Steph Curry alley-oop to Dirk during the 2015 All Star game
Dirk played for so long that when he came into the league one of his initial nicknames on Mavs broadcasts was The Dunking Deutschman and by the time he retired people often seemed shocked he had ever dunked the ball at all.
Every once and a while we have to post 01-04 Dirk highlights on this sub for those who never saw how he could move back in the day. He was genuinely fast and an adept ballhandler for a guy that size, especially in that era.
Kinda similar to Ray Allen who was a hell of an athlete on the Bucks/Sonics but then really became the sharpshooter he’s known as a little later
Jesus Shuttlesworth era Ray!
Or Shaq. Young Shaq was an absolute raging bull, while old Shaq was still somewhat unstoppable because of his size, but moved across the court like a dairy cow.
Also has the smoothest looking jump shot of anyone I’ve seen. Love Ray!
Unless they saw him on the Bucks/Sonics, people just don’t seem to be aware of Ray Allen’s full package. He came into the league as an above-the-rim 2-guard with handles who could also stop on a dime and show you the most flawless jump shot form in NBA history. It’s almost tragic he’s primarily known today as “just” a floor-spacing sniper.
A surprisingly solid defender at that time too, although people didn’t even realize it at the time either because he was perceived as “soft” and european
Wasnt he given the nickname „Irk“ cuz the D was missing?
That was a meme at the time. Jason Kidd was called “Ason Kidd” because he had no J[umper], even though he retired as #3 all time in threes (is now down to #20!)
I only started following the NBA in 2006 and legit thought it was based on his actual bad defense lmao.
That’s definitely why he got the nickname (it was more of a hyperbolic slander than anything)—he wasn’t a great defender, but prime Dirk was never getting played off the court or anything. It also didn’t help that his contemporaries at the same position were Garnett and Duncan.
yeah, no matter how good he was at those stepback middys, if he wasn’t quicker than most big men he wouldn’t be nearly as successful as he was, young dirk had a fucking motor
Too fast and agile for most PF while too big and strong for most SF, that’s what made him so valuable early on
Dirk really helped the league understand you could build around a European player and win at the highest level. There was still a ton of doubt/hate amongst players, fans, coaches and GMs that their style of play was too “soft” to win in the NBA. They were obviously wrong.
Similar phenomenon with Duncan, he and Dirk stuck around so long (and the predominant narrative around them was that “Wow, they’re this old and are still so good! It’s like they haven’t lost a step!”) that we forgot just how athletic they were at the starts of their careers. Before Duncan had his first injury, he was an incredible athlete—certainly not top-1% of NBA athletes, but he had an explosiveness and fluidity to his game that was pretty rare for a big man.
That he won two MVPs and four more titles after that injury is a testament to how much he was able to reinvent his game as he grew older, and same for Dirk evolving his game through the years to compensate for waning athleticism.
Guess you could say he was sneaky athletic
Great play on the Rick Smits nickname.
I know we’re all thinking “it’s an all star game, nobody is defending it” but that’s actually Melo’s signature defensive stance
That was my first thought lmao. That was playoff level Melo defense
I Thought the same thing word for word
Carmelo “I would never take a pay cut” Anthony
TheIgnoredWriter is a deserved name if this is the lazy ass shit you’re writing.
K
Lmao holy sht, forgot dirk played in 2015
He played in 2018! We’re quickly reaching the inevitable point where Dirk and Luka playing on the same team will be a “strange but true” fact.
Trigger warning since you’re a mavs fan, but it really is a shame that Luka never went on to win one with the Mavs. If he did, that one season overlap between both their careers would’ve felt so much more poetic in retrospect
Nico Harrison should be banned from Dallas for life
He should be exiled to snake island. Like 1 snake per square meter
Nah, the snakes would just assume he’s one of them. Gotta send him to spider island or something.
I think he deserves a statue.
At the lakers arena.
AA as well.
yeah, basically the whole storyline that final season was the passing of the torch from Dirk to Luca, the greatest mav ever to the heir apparent
then nico happened
Up until April 2019 I was just reading. I honestly didn’t think it was that recent for some reason
See you in Valhalla, Dirk. A new white boy has the watch now.
And Brunson.
He played with Luka bro
Triple Dirks!
Mein GOAT 🥲
Das Goat
AD in street clothes 🤣
AD stands for always dinged
AD in a suit on the bench in 2015 while old Dirk is dunking is so on point for ADs career
Older Dirk celebrating and trash talking will be some of my fondest memories of the nba.
Let’s get him into full time sportscasting!
burgers
Letsssss gooooo hommmmmeeeee
lmfaooo love the bench reaction. steve kerr and the coaches facepalming is elite too ahaha. ol boy can still get up
like a fever dream
Average Melo defense
He should have just stayed in their front court if that’s what he was gonna do. He’s just tiring himself unnecessarily.
The Melo spectrum
All-Star Melo <—> Olympic Melo
LMAO. “That may be the last time that we ever see Dirk dunk the basketball”.
I am not a man of conjecture and hyperbole, but that may have been the last time that we ever did see Dirk dunk the basketball! LOL! That man was amazing, but his leaping ability was not one of those things!
Dirk had some dunks in his final season. Not sure how many overall but there were a few.
link
Melo’s all star game defense looks like in season game defense. Consistency.
Dirk having too much fun
Worst all star jerseys of all time?
jesus these are the worst jerseys i have ever seen
Then he and Timmy chest bumped on the subsequent timeout, it was surreal to see those two celebrate together after constantly being at each other’s throats during the playoffs
2015…….. Time freakin flies 😣
Does no one get the Vince Carter reference? that’s why everyone is laughing.
got my ass smiling on the couch. Dirk’s cele is the best part
Good men
Steph’s oop to Harden was better
The bounce pass oop to Giannis was probably the peak of basketball
CP3 to Steph, Steph to CP3
Melo playing expected Melo defense /ssssssss 😭
I miss having the allstar game in the city
Love this!
Got reminded about this dunk in ‘Expensive basketball’ by Shea Serrano
If you haven’t read it go buy it
Melo was just perfect for these games lol
Even the ref is smiling at the end of the clip
Love the bench reaction haha. Esp Tim Duncan at 0:21 so happy for Dirk, even if they were big rivals