By Ryan Mobilia
Today we found out that Dennis Rodman will not be joining the South Dragons for a pre season game.
Everyone I spoke to about this was genuinely excited to see the 46 year old, including me. It would've been a great trip down memory lane. My sister was even going to break out her old Bulls, Rodman 91 Jersey!
Now, it may be a slight on our National League that most people think Rodman could keep up. He couldn't. But most fans from the 90's wouldn't know how great our league has become.
It's not 1996 anymore, but this announcement got people thinking about the good old days of NBA and NBL and could have snagged a couple hundred new members to the Melbourne NBL teams if it hadn't of fallen through. Something epecially needed as the Melbourne Victory attempt back to back A-League Flags.
But more importantly, it became known yesterday, that while we were sweating on seeing a 46 year old drugged up, alcoholic try and match it with the NBL in a novelty game, we missed the biggest thing in Basketball to hit our shores in years...
The reigning NBA MVP was in the country travelling around like the proverbial 'German Backpacker' and there was no word... Dirk Nowitzki!
As Pink would say, "Who knew?"
Dirk? You couldn't have made one, two appearances? Surely someone in Basketball knew and could have organised something, not an NBA Jam, but something, hell, even Singapore gets TJ Ford and the NJ Nets Dancers at the moment...
We have THE CURRENT MVP of the best league in the world, and can't get an appearance? The NBA has zero connection to Oz these days, but here was the perfect opportunity to satisfy the masses... and nothing. Of course... I say masses, but if the interest was that high in basketball these days, surely more people would have noticed the 7 foot blonde German for who he is, and alerted the media!
His accomplishments thus far include:
2007 NBA Most Valuable Player
Six-time All-Star
Seven-time All-NBA
2002 World Championships MVP
2005 Eurobasket MVP
2006 All-Star Three-Point Shootout Champion (as a 7 footer!)
I would have done almost anything to get to a clinic or game he was at (even for just an hour!)... The MVP of the NBA! One of the most consistent exceptional talents of the past few years. Someone who knows Chris Anstey, from there days together at the Mavs. A non american who rose to the top of the NBA - surely this is a player who's journey to superstardom is comparable to Aussies trying to make it? Surely a speech could have been beneficial to the nations hoop lovers and encourage those striving for the heights of basketball greatness, that, if you are smart enough and dedicated enough, you can make it (Dirk was drafted in the 9 and then traded for Tractor Traylor, widely regarded now as the most lopsided trade in NBA history...)
Dirk himself must realise what being noticed by someone like himself could do for a youngster with Hoop Dreams:
He was first noticed by the NBA world when a team of American pro stars, including Scottie Pippen, Jason Kidd, Gary Payton and Charles Barkley, came to Germany and played an exhibition game against a German national youth team in September 1997. During the game, Nowitzki dunked over Charles Barkley. Barkley saw a future superstar in the gangly German teenager and later admitted to offering to pay him "any amount of money he wanted if he would come to his alma mater, Auburn."
Nowitzki did not truly gain international attention, however, until the March 1998 Nike Hoop Summit in San Antonio, Texas, where he notched 33 points and 14 rebounds to lead a team of international juniors to a surprise victory over a U.S. junior team. [2]
Sure he was trying to get away, and not think about the First Round loss to G State in the Playoffs. But an hour here and there over weeks of escape is something even he could have handled. I didn't have a clue, I wish I had known.
Well, what did he get up to on his holiday in Oz?
"We did a lot of camping and went everywhere: Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne, Adelaide. Obviously, it's winter in the Southern Hemisphere, so we didn't see the sun for three weeks. We went old school and rented like a four-wheel drive and slept some nights in the car."
It seems he really enjoyed his trip down under, even picking up some of lingo... When asked:
Where are you going to keep your MVP trophy?
"It's in Germany, mate. I gave it to my mom."
Dirk's had a lot to think about after his MVP season and early playoff exit.
The following is a phone conversation with Nowitzki from Mallorca on the eve of the tournament, which runs Monday through Sept. 16
We've been reading German press reports over here about your recent trip Down Under to search for "the meaning of life." Is that what you were actually doing?
It wasn't really about that. First of all, I always wanted to see Australia. But I really just wanted to get away [after the Golden State series]. Hopefully, our season is never going to be that short again, so this was my chance to get away for a good four or five weeks. It seemed like Australia was the best spot to go. Nobody cares about the MVP down there. It wasn't hard at all [traveling] around. It was great, actually.
Give us some highlights from the trip.
First we flew from Frankfurt to Dubai, which is nuts. They have everything there. We stayed in a seven-star hotel, craziest hotel I've even seen. It's 120 degrees outside and you can ski in a skiing arena. But I can't ski because of my contract, so we only stayed there for two nights. I wanted to get to Australia anyway.
We did a lot of camping and went everywhere: Great Barrier Reef, Melbourne, Adelaide. Obviously, it's winter in the Southern Hemisphere, so we didn't see the sun for three weeks. We went old school and rented like a four-wheel drive and slept some nights in the car.
You slept where?
You could set it up where the whole roof of the car turns into a [tent and] bed. So I slept upstairs and [longtime mentor] Holger [Geschwindner] slept downstairs. It's pretty smart.
Sounds like you really did get away from the game.
You never see any basketball where we were. I think I saw one half of one game of the Finals. It was at like 10 in the morning. But [the series] was so brutal that I couldn't watch it.
All that time traveling with your personal shot doctor and basketball never came up?
Obviously, we talked about the playoffs and my career and how far I've come and what I have to do [after the disappointment of the playoffs]. But some days we wouldn't say two words to each other. Some days you talk for eight hours. It just depends.
Any other highlights from the trip?
I grew a full beard. I shaved the night before we left and then I said that I'm not even going to take a razor. After about three weeks, I had a full beard and I couldn't even look at myself. But I had to keep it until I got back to Germany. I wanted everybody [in the family] to see it.
Since you've been back in the gym, what have you been working on?
I've worked hard these last two months. I don't think I can get in better shape than I am right now. But I want to keep trying to be more athletic. I know I'm never going to jump higher. But I can work on my first step, trying to make it quicker.
Are you ready to go back under the microscope of playing games, albeit with Germany instead of the Mavs?
I've been under the microscope already for the last couple years. I don't think it's going to change too much.
You said from the start of your NBA career that getting to the Olympics with Germany is your dream. Does that finally happen this summer?
I hope so, but it's going to be pretty tough. We have to finish in the top two or three [at Eurobasket] to qualify [for the Olympics]. I've been saying that Spain and Greece are the heavy favorites, but after that, I think the field is wide open. Since we finished second [in Eurobasket 2005], I think we've got a shot.
How many more summers will you play for your country?
I'm committed until the 2008 Olympics, then I'll probably take a break. I didn't say I will retire forever, but it will be time for a break. How long that break will be, nobody knows. I never know what the future is going to bring.
Have you gone back yet and watched any of the Golden State series?
I can't see myself doing that any time soon. Maybe I should. Once I get back [to the States], maybe I'll ask our video guys to put together [clips from] some of my offensive [possessions]. But I don't really need to watch it again. I already know what they did to me. They played me with a smaller guy, they fronted me, they crowded me.
Losing to Miami in the Finals after taking the 2-0 lead or losing to Don Nelson and the Warriors in the first round -- which hurts worse?
I still put them on the same level frustrationwise. That one year when we went to the Finals, we weren't the heavy favorites [in the playoffs] even though we should have won the Finals. This time, we were the heavy favorites and we said from the beginning that anything but a championship would be a huge disappointment. I rank them both on a high level of frustration. But you gotta keep going.
Your buddy Steve Nash keeps saying that winning the MVP trophy will actually help you get over the playoff disappointment as opposed to putting more pressure on you. Is he right?
It's an unbelievable honor that I'll never forget. But I consider this a team game, not an individual game. If you don't win it all … the toughest thing is that it's always going to combine with our [first-round exit].
When I think back on the season, I don't think of the MVP. I think of the playoffs. I've always taken losses hard. I think I take losses harder probably than anyone else in this league.
So how hard on yourself are you four months later?
Actually, I feel pretty good right now. I think I got over the worst of it. The two months I took off were the longest I haven't touched a ball in 10 years or more.
But is it fair to say that you might have squandered two of your best chances to win a championship?
I know I'm almost 30, but I feel like I still have a lot of good years left in me. I don't think [last season] was the last chance.
After the last two playoff endings, some of us find it surprising that the Mavs will go into next season with no major roster changes. Do you?
We had trouble with one team, not 29. We still have a good team. I don't think it's time to panic because we had trouble with one team over three years. To win 67 games was very, very special. We just met a hot team. I don't want to think that everything we're doing in Dallas is wrong because we lost to one hot team. I still believe we have some great pieces, with a great coach and a great owner and a great organization that will hopefully win it all one day.
So you disagree with armchair psychologists like me who say that the roster needed more of a shake-up because the Miami and Golden State endings inflicted long-lasting scars that won't just go away?
You're asking some hypothetical questions. Nobody knows. You [media] guys are the experts. You guys all talk, but nobody really knows if we can [bounce back] or we can't. We're just going to have to go out and get over it. None of us are saying, 'No, we can't.' I think The General [coach Avery Johnson] is going to get everybody ready.
OK, then. Here's a nonhypothetical question: Where are you going to keep your MVP trophy?
It's in Germany, mate. I gave it to my mom.
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