and outplayed future NBA players Rashad Lewis and Al Harrington.
Nowitzki made such an impression with his display of quickness, sharp shooting, and ball handling at his size that a plethora of European and NBA squads wanted him to play for them.
“That one game changed my entire life,” Nowitzki said to Johnson about that moment.
Three months later, Nowitzki was selected No. 9 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks, but his draft rights were dealt to the Mavericks in a multi-team trade, which also included the acquisition of Nowitzki’s eventual long-time good friend, long-time teammate in now Hall of Famer Steve Nash, a two-time Kia MVP.
Nowitzki was not at the 1998 draft, which was held in Vancouver, British Columbia saying he did not know how things were going to play out. He also felt that he was not 100 percent sure he was going to be drafted, even though he was projected to go in the Top 10 of the First-Round.
“I was super skinny. I was like 18-19 years old. I wasn’t sure my body was ready,” Nowitzki, who was in Germany on draft night 22 years ago said. “I just wasn’t sure if my body was ready.”
Nowitzki did not find out that he was drafted until he got up early the next morning and got a call from then head coach Don Nelson and his son in current Mavericks General Manager Donnie, and he gave them the same “I’m not sure” feeling about coming over to the NBA.
Both Nelsons and then owner Rose Perot came to Germany to visit Nowitzki, where they held a press conference to introduce the Mavericks’ newest addition. Then the Nelson stayed, watched Nowitzki work out and told him not to make any decision but to just come to Dallas, TX and then after spending time with them there, decide what he wanted to do.
Nowitzki said that he stayed at Coach “Nellie’s” house during that time, where he threw a barbeque where he met with Nash and All-Star Michael Finley, who the Mavericks traded for two seasons prior.
Things did not start well for Nowitzki as he struggled to adjust to the NBA game in his rookie season where he averaged just 8.2 points and 3.4 rebounds on 40.5 percent from the field in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 NBA campaign.
It was so rough that Coach Nelson said at one point to Nowitzki that he played like he did not even belong in the league.
“I’m not the most confident, comfortable guy. I had some issues adjusting here,” Nowitzki said. “The speed of the game. The language barrier. So, it was hard. Everything was overwhelming for me and I never really got any traction until all the way to the end of the year where Nellie was like, ‘Okay, now just try to get some confidence. Go on and try to salvage, you know, your first season.”
On top of that, Nowitzki was having to learn how to get through life on his own from buying groceries, paying bills, open his own bank account, how to get his driver’s license and washing and drying his own clothes.
As far as the language barrier, Nowitzki said that he learned some English in school, he learned Oxford English from England, which is different from speaking English in the United States.
It was a far cry from the welcome he got when Nowitzki got off the flight from Frankfurt, Germany where when he got off the plane with the two Nelsons and saw hundreds of people with welcome signs and he was like, “Wow. That’s really cool. People are excited I’m here and they want me to succeed.”
Unfortunately, Nowitzki found out two months later that those people who welcomed him to Dallas when he got off the plane were employees of the Mavericks that were told by Perot to be there to welcome him.
During his struggles, Nowitzki just kept working and turn up his receptors to what Nash and Finley, who he calls “great friends and great role models, and great mentors” were telling him.
One other huge figure in Nowitzki’s maturation as a player and person was former German international basketball player Holger Geschwindner, who he first met at age 16.
Geschwindner not only taught the future Hall of Famer basketball through a series of unorthodox drills that emphasized shooting and passing, but he also encouraged him to take up a musical instrument like the piano, saxophone, and guitar. He also gave Nowitzki books to read to make him a more well-rounded individual.
Those methods of training included running through the gym in handstands. His physical improvement came from rowing instead of weightlifting. Someone who worked for the Mavericks played the saxophone and Nowitzki had to dribble the ball to the rhythm of what was being played
“His methods at the time were strange and different, and new,” Nowitzki said of how Geschwindner nurtured him both on and off the court. “But I was a kid and I enjoyed it, and I saw improvement pretty quick.”
“I always believed in him and even in my last two years still was working with him all the time. Trying to perfect things and work on things.”
Nowitzki and Geschwindner got so close that they traveled together to Australia, backpacking. They were getting looks from people to where it was strange to them that a then 26-year-old Nowitzki was on vacation with a person nearly four years his junior.
Every person needs someone in their lives that they can be honest with them to where the person receiving that honesty will be receptive to it and Geschwindner was that person to Nowitzki.
Those lessons were especially helpful for Nowitzki in the years after that difficult rookie season where he drew comparisons to the great three-time NBA champion and multiple MVP Award winner in Hall of Famer Larry Bird and the fact that fellow future Hall of Famer and Boston Celtic Paul Pierce, the No. 10 overall pick in 1998 out of the University of Kansas was lighting up the NBA as a rookie.
“I was a little overwhelmed my first year. But you know what, I just tried to work my way through it,” Nowitzki said. “I went into the gym early. At night I went back with Nash. We played one-on-one. Played H-O-R-S-E. Played all sorts of things, and always tried to work on my game, and that’s how I got through times. Just trying to improve. Trying to get better and never really settle. Never be satisfied.”
In the years that followed Nowitzki improved and so did the Dallas Mavericks after the 1999-00 season. They would go on to make the playoffs for 12 straight seasons and reach in the postseason in 15 of the next 16 seasons. Nowitzki in this period would average 20-plus points per game and do so in 13 of the next 14 seasons.
While the Mavericks were making the playoffs at a consistent rate compared to the previous decade, they would seemingly always come up on short end.
The postseasons of 2006 and 2007 were especially rough finishes for the Mavericks as they lost in the 2006 Finals in six games to the Miami Heat after winning the first two games at home.
That was followed by a First-Round defeat at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, coached by Nelson in six games, after finishing the regular season with a franchise record and NBA-best 67 wins, earning the best record in the Western Conference and Nowitzki becoming the first Kia MVP in franchise history.
Nowitzki said that he looks back at that season with a “smile” but also a “crying eye” because the Mavericks started that season 0-4 and went 67-11 the rest of the way.
Unfortunately, they ran into a Warriors team led by Harrington, All-Star Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and Monta Ellis, and Coach Nelson who employed what is now considered “small-ball” lineup where they spread the court with their ability to dribble penetrate and kickout to guys wide open on the perimeter and they consistently made perimeter shots, especially from three-point range and got to the basket seemingly at will.
Defensively, Nowitzki said that the Warriors game plan was to make him spin into another defender, which threw off his offensive rhythm and played a big role in the Mavericks downfall in that series.
Nowitzki remembered being so “frustrated” and almost “embarrassed” after the incredible year the Mavericks had to let the franchise and the whole city of Dallas down that he wanted to get out of dodge quickly after Game 6. However, he could not leave just yet because called the Mavericks saying that there is a chance that Nowitzki was going to be named Kia MVP for the season.
So not too long after that, it became official that Nowitzki was name Kia MVP for the 2006-07 campaign, and a press conference was held where the late great Commissioner David Stern presented him with the award, flanked by then head coach Avery Johnson and current Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
“I remember being super embarrassed about this. About getting this super, super special trophy, and not being able to make it to the Second-Round,” Nowitzki said about that great moment. “So, that was a great time in my life but also one that I will always look back at and be sad, and disappointed.”
Those feelings of sadness and disappointment for Nowitzki and the team would turn into cheers and joy in 2011 when the Mavericks got back to The Finals and defeated in Heat in six games to capture the Mavericks’ first Larry O’Brien trophy in franchise history.
Nowitzki led the way in that series averaging 26.0 points and 9.7 rebounds on route to winning Finals MVP.
When the Mavericks clinched their first title on the Heat’s home court that night, winning Game 6 105-95 on June 12, 2011, Nowitzki ran off the floor to the locker room saying that he needed a moment away to reflect on the grind and determination it took to reach that elusive top of the NBA mountain, and the people along the way who helped you and all the doubters that motivated you to reach that goal of winning a title.
“All these moments were super, super hard to go through and heartbreaking. But at the end of the day, I think it made me the player I was in 2011,” Nowitzki, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds in the Game 6 clincher said. “It made me the closer. It made me the tough-minded player I needed to be to carry us through the playoffs.”
In the years that followed, the Mavericks would make the playoffs just four times in the next eight seasons losing, in a four-game sweep in 2012 to the Oklahoma City Thunder; in seven games to the eventual NBA champion and interstate rival San Antonio Spurs in 2014 and in five games respectably to the Houston Rockets in 2015 and again to the Thunder.
They would miss the playoffs the next three straight seasons including the previous year before this one, which turned out to be the last one for Nowitzki, who in his last home game scored a season-high 30 points with eight boards in leading the Mavericks to a 120-109 win versus the Phoenix Suns on Apr. 9, 2019.
Following the game, Nowitzki was celebrated by the organization in a postgame ceremony where Barkley, Bird, Pippen, Shawn Kemp and fellow European Detlef Schrempf appeared at center court to show their respect to Nowitzki and stellar career he had.
Not bad for a guy who at that start of his career who Coach Nelson said does not know if he belongs in the NBA. That moment where some of the very best to ever play on the NBA hardwood showed up for the last game for a future Hall of Famer in front of the fans who have been in his corner in the good times and the rough times both on and off the court.
“I mean, that last home game I will never forget,” Nowitzki said. “For five of my idols with Shawn Kemp and Detlef Schrempf coming and Scottie Pippen. For these five guys to show up and show respect towards me in my career, what I’ve done. That was super overwhelming for me.”
Nowitzki closed out that final night for him at American Airlines center by saying to the sellout crowd of 21,041, “I left Germany over 20 years ago and became a Texan. So, thank you guys for having me and I’ll see you soon.”
A little over two decades ago, the Dallas Mavericks acquired on draft night a player who they hoped could bring them back from the NBA abyss they had been in for all of the 1990s. While things were rocky at the beginning for Dirk Nowitzki he figured things out and worked himself, with assistance from teammates Steve Nash, Michael Finley, Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Jason Terry; the three head coaches he had from first Don Nelson, then Avery Johnson and Rick Carlisle; and his mentor Holger Geschwindner to be great both on the court and in the Dallas community.
Nowitzki went from a person who did not know how to write a check to now he is married with a wife and three kids.
Dirk Nowitzki is the best example of a player who took advantage of his opportunity to do something that he loves and made a life for himself beyond his wildest dreams. He worked hard at it and became great at it and at the same time set a standard of greatness that the team hopes their dynamic duo of reigning Kia Rookie of the Year in Luka Doncic and big man Kristaps Porzingis can continue.
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 4/1/2020 https://www.nbcdfw.com story, “Dirk Nowitzki Donates $135,000 To Local Charities Amid COVID-19 Outbreak;” 5/1/2020 9 a.m. edition of NBATV’s “#NBATogther with Ernie Johnson” with Dirk Nowitzki from 4/25/2020; https://www.espn.com/nba/game?gameid=401071889; https://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201106120MIA.html; https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Dallas_Mavericks_seasons; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Nowitzki.
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