The Legacy of Dirk

In the 1998 NBA draft, there was a player from Germany that only a few truly knew about. He was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks (no.9 overall) and traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Robert Traylor (no.6 overall pick) on the same day. That players name... Dirk Nowitzki
 
 Dirk, now in his 17th season, is trying to get back to the NBA finals and compete with the top tier teams in the Western Conference. It's no secret that he's getting older and he isn't the same player that he was 10 years ago, or even five for that matter. However, Dirk isn't looking as bad as some of the other aging players *cough, cough.. Kobe Bryant* but he's got a little bit of a better team around him, also. If you've watched any NBA game or ESPN or Fox Sports, you know that Kobe Bryant announcing this will be his final season is the talk of the entire league. People are talking about where Kobe ranks on the all-time list, naming off their top five all-time players and some top 10. I seldom wonder where a player like Dirk fits in on this list to the consensus. In his [Dirk's] rookie season, in an interview, Dallas' then point guard Steve Nash said "the sky's the limit for Dirk". He was right. I'm guessing he saw a lot of potential in the young European superstar back then that not a lot of people did at the time.

 "The sky's the limit for Dirk" - Steve Nash 

He [Dirk], for his career is seventh all-time on the scoring list (28,507) and is on pace to pass Shaquille O'Neal (28,596) for the sixth spot, pretty soon, if healthy. He also has a career total of over 10,200 rebounds and better than 3,300 career assists. When averaged out they're not dominating number but if you watched him play throughout his career you know Dirk's impact on the game of basketball. Historically, Dirk hasn't had major injury issues and every season after his rookie season he never averaged less than 17 points per game (this season included, so far).  Seeing Dirk and the Maverick's team  defeat LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat in 2012 was one of the greatest things I've witnessed as a sports fan. I like LeBron and D-Wade, no knock to either player. But seeing a player like Dirk win a title, after accomplishing almost everything in the NBA prior, was truly something that you can be excited for even if you're not a fan of his team. He's won the NBA MVP, he was named to the All-NBA first team (4), All-NBA second team (5), NBA all-star team (13) and he was even a three point contest winner (2006). However, even though he accomplished so much in his career, it just seems like winning the NBA title was needed to add to his, already, mammoth resume.

Dirk is, without doubt, the greatest player in Maverick's history and one of the greatest and most unique scorers that the NBA has ever witnessed - he even has his own patented shot - and has shot a very good percentage throughout his career, averaging just over 47 percent for his career from the field, 38 percent from the three-point line, also averaging an amazing 87 percent from the free throw stripe.

I know when we talk about the greats in NBA history, there are mentions of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant, etc. But, I have two question. When can we start talking about Dirk in those same conversations?  Where does the European superstar rank in the history of the NBA?