NBA Hall-of-Famer and all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has said that Dallas Mavericks resident German Dirk Nowitzki was a “one-trick pony” and that he was not a dominant force.
This despite Nowitzki being the NBA’s leading international scorer over the course of his 18-year NBA career. The recently retired German international lies in sixth place on the all-time scoring list.
And Nowitzki has respectfully disagreed with Abdul-Jabbar’s comments.
Via ESPN:
Dirk Nowitzki respectfully disagrees with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s opinion that Nowitzki is a “one-trick pony” who has not had a “dominant career.” “I mean, it’s actually not the first time he said some stuff,” Nowitzki, the sixth-leading scorer in NBA history, told ESPN.com after scoring 28 points for the Dallas Mavericks in Wednesday’s 93-90 loss to the Miami Heat. “I’m not sure why. I guess he’s not a big fan of my game, which is OK. But I like to think I was dominant at some point — especially on the offensive end — of my career, in my prime.
Nowitzki acknowledged that he never had the kind of impact that Abdul-Jabbar did as a defender and rebounder, but he noted that he worked his way to being a “decent” rebounder, averaging as many as 9.9 per game in a season twice.
“I don’t want to get into throwing stats around, because his are obviously way better than mine,” Nowitzki said. “But I don’t think you can average 25 and 10 over your playoff career and not be dominant. I don’t think you can get to sixth in scoring in this league over 18 years and not be at some point at least somewhat dominant.”
