Nowitzki jersey retirement ceremony full review 21 years of floating sinking No. 41 hanging high in the sky
On January 6, Beijing time, after the game between the Lone Ranger and the Warriors, the lone ranger Star Dirk Nowitzki will enjoy the treatment of retiring the jersey, and from then on, his No. 41 will forever float above the ceiling of the American Airlines Center.
Born in Germany, Nowitzki is a model for overseas players to play in the NBA, and he is also one of the most successful international players. So, is Nowitzki the greatest international player in history? At present, the mainstream media generally ranks the "big dream" Olajuwon in 1st place, and Nowitzki in 2nd place.
However, Olajuwon, who was born in Nigeria, has a college background in the United States, has an American basketball background, and later joined the United States to compete in the Olympic Games, so there is a lot of controversy about whether Olajuwon is an international player. If you only count pure international players (born outside the United States, no American basketball background, not naturalized in the United States), then Nowitzki is obviously the greatest international player.
Exactly how to define "international players"
The NBA's international players, which literally refer to players born outside the United States, such as Chinese player Yao Ming, Spanish player Paul Gasol, etc., are standard international players.
It is more difficult to define whether players who were born outside the United States but later came to the United States and became American nationals are international players. For example, Olajuwon, who was born in Nigeria, played in international competitions for the Nigerian youth team, but later became a U.S. citizen, and even represented the American Dream Team in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and won the gold medal.
Judging from the attitude of the major authoritative US media, they all classified Olajuwon into the list of "international players", and judging from the descriptions of the US media, they do not think that there is any controversy about the classification of Olajuwon as "international players". But Tim Duncan, who was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands, is not an international player.
Therefore, the selection of "the greatest international player in history", the major media have also brought Olajuwon, so that this honor label has become a competition between Olajuwon and Nowitzki. In December 2021, Hoopshype had a vote that resulted in Olajuwon in No. 1, overtaking Nowitzki.
Honors have the upper hand over Olajuwon
Comparing the NBA careers of Olajuwon and Nowitzki, Olajuwon clearly has the upper hand, both in terms of statistics and honors.
Because of his longer time in the NBA, Nowitzki scored more than 30,000 points, overpowering Olajuwon. However, Olajuwon averaged 21.8 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.7 steals and 3.1 blocks per game in his career, surpassing Nowitzki with 20.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. Olajuwon's scores, rebounds, blocks, and steals have all entered the top 15 in history, and the blocks are ranked first in history. And Nowitzki, in addition to scoring, other data has not entered the top 15 in history.
As for individual and team honors, Olajuwon led the team to win the championship twice, won 2 FMVP individually, he won 1 regular season MVP, 6 times was selected to the best team, 12 times in the best team, 9 times in the best defensive team (including 5 times the first team), won 2 best defensive player awards, 12 times into the All-Star. In the field of personal leadership achievements and defense, Olajuwon has a clear advantage.
The US media "Open Air Stand" said in its evaluation of Olajuwon's career: "Olajuwon is too comprehensive, as a seven-foot long man, he can shoot, but also low singles, create opportunities for teammates, and at the same time he can steal and protect the basket." In history, only one person has scored 20,000 points + 10,000 rebounds + 3,000 assists + 2,000 steals + 3,000 blocks. ”
Nowitzki's single-core team to win the championship is indeed commendable, but after all, he only led the team to win the championship once, and was elected FMVP once and the regular season MVP once. Nowitzki made the All-Team 12 times and was named to the All-Star Game 14 times, but never won a defensive-related award. Nowitzki's evergreen, loyal, and sacrificial are all pluses, but that's not enough to make him surpass Olajuwon in the NBA's all-time rankings.
Of course, the honor comparison can not only compare the NBA career, but also look at the results of the international competition team. In contrast, Olajuwon is in a difficult to define and controversial position. Because although Olajuwon has an Olympic gold medal, this is what he won with the American Dream Three team. If the gold medal counted, Olajuwon should not be here as an international player.
Olajuwon's international curriculum vitae is almost blank, and Nowitzki's international curriculum vitae is also average. But we must consider a background, Nowitzki's German team is not strong, he has no good helpers around him, he has not won the championship in the international arena, but he has led the German men's basketball team to make major breakthroughs twice.
At the 2002 World Championships, Nowitzki led the team to a bronze medal that has created the history of the German men's basketball team, and he was personally elected as the tournament scoring champion and MVP. At the 2005 European Championships, Nowitzki led Germany to the final, eventually losing to Greece to win the silver medal, and he averaged 26.1 points per game as the tournament's top scorer and was elected MVP.
Yes, Nowitzki has never won a championship in an international arena, and when compared with the three representatives of international players, Paul Gasol, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, his international results seem to be a bit unsure, these three people have either won gold medals in the Olympic Games (Ginobili), or gold medals at european championships (Parker and Gasol), or gold medals at the World Championships (Gasol). But what are the grades of gasol, Parker and Ginobili's teammates? Nowitzki was able to lead the team to the international arena and win a medal, which is already an incredible achievement.
Legacy meaning is tied
Nowitzki and Olajuwon are not stephen Curry's epoch-making superstars, but they have indeed had a great impact on the development of basketball, and some of their technical characteristics have attracted the emulation of younger generations, so in the sense of inheritance, the two have played a draw.
Nowitzki is an outstanding representative of the spatial interior line, and he proves with his super projection ability that the inside player is not only a way of playing with the inside line, and the big man floating on the outside line jump shot does not mean that it is a "soft egg". Nowadays, more and more inside players develop outside three-point projection, and Durant and others study golden rooster independence, all of which have been influenced by Nowitzki.
Olajuwon's "dream dance steps" have also been respected by the younger generations, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, etc. have all visited Olajuwon, and integrated the "dream dance steps" into their arsenal, improving the low-level lethality. Among the active players, Joel Embiid is also imitating Olajuwon's style of play. Perhaps low-post offense is no longer mainstream, but low-post offense is still an indispensable technology.
epilogue
Judging from the attitude of Nowitzki himself, other players and the American media, the mainstream view does not consider Nowitzki to be the greatest international player in history, and they generally chose Olajuwon.
ESPN had ranked Nowitzki ahead of Olajuwon, and as a result JR. Smith said on social media: "It's not disrespectful to Nowitzki, but Olajuwon is in 2nd place? Nowitzki is certainly super good, but he is the best international player of all time? What about Olajuwon? ”
Novitz also said: "I never say it's myself, there are so many great players I respect who deserve this honor, such as Schramf, Kukoc, Petrovich, Divac and so on, they have opened the way for me." ”
It is not difficult to see from Nowitzki's words that in his eyes, he does not think that Olajuwon is an international player, and this huge controversy will always exist. If Olajuwon is not counted, Nowitzki is clearly the greatest international player in history.
As for the future, Antetokounmpo has the opportunity to surpass Nowitzki. After all, the 27-year-old Antetokounmpo has been in the Best Team five times, the Best Defensive Team four times, two MVPs and one Defensive Player of the Year award. On top of that, he has led the Bucks to the top and personally won the FMVP. What Antetokounmpo lacks is national team honors, and he has not yet helped Greece to achieve the best results, but he still has opportunities in the future.