Allen Iverson names the Top 5 Players of his Era

[Amphibious]

PG: Jason Kidd
SG: Kobe Bryant
SF: Kevin Garnett
PF: Tim Duncan
C: Shaquille O'Neal

The GOATS

 

[Consumed]

It was stacked compared to the top teams around that era he has played with a bunch of all stars or former all stars for most of his career there was a reason y alot of people thought the mavericks were underachieving because the talent they had on that team. I grew up on 2000's basketball im almost 26 so I watched plenty of it

Yeah I'm not seeing it. Might have a point with the early Mavs with Nash but after he left following 2004 Dirk never shared the court with a player you could deem to be a franchise cornerstone in his prime. For me, a stacked team means you have a couple of those guys on the same team. Duncan had that with Parker/Manu, Nash had that with Marion/Stat, Wade had that briefly with Shaq, Kobe's Lakers would eventually gain this with the Pau Gasol acquisition, Dirk didn't play with these type of players after Steve left. In three of their four first round exits during Dirk's prime it was his supporting cast that performed disastrously bad while he put up the dominant performances that I've detailed above which should have been enough to lead a contender. Yes Dirk did have some pretty good support in terms of role players, Mavs didn't do terrible building around him, but never guys that could form a dominant tandem with him which was a key reason they generally failed to live up to expectations aside from 2011

 

[eastside313]

No, great would be an understatement. Literally don't know how one could observe his play over the past decade and come to the conclusion that he wasn't great in the post. Who have you been watching?




That criticism was pretty stupid for the most part. He was also called soft and there were questions as to whether he could ever lead a team on a championship run despite the fact that he had a large sample size of dominant postseason performances BEFORE 2011 that people for whatever reason have managed to block out of their memory

What some people fail to realize is that 1) facing up is a part of playing in the post, and it should be encouraged when you have an elite shooting touch and a high release as he was often able to just shoot over his defender after a couple jab steps. Yes this can be a problem when a player only faces up and has no b2b skillset like Anthony Davis, but that sure as hell wasn't Nowitzki who was outstanding with his back to the basket as well 2) there are different areas to the post. not just the low, but the mid & high area as well which is where Dirk liked to operate and was nothing short of elite. He had excellent footwork, strong counter moves, a legendary go to move in his one legged turnaround fade that has inspired stars to add it to their own scoring repertoire most notably Kevin Durant who is a great mid/high post player himself. He was strong enough to back his man down and get good positioning which he often didn't even need because of how unorthodox & quick his go to move was. He could spin off his man and take it to the rim like you should've observed in the 2011 postseason most notably the game winner in G4 finals



and routinely utilized pump fakes to get his man to commit and get sent to the free throw line. Dirk had the skill of an all time great post player

If Durant was a good post player he might have a ring. The knock against okc is they don't have any post play. When the jumpers aren't falling KD doesn't go make his living on the block.

It's clear you think dirk is one of the greatest, cause you can cherry pick games and stats. Showing him post up against Bruce Bowen a sf. Dirks a great player but when you talkin about great post play he's not in the discussion.

 

[valet]

Am I the only one when he said "Not the game", that he was about to do a "we talking about Practice" joke?

 

[Consumed]

If Durant was a good post player he might have a ring. The knock against okc is they don't have any post play. When the jumpers aren't falling KD doesn't go make his living on the block.

It's clear you think dirk is one of the greatest, cause you can cherry pick games and stats. Showing him post up against Bruce Bowen a sf. Dirks a great player but when you talkin about great post play he's not in the discussion.

No, the knock on OKC in the 2012 finals is they didn't matchup properly with Miami's small ball lineup with Brooks idiotically giving Perkins significant minutes. Their problem in the past three seasons have been untimely postseason injuries. Not a lack of post play, that's a myth. KD might have a ring if WB didn't tear his knee in 2013, Ibaka didn't miss two games in the WCF or he didn't break his foot this season. Here's a spreadsheet of post play in 2013, in addition to that video posted above you can observe that KD ranked favorably



And here's some additional video of his post up work in 2014, complimenting the video I provided in the previous post of his work in 2013




The fact that you don't think he's good in the post says alot. That you only identify good post play to the low post and ignore the mid/high area. Thats a rather common problem. The post can be anywhere inside the arc where your back is turned to the basket however briefly. Doesn't necessarily have to be on the block or in the paint. And he is a great post player from the area which he operates. Don't let the media narratives trick you into believing otherwise. A big reason he's able to be so efficient from the field is because of his play in the post where he's long been one of the most efficient in the game. No he doesn't live there any more than Kobe but its a key component of his game as a scorer. He operates in the exact same area Dirk did so if you think he has no post skill it makes sense that you also don't think very highly of Nowitzki

I'm not cherry picking anything. You can watch him post up Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett. You can watch him destroy Pau Gasol and the Grizz in the 2006 Western Quarterfinals. There's a decade worth of evidence for you to observe from and there's no need to parse anything when it comes to his career but I think you're just attempting to ignore it in order to fit your own narrative. You don't have as much success as he's had in the postseason as a big UNLESS you're a great post player that can score with his back to the basket and have an offense run through them to the success that the Mavs have enjoyed for a decade. Its mindblowing to me that you would't consider a guy who has what many would consider an unstoppable go to post up move and impeccable footwork who has as storied a career as Nowitzki has enjoyed not to be an all time great post player