I know this seems a little haterish, but Dirk is a soft boy. I always thought that since Tmac shut him down last year, but then when they beat the Spurs this year, I thought that just maybe I was wrong..........turns out I was right. A great scorer????.......... yes, a guy I want to be my franchise around???........no.......wait let me restate that, "hell no".....I'm starting to think that Dirk isn't "that guy"....Duncan, Bron, Wade, Kobe, etc. have been or can be that guy imo......Dirk has some growing to do.
Dirk is a great player. You can win a championship with him as your centerpeice. I don't know if I'd put him on the same level as Duncan, LeBron, Wade, or Kobe, but if not he's just a notch below. He struggled in the Finals series, but I prefer to look at his body of work throughout the playoffs. He was tremendous. Before the Finals, I think most people would have said he's playing better than anyone. If things happen a bit differently, he would have had a game winner in game 5. I think there's a tendency to overstate the level of play of individuals based on whether their team won or lost. Dirk is probably a top 5 player in the league (along with the above mentioned 4). He has sort of an unorthodox game for a 7-footer, so when his team is unsuccessful I think he gets unfairly criticized for the way he plays.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I think there's a tendency to overstate the level of play of individuals based on whether their team won or lost</div> it's not just that he lost, but how he looked on the biggest stage of the world when he lost....Dirk played like a good role player in this series....and that just doesn't cut it in my book.....right now I'd take a few other guys (besides the names you mentioned) before Dirk......dude is just soft.
Udonis Haslem was and the swarming heat guards are a reason for his output. But other people where scoring, so his low output doesnt matter as much.
He got locked up, plain and simple, Haslem did a hell of a job, and Wade, Payton, Posey, Anderson even, are all solid defensive players and did an excellent job on the double teams.
Yeah haslem locked him up dirk has neve been that guy to me to bulid a franchise around. He a great player but i don't know about a franchise player.
yes they did do a good job on him defensively, but all of the great players find a way to overcome that.......and dirk didn't.
Well, I never said Dirk was a "Great" player. No one should give him that label because he hasnt done anything to acheive it.
he's a great player.....I can say that, but there's another level that he hasn't reached yet, and I don't know if he's capable of reaching it.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting THE DREAM:</div><div class="quote_post">it's not just that he lost, but how he looked on the biggest stage of the world when he lost....Dirk played like a good role player in this series....and that just doesn't cut it in my book.....right now I'd take a few other guys (besides the names you mentioned) before Dirk......dude is just soft.</div> Dirk did not play up to his standards. But the guy still averaged 22.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists. As poor as his shooting was, his TS% (scoring efficiency) was right at 53% for the series ... pretty much the same as Shaq's in the Finals and above the league average during the regular season (in the playoffs, the average was probably even lower). As usual, his turnovers were minimal for the number of touches he had. Dirk numbers were actually about as good if not better than Duncan's last year in the Finals.
yeah but Duncan has dominated in the finals before, and unlike Dirk, he takes it to the paint.....Dirk was basically a jump shooting big man in this series.
Shaq and Zo are quite a presence in the paint aswell. You cant just look at numbers, you gotta take in everything, the Heat have seen Dirks offence for 5 games in a row prior to that, and they adjusted, thats why the won four straight.
^^^true, but dude still didn't take it to the rack like he should've....if you're scared to take it to the rack, then that makes you a soft boy in my book.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting BlueBayou87:</div><div class="quote_post">I think the word "great", is used to loosley. Id call a star player with a ring great.</div> Charles Barkley was great. Karl Malone was great. John Stockton, great. If Hakeem didn't win those two championships in 90s, he'd still be great.
I agree with druvasa, there ARE plenty of great players who never have won rings in every sport Dan Marino, Jim Kelly = great Nolan Ryan = great Barkley, Malone, Stockton = great
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting THE DREAM:</div><div class="quote_post">^^^true, but dude still didn't take it to the rack like he should've....if you're scared to take it to the rack, then that makes you a soft boy in my book.</div> Dirk got to the line over 9 times a game in the Finals. That doesn't sound like someone who's scared to take it to the rack.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">Charles Barkley was great. Karl Malone was great. John Stockton, great. If Hakeem didn't win those two championships in 90s, he'd still be great.</div> You really put Dirk at the same level as them?
No dirk is not even close that is why i hated the larry bird comparison bird was clutch dirk to me is not.
